Propaganda is a vital tool in politics and Narendra Modi knows how to use it well. So, to mark his ninth anniversary as prime minister, we have been inundated with paeans to him from his ministers and spokesmen. Then last Sunday he became the star of the melodramatic inaugural of the new Parliament building and he was majestic and awe-inspiring with his gold sceptre held high. When he makes speeches these days he lists the number of Indians on whom he has bestowed vaccinations, gas cylinders, homes, bank accounts, toilets and for 80 crore people free rations till the end of this year. He sounds like socialist leaders did in socialist times.When I listen to his speeches, I wonder if he remembers what he used to say when he first emerged from Gujarat onto the national stage. His words were music to my anti-socialism ears. He said often that government had no business to be in business which specially appealed to me. As a believer in free markets and a liberalised economy I blame leftist politicians for ensuring that government continues to be in business.Modi seemed to be no leftist. In the Lok Sabha remember how he mocked MNREGA as proof of the Congress Party’s economic failure? Digging ditches was what they considered guaranteeing rural jobs. I was recently asked by Barkha Dutt on her podcast why I supported Modi in the first place. I said that I believed he had been unfairly targeted over the 2002 riots. The media made it sound as if this was the worst communal violence since Partition. It was certainly not.Later, I thought about the question and remembered that the real reason why I became a Modi Bhakt was because I hoped that he would move India away from the socialist economic policies that, in my view, are the main reason why we continue to be a poor country. I believed he would privatise the bottomless pits that our public sector companies have become because bureaucrats are hopeless businessmen and politicians are worse. I believed he had noticed that Indian voters had moved from being supplicants to becoming aspirational in their attitude. If Modi understood this, he has not done enough to withdraw the state from controlling the economy. His critics charge him rightly with centralising economic power in his own hands and taking personal credit for everything that has been built since he became prime minister. As if without him nothing would happen. It is uncomfortably reminiscent of Sonia Gandhi’s speeches in which she would boast about how much money she had ‘sent’ to some opposition government and how it had been misused.The Congress Party is proud of its ‘pro-poor’ economic ideas that imply that there must always be poor people. The idea is to graciously bestow gifts at election time on people living in extreme poverty. So in Karnataka, women were promised a monthly income, the jobless were promised dole and there was a long list of other freebies. It is this approach to economics that has kept most poor Indians in the supplicant basket and most middle-class Indians convinced that the best thing that can happen is for them to land a government job. It is shameful that when the railways or some other big public enterprise advertises jobs, millions of Indians apply for a couple of thousand jobs.When Modi appeared on the national stage, he seemed so very different. He promised in the 2014 general election that he would bring economic changes. So, what happened to turn him into a statist that is someone not very different to a socialist? Why is there so little these days that distinguish his economic ideas from those that Rahul Gandhi spouts? What annoys me most is that voters who had stopped being supplicants now seem to be happy to go back to expecting the government to provide them with everything free even if they remain mired in poverty.What depresses me is that businessmen, who create the wealth needed to fund the mighty welfare programmes, continue to be treated as pariahs in Modi’s new India. Modi likes to believe that he has created an atmosphere in which there is ‘ease of doing business.’ This is not true. What depresses me as much is the way in which ‘black money’ continues to be the reason why tax officials are given such powers to harass and intimidate. The question we would be asking if the atmosphere for doing business had improved, is which laws and regulations need to be eliminated so that businessmen no longer feel the need to evade taxes. What we need almost more than anything else is for the Prime Minister to remember his promises of getting the government out of doing business altogether. The money wasted on public sector units that rarely make profits could be much better spent on hospitals, schools and other tools that help people escape poverty.Modi’s report card at the end of nine years ironically shows that he has delivered on a rightwing cultural agenda but failed to deliver on a right-wing economic agenda. It is only if officialdom removes its shackles on the economy that we will move towards that dream of becoming an economic superpower. Until then we will continue to just stumble along hiding our economic failures under a miasma of cheerful slogans and promises of prosperity.
Propaganda is a vital tool in politics and Narendra Modi knows how to use it well. So, to mark his ninth anniversary as prime minister, we have been inundated with paeans to him from his ministers and spokesmen. Then last Sunday he became the star of the melodramatic inaugural of the new Parliament building and he was majestic and awe-inspiring with his gold sceptre held high. When he makes speeches these days he lists the number of Indians on whom he has bestowed vaccinations, gas cylinders, homes, bank accounts, toilets and for 80 crore people free rations till the end of this year. He sounds like socialist leaders did in socialist times.When I listen to his speeches, I wonder if he remembers what he used to say when he first emerged from Gujarat onto the national stage. His words were music to my anti-socialism ears. He said often that government had no business to be in business which specially appealed to me. As a believer in free markets and a liberalised economy I blame leftist politicians for ensuring that government continues to be in business.Modi seemed to be no leftist. In the Lok Sabha remember how he mocked MNREGA as proof of the Congress Party’s economic failure? Digging ditches was what they considered guaranteeing rural jobs. I was recently asked by Barkha Dutt on her podcast why I supported Modi in the first place. I said that I believed he had been unfairly targeted over the 2002 riots. The media made it sound as if this was the worst communal violence since Partition. It was certainly not.Later, I thought about the question and remembered that the real reason why I became a Modi Bhakt was because I hoped that he would move India away from the socialist economic policies that, in my view, are the main reason why we continue to be a poor country. I believed he would privatise the bottomless pits that our public sector companies have become because bureaucrats are hopeless businessmen and politicians are worse. I believed he had noticed that Indian voters had moved from being supplicants to becoming aspirational in their attitude. If Modi understood this, he has not done enough to withdraw the state from controlling the economy. His critics charge him rightly with centralising economic power in his own hands and taking personal credit for everything that has been built since he became prime minister. As if without him nothing would happen. It is uncomfortably reminiscent of Sonia Gandhi’s speeches in which she would boast about how much money she had ‘sent’ to some opposition government and how it had been misused.The Congress Party is proud of its ‘pro-poor’ economic ideas that imply that there must always be poor people. The idea is to graciously bestow gifts at election time on people living in extreme poverty. So in Karnataka, women were promised a monthly income, the jobless were promised dole and there was a long list of other freebies. It is this approach to economics that has kept most poor Indians in the supplicant basket and most middle-class Indians convinced that the best thing that can happen is for them to land a government job. It is shameful that when the railways or some other big public enterprise advertises jobs, millions of Indians apply for a couple of thousand jobs.When Modi appeared on the national stage, he seemed so very different. He promised in the 2014 general election that he would bring economic changes. So, what happened to turn him into a statist that is someone not very different to a socialist? Why is there so little these days that distinguish his economic ideas from those that Rahul Gandhi spouts? What annoys me most is that voters who had stopped being supplicants now seem to be happy to go back to expecting the government to provide them with everything free even if they remain mired in poverty.What depresses me is that businessmen, who create the wealth needed to fund the mighty welfare programmes, continue to be treated as pariahs in Modi’s new India. Modi likes to believe that he has created an atmosphere in which there is ‘ease of doing business.’ This is not true. What depresses me as much is the way in which ‘black money’ continues to be the reason why tax officials are given such powers to harass and intimidate. The question we would be asking if the atmosphere for doing business had improved, is which laws and regulations need to be eliminated so that businessmen no longer feel the need to evade taxes. What we need almost more than anything else is for the Prime Minister to remember his promises of getting the government out of doing business altogether. The money wasted on public sector units that rarely make profits could be much better spent on hospitals, schools and other tools that help people escape poverty.Modi’s report card at the end of nine years ironically shows that he has delivered on a rightwing cultural agenda but failed to deliver on a right-wing economic agenda. It is only if officialdom removes its shackles on the economy that we will move towards that dream of becoming an economic superpower. Until then we will continue to just stumble along hiding our economic failures under a miasma of cheerful slogans and promises of prosperity.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he tries not to “do politics abroad” while on international trips, in an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on foreign soil. Speaking in South Africa’s Cape Town, the minister was responding to a query on how he would react to “what some people who go to the US say”.“There are sometimes things bigger than politics. And when you step outside the country, I think that’s important to remember,” he said, without naming Rahul Gandhi. “So I may differ strongly with someone, but how I counter it, I would like to go back home and do it, and watch me when I get back.”#WATCH | …”There are sometimes, things bigger than politics & when you step outside the country, that is important to remember…I differ with them but how I counter it, I would like to go home and do it. Watch me when I get back”: EAM S Jaishankar when asked about Congress… pic.twitter.com/7h0YutokpH— ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2023“I am perfectly prepared to argue very vigorously at home, so you will never find me wanting in that regard. But even a democratic culture has a certain collective responsibility… There is a national interest, there is a collective image,” Jaishankar added.Since last year, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been attacking Rahul Gandhi’s speeches and interactions abroad which they claim are harmful to the country’s reputation. Most recently, the senior Congress leader’s remarks during his ongoing US tour drew the party’s ire, when he said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP are controlling all instruments of politics in India.Union Minister Anurag Thakur, while speaking to news agency ANI, said earlier, “Rahul Gandhi on his foreign trips wants to insult the Prime Minister but ends up insulting the country. He doesn’t even consider India as a nation and calls it a Union of states. He raises questions over India’s progress. What does he want to achieve on his foreign visits? Is mud-slinging all that he has left to do?”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he tries not to “do politics abroad” while on international trips, in an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on foreign soil. Speaking in South Africa’s Cape Town, the minister was responding to a query on how he would react to “what some people who go to the US say”.“There are sometimes things bigger than politics. And when you step outside the country, I think that’s important to remember,” he said, without naming Rahul Gandhi. “So I may differ strongly with someone, but how I counter it, I would like to go back home and do it, and watch me when I get back.”#WATCH | …”There are sometimes, things bigger than politics & when you step outside the country, that is important to remember…I differ with them but how I counter it, I would like to go home and do it. Watch me when I get back”: EAM S Jaishankar when asked about Congress… pic.twitter.com/7h0YutokpH— ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2023“I am perfectly prepared to argue very vigorously at home, so you will never find me wanting in that regard. But even a democratic culture has a certain collective responsibility… There is a national interest, there is a collective image,” Jaishankar added.Since last year, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been attacking Rahul Gandhi’s speeches and interactions abroad which they claim are harmful to the country’s reputation. Most recently, the senior Congress leader’s remarks during his ongoing US tour drew the party’s ire, when he said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP are controlling all instruments of politics in India.Union Minister Anurag Thakur, while speaking to news agency ANI, said earlier, “Rahul Gandhi on his foreign trips wants to insult the Prime Minister but ends up insulting the country. He doesn’t even consider India as a nation and calls it a Union of states. He raises questions over India’s progress. What does he want to achieve on his foreign visits? Is mud-slinging all that he has left to do?”
As Arvind Kejriwal drums up support among Opposition leaders against the Centre’s ordinance that wrested control of ‘services’ from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the Capital, two former Delhi MPs have emerged as the voices and faces of the distrust the Congress continues to nurse against him.While other Delhi Congress leaders — who witnessed the AAP’s rapid rise in the city’s politics over the last decade and continue to smart from it — have maintained a low profile, Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit have been publicly and aggressively vocal in cautioning the Congress high command against the Delhi Chief Minister’s direct and indirect overtures.Days after the Delhi and Punjab units of the Congress called on the high command and told them to “keep Kejriwal at arm’s length” for “intra-party cohesion”,Dikshit and Maken sharpened their attack on the Delhi CM over the ordinance.“Kejriwal is well aware that he will be sent to jail for 8-10 years if he does not get control of the Vigilance Department,” Dikshit said, adding that he supported the ordinance against the AAP government.Maken joined the chorus, alleging that the AAP convenor’s “true motives” stood exposed, as he had openly sought “enhanced powers over services, aiming to take control over the Vigilance Department”, thus challenging decades of established governance norms. This is a point he has consistently argued since the ordinance was issued.“He conveniently downplays his true intentions. Investigations into scandals like Liquor gate, ‘Sheesh-mahal (Kejriwal’s Rs 171-crore residence…), power subsidy scam, bus purchases scam and others, will reveal the extent of corruption within his administration. And this is what he wants to stop,” Maken tweeted.Speaking to The Indian Express, Dikshit said: “Any Congressman will be chucked out of the party if they make any statement against its national leadership. Then how can the party think of allying with the AAP, whose leader Kejriwal has made more vile statements against the Congress’s national leadership than even PM Modi?”Both Maken and Dikshit also questioned the AAP over its “support of the BJP” on critical issues like Article 370. “What about the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir by the BJP-led Centre, which he [Kejriwal] supported, or not signing the Congress’s impeachment motion against [former CJI] Dipak Misra, or not signing the no-confidence motion against the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson that immediately followed?” Dikshit added.A senior Congress leader said that following the duo’s example, other Delhi Congress leaders are “gradually emerging” with sharp criticism of Kejriwal, especially after the latter issued a public appeal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking a meeting.According to Congress sources, there are two main prickly issues standing between the AAP and Congress. The first is what the Congress insiders describe as “unforgettable, patently false and malicious propaganda” against both its national and local [Delhi] leadership, “on the basis of which Kejriwal came to power”. The second is a Delhi Assembly resolution after the AAP formed its second successive government, demanding retraction of the Bharat Ratna conferred on former PM Rajiv Gandhi – neither of which, the insiders say, will “change or be forgotten”.While senior AAP leaders acknowledge that a united Opposition is key to defeating the BJP, the role that the Congress will play in it is still not clear. The AAP has shared stage with the Congress in the past, but an alliance has not come through since 2013, when the Congress had extended outside support to let the AAP form the government in the city. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, alliance talks between the two parties lasted for months, but ended in a deadlock.While Maken — a former Delhi and Union minister — has never minced his words regarding the AAP and its convenor, it is former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, the son of the late three-time Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, who had taken the first potshot, in March this year.On a day when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh marched to Parliament against the Centre, along with other Opposition leaders, on a host of issues, Dikshit and a group of former Delhi government ministers filed a complaint with Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena against the AAP government and Kejriwal over the now-defunct Feed Back Unit (the AAP’s rivals claim it was used to spy on them). Alleging sedition, they demanded a trial under the UAPA, the anti-terror law.Afterwards, when the CBI summoned the Delhi CM for questioning in the alleged excise policy scam, Maken tweeted that Kejriwal “should not be shown any sympathy or support”, and asked his party colleagues who are lawyers not to represent Kejriwal or the Delhi government in the case.Regarding the ordinance, a senior Delhi Congress leader said the party believed the BJP would “somehow be able to push the legislation through”, so aligning with the AAP on this issue was “not worth it”.Another leader argued that Kejriwal was merely “using the ordinance as a bogey” to make it “appear as if he is the lone voice” fighting for the Constitution. “He wants to look like a self-styled saviour of the Constitution, because he is embroiled in corruption charges that have dented his image. It’s a trap. He is seeking vindication,” the leader alleged.At a meeting with Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal and others on Monday on the issue, leaders of the Congress’s Delhi and Punjab units argued strongly against extending any support to the AAP. “Delhi Congress leaders spoke against supporting the AAP on the ordinance. However, former Delhi Congress chiefs Arvinder Singh Lovely and Subhash Chopra held that supporting the ordinance was warranted, given the Congress’s previous demand for more administrative powers to an elected government in Delhi. However, both said the final decision was up to the high command,” a source said.On its part, not only did the AAP disparage Maken and Dikshit by questioning their current standing within the Congress, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also accused the duo of “misleading” their own leaders, given that Sheila Dikshit had herself introduced a motion as CM in the Delhi Assembly on September 11, 2002, demanding more powers for Delhi’s elected government compared to the LG.Bharadwaj also tweeted that the motion moved by Sheila Dikshit had made the exact same point that the AAP had made in the Supreme Court, saying, “Amendment in Rules or any order of the Centre cannot take away special status of Delhi which is provided by the Constitution under Art 239 AA. So why are Delhi Congress leaders misleading Mr @RahulGandhi?”Maken said he had never claimed that as Delhi CM, Sheila Dikshit hadn’t sought full statehood or more authority. Rather, he said, Kejriwal wants to gain “unique privileges previously denied to CMs like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj”.Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “This ordinance is a diversionary tactic by Kejriwal, whose public image has been severely dented after he was caught on the wrong foot on various scams. He is trying to divert public attention from these.”Sandeep Dikshit said, “Which political leader wouldn’t seek more power? But the fact is that when Mrs Dikshit did so, it was within the contours of the Constitution, just like her administration worked within the powers conferred upon her by the Constitution.”
As Arvind Kejriwal drums up support among Opposition leaders against the Centre’s ordinance that wrested control of ‘services’ from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the Capital, two former Delhi MPs have emerged as the voices and faces of the distrust the Congress continues to nurse against him.While other Delhi Congress leaders — who witnessed the AAP’s rapid rise in the city’s politics over the last decade and continue to smart from it — have maintained a low profile, Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit have been publicly and aggressively vocal in cautioning the Congress high command against the Delhi Chief Minister’s direct and indirect overtures.Days after the Delhi and Punjab units of the Congress called on the high command and told them to “keep Kejriwal at arm’s length” for “intra-party cohesion”,Dikshit and Maken sharpened their attack on the Delhi CM over the ordinance.“Kejriwal is well aware that he will be sent to jail for 8-10 years if he does not get control of the Vigilance Department,” Dikshit said, adding that he supported the ordinance against the AAP government.Maken joined the chorus, alleging that the AAP convenor’s “true motives” stood exposed, as he had openly sought “enhanced powers over services, aiming to take control over the Vigilance Department”, thus challenging decades of established governance norms. This is a point he has consistently argued since the ordinance was issued.“He conveniently downplays his true intentions. Investigations into scandals like Liquor gate, ‘Sheesh-mahal (Kejriwal’s Rs 171-crore residence…), power subsidy scam, bus purchases scam and others, will reveal the extent of corruption within his administration. And this is what he wants to stop,” Maken tweeted.Speaking to The Indian Express, Dikshit said: “Any Congressman will be chucked out of the party if they make any statement against its national leadership. Then how can the party think of allying with the AAP, whose leader Kejriwal has made more vile statements against the Congress’s national leadership than even PM Modi?”Both Maken and Dikshit also questioned the AAP over its “support of the BJP” on critical issues like Article 370. “What about the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir by the BJP-led Centre, which he [Kejriwal] supported, or not signing the Congress’s impeachment motion against [former CJI] Dipak Misra, or not signing the no-confidence motion against the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson that immediately followed?” Dikshit added.A senior Congress leader said that following the duo’s example, other Delhi Congress leaders are “gradually emerging” with sharp criticism of Kejriwal, especially after the latter issued a public appeal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking a meeting.According to Congress sources, there are two main prickly issues standing between the AAP and Congress. The first is what the Congress insiders describe as “unforgettable, patently false and malicious propaganda” against both its national and local [Delhi] leadership, “on the basis of which Kejriwal came to power”. The second is a Delhi Assembly resolution after the AAP formed its second successive government, demanding retraction of the Bharat Ratna conferred on former PM Rajiv Gandhi – neither of which, the insiders say, will “change or be forgotten”.While senior AAP leaders acknowledge that a united Opposition is key to defeating the BJP, the role that the Congress will play in it is still not clear. The AAP has shared stage with the Congress in the past, but an alliance has not come through since 2013, when the Congress had extended outside support to let the AAP form the government in the city. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, alliance talks between the two parties lasted for months, but ended in a deadlock.While Maken — a former Delhi and Union minister — has never minced his words regarding the AAP and its convenor, it is former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, the son of the late three-time Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, who had taken the first potshot, in March this year.On a day when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh marched to Parliament against the Centre, along with other Opposition leaders, on a host of issues, Dikshit and a group of former Delhi government ministers filed a complaint with Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena against the AAP government and Kejriwal over the now-defunct Feed Back Unit (the AAP’s rivals claim it was used to spy on them). Alleging sedition, they demanded a trial under the UAPA, the anti-terror law.Afterwards, when the CBI summoned the Delhi CM for questioning in the alleged excise policy scam, Maken tweeted that Kejriwal “should not be shown any sympathy or support”, and asked his party colleagues who are lawyers not to represent Kejriwal or the Delhi government in the case.Regarding the ordinance, a senior Delhi Congress leader said the party believed the BJP would “somehow be able to push the legislation through”, so aligning with the AAP on this issue was “not worth it”.Another leader argued that Kejriwal was merely “using the ordinance as a bogey” to make it “appear as if he is the lone voice” fighting for the Constitution. “He wants to look like a self-styled saviour of the Constitution, because he is embroiled in corruption charges that have dented his image. It’s a trap. He is seeking vindication,” the leader alleged.At a meeting with Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal and others on Monday on the issue, leaders of the Congress’s Delhi and Punjab units argued strongly against extending any support to the AAP. “Delhi Congress leaders spoke against supporting the AAP on the ordinance. However, former Delhi Congress chiefs Arvinder Singh Lovely and Subhash Chopra held that supporting the ordinance was warranted, given the Congress’s previous demand for more administrative powers to an elected government in Delhi. However, both said the final decision was up to the high command,” a source said.On its part, not only did the AAP disparage Maken and Dikshit by questioning their current standing within the Congress, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also accused the duo of “misleading” their own leaders, given that Sheila Dikshit had herself introduced a motion as CM in the Delhi Assembly on September 11, 2002, demanding more powers for Delhi’s elected government compared to the LG.Bharadwaj also tweeted that the motion moved by Sheila Dikshit had made the exact same point that the AAP had made in the Supreme Court, saying, “Amendment in Rules or any order of the Centre cannot take away special status of Delhi which is provided by the Constitution under Art 239 AA. So why are Delhi Congress leaders misleading Mr @RahulGandhi?”Maken said he had never claimed that as Delhi CM, Sheila Dikshit hadn’t sought full statehood or more authority. Rather, he said, Kejriwal wants to gain “unique privileges previously denied to CMs like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj”.Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “This ordinance is a diversionary tactic by Kejriwal, whose public image has been severely dented after he was caught on the wrong foot on various scams. He is trying to divert public attention from these.”Sandeep Dikshit said, “Which political leader wouldn’t seek more power? But the fact is that when Mrs Dikshit did so, it was within the contours of the Constitution, just like her administration worked within the powers conferred upon her by the Constitution.”
