Machli, Mutton, Mughals & Modifesto

The Congress also promises to probe into demonetisation, the Rafale deal, Pegasus spyware, and the Electoral Bonds scheme and bring to law those who made illegal gains through these measures. Known offenders were allowed to leave the country in the last 10 years

“Listening is an important quality for leadership. I am god-gifted with this quality, and I have also cultivated it,” PM Narendra Modi said in his recent Newsweek interview. Well, that is a good quality if one really practises. One basic requirement of this quality is that one must allow others to speak. Only then would one be able to listen to what others say and this saying includes questioning. Less said the better on this aspect about the leader who has not addressed a single press conference in the last ten years of his Prime Ministership. As we have been saying in these columns, PM Modi’s communication has always been and continues to be a monologue. And he enjoys the strength of the Godi Media, if not god’s gift, to amplify this one-way traffic.

Consider Modi’s remarks on the Congress manifesto. He straightaway links it to the Indian Muslim League of pre-Independence era whereas the Congress document does not make even a single reference to the word Muslim. One cannot expect any other BJP Minister or leader to discuss the Congress manifesto on its merits or demerits since the top leader himself has not said anything beyond the M word.

He must have thought of it as a deflection strategy to take focus away from the electoral bond scam but it backfired on his party badly. The Congress pointed out that it was BJP’s parent organisation Hindu Maha Sabha which had entered a “convenient” alliance with the IML in Sindh, Punjab and Bengal at a time when the Congress launched Quit India Movement. Not only that, the HMS had supported the two-nation theory.

Then, the Prime Minister latched on to a picture posted by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav that showed him eating fish taking a lunch break from his busy election campaign. Though the picture was posted on April 8, one day before the Chaitra Navaratri, Modi linked it to the festival of fasting and blasted the opposition for trying to incite the majority population. In another such speech, Modi criticised Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav for cooking mutton during the Durga Navaratri.

For the BJP and the Godi media such incidents are the burning issues and not corruption, unemployment, price rise, poverty and even women safety. This deflection strategy was executed at a time when a perception study showed that rising unemployment and the unrest among the youth dominated the people’s mindset. The BJP is obviously seen as arousing religious sentiments to apparently opaque the real issues before the electorate.

The BJP appears to have been tired of trying to cash in on the alleged failures of the Congress Governments right from the Nehru era and hence began to dig into the Mughal era. Even after 10 years of uninterrupted rule, the party and its leadership are still at the stage of Sankalp or Resolutions. Even the manifesto of 2019 was also called Sankalp Patra. The goody-goody talk of Amrit Kal is now relegated to the back burner and the Vikasit Bharat with the carrot of 2047 is the hero of the BJP campaign and manifesto.

The 76-page document is all about Modi and Modi Guarantee. A ctrl+F search shows that there are 73 references to Modi. The manifesto carries as many as 53 photographs of Modi and is shockingly silent on the electoral bond scam that is rocking the nation today. The Congress Nyay Patra guarantees a full-fledged inquiry into it.

Claiming that it inherited a corrupt system in 2009, the BJP says it has used a mix of policies, technology, and simpler processes to ensure good governance in the last ten years. These initiatives have made the governance more efficient and have reduced corruption at all levels of governance from the top to everyday transactions carried out by citizens, BJP claims.

Hollow talk, says the Congress dismissing the BJP’s tall claims. The BJP regime used all means and the investigation agencies to pressurise opposition leaders, whom it had described as epitomes of corruption, to submit themselves into joining the ruling dispensation. All allegations of corruption against these leaders have vanished into thin air as the BJP washing machine came into action.

Unfortunately, no one in either BJP or the Godi media talk of corruption by Himanta Biswa Sharma, Praful Patel, Ajit Pawar, Narayan Rane, Chagan Bhujbal, Ashok Chavan or Suvendu Adhikari who were also the focal point of the ruling party’s criticism for their alleged involvement in one scam or the other. Presently, these leaders occupy key positions in the BJP or its alliances. Remember, the BJP had promised a corruption-free Bharat in its manifesto during the last Lok Sabha poll.

And the BJP has the gall to say “In contrast with the previous government, we have given transparent and accountable governance to our citizens. We will continue our fight against corruption through strict implementation of laws and use of technology”.

Once bitten twice shy. The Congress which has lost the elections in 2014 and 2019 when it failed to communicate on the allegations of corruption is now quite aggressive. I wrote in the last column that the opposition may miss the bus if they fail to make the electoral bond scam an election issue. Now, the Congress and even Aam Aadmi Party are talking aloud on the Bond scam and corruption.

The Congress Nyay Patra says “We will carry out complete investigations of the Electoral Bonds Scam, the reckless sale of public assets, the PM CARES scam, repeated intelligence failures at the highest levels and corruption in major defence deals.

The Congress also promises to probe into demonetisation, the Rafale deal, Pegasus spyware, and the Electoral Bonds scheme and bring to law those who made illegal gains through these measures. Known offenders were allowed to leave the country in the last 10 years. The BJP/NDA government is perceived to have facilitated their leaving the country and has not been able to bring back any of the scamsters, the Congress says and asserts that the circumstances under which they were allowed to leave the country will be probed and all scamsters and their accomplices will be brought before the law. The party also promises to revive the cases against those who managed to escape the law after going through the BJP Washing Machine.

Apart from clean governance, the BJP had made many promises in 2014 and 2019 such as housing for all, employment for the youth and doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

On the one hand the 2024 Sankalp Patra is deafeningly silent on these promises, while on the other it talks of a series of plans for the carrot called Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The party which criticises others for offering revdis (freebies) promises to give free rations to more than 80 crore people apart from continuing its other free schemes. Do we realise that the free ration to 80+ crore people is itself the biggest and the largest revdi, that too without any plans to pull the beneficiaries out of the perennial poverty?

It will be tough for the next government, even if it is going to be Aayega-Toh-Modi one, to go back on this promise and even tougher to work on poverty alleviation for such a large number of people.

The Modi ki Guarantee for 2024 says, “We will continue to fill the government vacancies in a time bound and transparent manner” but is silent on the number of jobs given during the last decade 2014-24. The Congress says there are 30 lakh vacancies in central government departments alone – a claim that none from the BJP dispute.

It will be interesting to see as to how long the talk of religion, temples and non-vegetarian meals will continue to obfuscate the real issues before the nation. Please do not expect the Godi media to come to terms with reality too soon.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)