When will you fulfill your promises, Mr. Prime Minister?
Now that the Karnataka elections are finally over and the ruling party (along with our PM) have got a much needed break for few months, before they plunge into next elections, it’s time that we repeat our oft-repeated question: When will you fulfil your promises, Mr. Prime Minister?
His term is almost over, but while he has forgone his development agenda entirely for Mandir-masjid politics, we haven’t. During 2014 General elections, a lot of promises were made to us, all starting with the phrase “Bahut hua……abki bar Modi Sarkar”. The word in the blank ranged from crores of jobs to low petrol and food prices. From Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao to Farmers income. It was on this rhetoric that BJP registered its biggest win. Four years down the line, no one seems happy (except for the troll bunch on twitter and few handful of celebrities who have escaped the investigation in Panama). Dalits are protesting, farmers are protesting, Students are protesting and minorities are getting lynched. Whoever is willing to question is being branded anti-national.
While some promises like 15 lakh rupees to your account, showing ‘laal aankh’ to china and bringing ‘Ek ke badle do sar’ of Pakistani terrorists is not something that’s practically possible (and frankly, not needed either), some of the promises were indeed expected to be fulfilled. We will have a look at some of them.
Petrol and food prices
Remember his tirade against UPA government when petrol prices where touching ₹80? Accompanying him were some of the biggies from Bollywood, sports and spirituality too. They were all unequivocal in their demands for rolling back petrol price rise. And that was 2012, when international crude oil prices were running well above $120 mark. Not to mention the rupees downward spiral.
4 years on, petrol prices are at an all-time high of ₹84 and rupee is well below 68. This on the back of three year lull in the prices of international crude oil which went as low as $37. The common daal which every one of us loves to savor is selling at more than ₹200. Almost every item is showing a spike. (Don’t ask me why CPI and WPI is low. I seriously don’t understand.)
Farmer Income
Last four years have witnessed a lot of farmer protests and rightly so. Despite having a favorable monsoon and a relatively good crop, the prices of procurement of food grains have plummeted, while the cost of farm produce (fertilizer, seeds etc.) has gone up. There has been a constant uptick in number of farmer suicides as well. The condition has worsened so much that farmers are being forced to spill their hard labored farm produce on streets.
The present government came to power on the back of promises to double the farm income and increase the MSP to at least 1.5 times. Whatever has been achieved so far is there to see for everyone.
Social harmony has taken a hit
I was one of the few people in my family and my locality who didn’t voted for BJP in 2014 LS elections. The derision that I faced at my choice at that time was unbelievable. The reason for not voting them was simple: one can survive without food but cannot survive the sword of communalism. The BJP had a history of it and if there was any doubt, PM and his men cleared that in abundance.
It’s not unexpected that they have quietly forgotten their development narrative and have replaced them with Mandir-Masjid binary. Who can forget our Prime minister’s “Samsan-Kabristan’’ election pitch. A man who preaches inclusiveness and ‘Sabka sath sabka vikas’ at public platforms is inherently scripting a bigoted approach in real life.
Where are the Jobs?
Above anything, if there’s one thing that has impacted me the most, it’s been the lack of opportunities. The employment generation has fallen to a record low of less than 2 lakhs in a country known to produce 66 lakhs job seekers. As if that was not enough, Prime minister even had the audacity to claim that selling ‘Pakodas’ is an employment too, as the servile media laughed on.
Whatever little employment opportunities left was sucked up through Demonetization and hastily implemented GST. While it completely wiped out the informal sector, which employs majority of the people, even formal jobs weren’t left untouched. The government not just denies that there are no paucity of jobs, but also went out of its way to hand over the private EPF data to a ‘researcher’ who was more than happy to use it and claim that India created more than 77 lakh formal jobs. Even the economic survey echoed his idea.
Women Empowerment??
Perhaps the biggest hypocrisy lies in the government claim of women empowerment. While ministers posting a picture of a women-centric program with no women in them is a common phenomenon, the duplicity gets hyped when you take a cursory look at the ministers and the allegations against them. As if supporting, retaining and nurturing a rape accused MLA/MP wasn’t enough, they went all out, complete with a tricolor, to protest in the favor of gang rape accused of a 10 year old child.
Apart from the two powerless and misplaced women minsters in the cabinet, there is very little to say for actual results. A government which keeps on saying ‘Beti-Bachao-Beti-Padhao’ is expectedly silent when girl child are being raped and mutilated, many a times, by the people connected to ruling party.
Untouchability and disrespect to institutions’
It’s not just the tangible promises that has taken the hit, many democratic institutions too have faced the brunt. While there’s nothing uncommon in appointing unqualified people as independent directors of PSUs, it’s the attack on institutions like Judiciary, EC, CBI, ED and others which will have long lasting consequences. It’s no wonder that a churning has started within some of them and people have begun to come out and call it out.
Attacks on Dalits and Minorities has reached a crescendo
While it is no surprise that Dalits and minorities are being lynched and flogged, given BJP’s crass propaganda and ideology, it is worth noting that during election campaigns, the Prime Minister left no opportunity to portray himself as a backward caste candidate. Who will forget his twisting of the word “neech’’ during UP rally of 2014 and Gujarat campaign of 2018?
A planned campaign is being promoted by his party and its affliates with a clear intention to intimidate the Dalits and vilify the minorities. Rohit Vemula, Una, Akhlaq are but few names that stand out. When will you come clean on your promise of ‘safety for all’, Mr. Prime Minister?
It is time that the loyal supporters of BJP start coming out and ask the government to fulfil its promise. They won’t listen to us, they might hear you. If you are willing to fight out for them, you must be willing to hold them responsible too. And please don’t say you can’t do it. If you think that you are capable enough to save ‘Hindus jo Khatre mein hain’, you must also be capable enough to put demands that effect you as well.
Till you make up your mind, I leave you with this armchair activists.
In the end, after a 4-year stint, there’s only one verdict that holds true: April Fool Banaya!!
For a detailed report card of Modi Sarkar, visit this website: http://modireportcard.com/
They are awesome.
I am a 22-year-old civil engineer, who is a JRF at the Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, West Bengal. I tweet @TheRahul_Raj and you can find me on Instagram @akhi_rahul
