Modi: Last ten Years of BJP rule was a trailer-More to come
Ram Puniyani
Modi has many ploys up his sleeves when it comes to propaganda.
On one hand he is turning many a pronouncements of Congress in the communal
direction, on the other he is claiming that whatever has been achieved during
last ten years of his rule is phenomenal, but it is still a ‘trailer’ and the
bigger things are in the offing as he claims to be coming to power yet again in
2024. While his admirers are ga ga about his achievements, the truth lies
somewhere else.
His acolytes have been claiming his achievement in the form of
providing increased use of internet, increase in air travel, 420 million more
bank accounts, 110 million more gas connections, 220 millions being covered by
insurance, increased rate of making of highways, more taxpayers and export of
anti Covid vaccine to so many countries leading to increase India’s global
prestige. And of course provision of free rations to 800 million people.
These, in a way, are not true reflectors of the welfare of the
people or the state of democracy and freedom in the country. Many major changes
have taken place which has undermined the welfare of the state and abolition of
democratic freedoms in the country.
Since he came to power in 2014, gradually the Cabinet system has
been undermined and power is concentrated in his hands, in all the possible
ways. He is the decision maker in most of the cases. Two glaring things brought
by him were the demonetization and handling of the Corona epidemic.
Demonetization was done solely by him on the claim that the illegal money will
be retrieved. What happened was the severe hardships to average people, nearly
100 people died while queuing up in the banks for change of notes. The final
result was that 98% of the currency is back in circulation.
The Corona epidemic was the great tragedy, worst compounded by
his decision to impose a lockdown at a few hours notice, there are tragic tales
related to the exodus of people from urban centers to their native places. And
the number of bodies floating in Ganga, and scattered on its banks tell the
tale of hardships suffered by the people.
At the administrative level the Constitutional bodies’ autonomy
suffered a setback with most of them doing the bidding of the Government,
rather Modi himself. The impartiality of ED, CBI, IT and Election Commission
has been compromised a lot. Many Judicial decisions also seem to be tilted in
favor of the executive.
On the scale of democracy, as per the V Dem, the autonomous
institute monitoring the index of democracy, India has been labeled India as
‘One of the Worst autocracies’ (2024). As per the
report there is a downward slide in this as in 2018, it was labeled as
‘electoral autocracy’. As per this “India, with 18% of the world’s population,
accounts for about half of the population living in autocratising countries,”
As far as Press freedom is concerned, the average person can see
the media being controlled by the corporate sector, close to the Modi regime.
As per ‘Reporters Without Borders’ (2023) India has slipped down to 161 out of
180 countries studied. Just in one year, it has slipped from 150 to 161!
The freedom of expression and criticism of the Government is labeled anti
national and many of our dedicated and committed human rights activists are in
jail for years, without even charges filed against them.
Freedom of Religion index, as per United States Commission on
International religious Freedom, “Throughout the year, the
Indian government at the national, state, and local levels promoted and enforced
religiously discriminatory policies, including
laws targeting religious
conversion, interfaith relationships, the wearing of hijabs, and cow slaughter,
which negatively impact Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and Adivasis
(indigenous peoples and scheduled tribes)…”
Human rights watch summarizes the condition of Muslim minorities
in India, “Authorities in India have adopted laws and policies that
systematically discriminate against Muslims and stigmatize critics of the
government. Prejudices embedded in the government of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) have infiltrated independent institutions, such as the police and the
courts, empowering (Hindu) nationalist groups to threaten, harass, and attack
religious minorities with impunity.”
Economic conditions and employment situation is worsening by the
day. While Modi had promised 20 million new jobs every year, what has been
observed that rate of unemployment is highest now at 8.3% as per Center for
Monitoring Indian Economy “Unemployment rate in India increased to eight per cent in February 2024 from 6.8
per cent in January 2024, according to CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household
Survey.” This eased a bit in March 2014 but still remains the highest such rate
in the last forty years.
The hunger index is a good barometer for assessing the
nutritional levels of society. India has fallen to 107 out of 121 countries assessed.
This is worse than the prevailing situations in neighboring
countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and BanglaDesh.
On the top of all this the Oxfam India report (Survival of the
Richest) tells us that “Oxfam India’s report on inequality in India released
recently finds that just 5 percent of Indians own more than 60
per cent of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50 per cent of the
population possess only 3 percent of the wealth.”
The economic plight of dalits has worsened during the last ten
years in particular. Sukhdeo Thorat a prominent academic states, “Dalits are
employed in manual, unskilled labor jobs in urban areas. Given these facts,
only 5% of the working Dalit population has actually benefited from the Indian
reservation law… while GOI poverty alleviation programs help Dalits, the
government does not strictly monitor them and many are never implemented…and the vast majority of
Dalits…”
Education and science research is being downgraded with the
faith based knowledge being given precedence over rational thinking. With the
Prime Minister claiming that India had plastic surgeons in the past who could
plant the elephant head on head, or that due to clouds our planes will not be
detected by Radars, what direction science and education will take?
If the last ten years were a trailer, and Modi claims that he is
coming back with an increased majority, India will give a tough competition to
Pakistan in the retrograde direction of the social, economic and political
situation of the country!
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