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Decoding Modiji’s Forgotten Sermons on Kumbh
- Published on 11 April 2025
(Culled image from Modiji's website)
“If people are not allowed to speak their mind out or criticise, the system of democracy will start to stink like a pool of stagnant water,” stated Mr. Narendra Modi on 15th July 2012. Mr. Modi, as Gujarat Chief Minister, said this while launching ‘Gujarat Guardian’ daily in Surat.
Modiji’s sermon has a direct relevance to the Mr Rahul Gandhi’s public outcry as the leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha. It is equally relevant to recent resentment in the Opposition benches against presiding persons of both houses and on denial of debate on several issues including the ones pertaining to Adani group.
On 26th March 2025, Mr. Gandhi claimed that he was not allowed to speak for days by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. LoP reportedly said: “I don’t know what is going on. I requested him to let me speak, but he just ran away. This is no way to run the House,” Gandhi said. “It is a convention that the Leader of Opposition is given time to speak. Whenever I stand up, I am stopped. I did nothing wrong—I was sitting quietly. Here, there is no place for democracy. There is only place for the government.”
Mr. Birla, on the other hand, has responded to this charge by stating: “I expect the Leader of Opposition to follow the rules”.
On 18th March too, Mr. Gandhi bemoaned that he was denied chance to speak after Mr. Modi's statement on Maha Kumbh’s success. He was quoted in the mainstream media as saying that: “Our only complaint is that the PM did not give Shraddhanjali (pay homage) to those who lost their lives in Kumbh. The youth, who went to the Maha Kumbh, also wants one more thing from the PM, which is employment… As per the democratic structure, the LoP should get an opportunity to speak, but they won’t let us. This is new India.”
Addressing the Lok Sabha on successful conclusion of Maha Kumbh, Mr. Modi said: “In the Maha Kumbh, all differences faded away; this is India's great strength, showing that the spirit of unity is deeply rooted within us.”
Unfortunately, this spirit couldn’t permeate to Lok Sabha, which draws its strength from Maha Kumbh of democracy, the general elections.
Viksit Bharat Castle Cannot be Built on a Single Pillar
- Published on 11 April 2025
(Image culled from BJP's 2024 Union Budget Presentation)
"DATA is the new oil...Data is the new gold," exuded Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston on 22nd September 2019. He was addressing an Indian community event dubbed as #HowdyModi. Mr. Modi added: "Answer to Howdy Modi is ‘Everything is fine in India '."
Any accountability-seeker would disagree with his reply as many things are wrong in the country right from ground reality to the national dream named Viksit Bharat @ 2047.
Mr. Modi has been marketing his resolve of transforming India into a developed country by 2047 since 15th August 2022. He has, however, shied away from referring to NDA's earlier failure to realize this dream by 2020. ( https://bit.ly/3KlWbB4 and https://bit.ly/3AqEVpw ).
This ostrich-like approach to bitter truth conflicts with BJP's 2004 Vision to connect past with the present and the future to attain present goals. The Vision document articulated this belief by quoting Swami Vivekananda as having said: "It is out of the past that the future is moulded. It is the past that becomes the future."
No nationalist would, however, like Viksit Bharat @ 2047 dream to go the "India, a Developed Nation by 2020" way. The latter slogan was trumpeted by Vajpayee Government. Hence this column's resolve to flag flaws in the Viksit Bharat (VB) model to pave the way for guaranteed success.
With no lessons learnt from previous regimes & its own previous terms, Modi Government is building VB dream house without three pillars. The structure is being constructed, currently only on one pillar and that too a weaker one.
Sankalp Se Siddhi- the Dr Manmohan Singh’s Way
- Published on 01 February 2025
(Image Courtesy: archivepmo.nic.in)
Now that the BJP-Congress spat over the cremation ground and memorial for Dr. Manmohan Singh has subsided, it is time to write another facts-based chapter on him as finance minister (FM). ( https://bit.ly/3WY5LQE).
Dr. Singh would remain eternally as India’s Anmol Ratan (priceless diamond), irrespective of the prospects of his being honoured with Bharat Ratana in the near or distant future. Prime Minister Narendra Modi confessed in Lok Sabha on 25th June 2019 that Dr. Singh deserved Bharat Ratana.
In his ‘Reply on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address’, Mr. Modi stated: “Dr. Manmohan Singhji should have received Bharat Ratna award after his first term.”
One can presume he meant Dr. Manmohan as FM. Foreign Exchange crunch or balance of payments (BoP) crisis remained India’s chronic ailment till he took reins of the Finance Ministry on 23rd June 1991.
Dr. Singh resolved this problem that even three popular PMs, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi could not solve, even when they held finance portfolio briefly in their respective tenures.
Same is the story with Mr. Morarji Desai, who served as FM and PM at different points in his political career. All these four leaders shied away from structural reforms even when faced with imminent emptying of foreign exchange reserves.
Unlike Indian polity, multilateral institutions and other entities were quick to recognize & laud Dr. Singh’s success as FM in their documents. The World Bank (WB), for instance, hailed the success of five years of reforms as “economic revolution” in its report dated 8th August 1996.
Depleting Coffers - Regulating Political Guarantees is the need of the hour
- Published on 07 December 2024
(Image Courtesy- taxindiaonline.com)
The bitter wordy duel between BJP & Congress over failures/difficulties in honouring political promises (PPs) is welcome. Welcome because it has turned focus on the Centre and States’ capacity to fund & sustain PPs, which have been marketed as guarantees in recent years.
The politicians’ urge to market guarantees to the poor masses has enriched narrative with racy Hindi phrases such as ‘khata-khat’, ‘taka-tak’, ‘tana tan’, ‘safachat’ and ‘pat pata, pat.’
We need not delve into these Hindi phrases in this column as anyone can find on the Net which leader uttered such or similar words to either laud his/her party’s freebies or deride the ones promised by rival parties.
This column would focus on hard facts on all guarantees including political guarantees (PGs) to enlighten the public about grave risks of reckless PGs over and above off-budget guarantees.
The tsunami of freebies might start a chain of knock-on impact. The effect might start with fiscal crisis resulting in sharp fall in foreign exchange reserves, alarming fall in value of local currency, runaway inflation & crisis of confidence in the country.