THE NATION MUST QUESTION THE GOVERNMENT

I have no personal grudge against Modi. For me the government and governance are of paramount importance. I am not into any party politics nor do I subscribe my allegiance to any political party or an ideology other than democracy. Questioning the government doesn’t mean I am suggesting option for a particular party. Questioning is the voice of dissatisfaction of a democrat to help the government to improve and perform. It is the right of a citizen to question and the government is bound to answer.      

The year 2014 – the nation saw a spectacular victory of Modi lead BJP government as in his election campaigns Modi emerged as a leader to voice people’s anger against tainted politics, corrupt system, frustrating Congress culture, disillusionment of youth, hapless condition of women, hopelessness among farmers and pitiable conditions of the poor. He made relentless tour of the nation, traversed the lanes, bylanes, colonies, villages, districts and cities and we heard him saying that the system has totally collapsed. Hence the mandate was also remarkable – with 282 seats BJP emerged as a single largest party in the Lok Sabha election.. This leader really emptied the bags of all political leaders of other parties. Mayawati’s dalit bastion was devastated, Muslim appeasement policy of the Congress was blasted, umbrella politics was seen to have met her Waterloo and caste politics lost its effect in 2014 election. And when the PM Modi kissed the ground of Parliament it seemed as if the life was infused into the temple of democracy. So everything was there. The whole nation as well as the Indian politics had bowed down to herald ushering of a much awaited transformation. Possibilities of opportunities opened up to churn policies with new approaches. It was expected that life could be infused into the changing business culture and values of India. Wayward national capital and wealth could be shaped as per the requirement of the country. There was ample scope for making the villages self reliant for which action plan could be initiated to propel the journey forward. Modi’s speech in Central Hall of the parliament ignited the hope of the people for the fulfillment of their dream.

On the contrary the nation witnessed the erosion of their dreams with the passage of time. Modi’s inclinations towards, and association with the Ambanis, Adanis and many other business houses gave birth to many questions to suspect the intentions of the government. Vijay Mallya ran away from the country in broad daylight with 11 briefcases after duping the banks of more than Rs. 9000 crores. The government remained a mute onlooker. Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi followed suit. Later it was reported that 31 billionaire defaulters left the country after duping the nation with billions of rupees. Hence all dialogue of Modi seemed ineffective “Na khaunga na khane dunga”. So were the loud claims, whatsoever, made and said with the intention of playing with the emotions of the people? There was no such issue which was left away or not taken up for grabbing power. There was also no such issue related to employment, inflation, black money or corruption were taken up either thereby implemented or effected. Incidents of unaddressed dalit atrocities, premium universities of the country getting lost in sloganeering, bungling in employment and State Service Commissions (SSC) for not offering jobs inspite of job letters issued, students taking to the streets, shattered hopes of farmers resulted in increase in suicides or coming out in groups for agitation than farming -- have been some of the major highlights of public apathy. But all of them are the citizen of India. So is it the fault of citizens to have expectation from the government or is it the government which chose the wrong way to drive the nation? Objections came from Supreme Court against the government on many issues. Banking Services came under the scanner. Universities have been under turmoil; still no charge sheet has been filed against Kanhaiya Kumar for alleged anti national sloganeering. No action so far has been initiated against Robert Vadra for shady land deal. A great hue and cry was made on the alleged corruption in the auction of 2G spectrum scam. On December 21, 2017, a Special CBI Court acquitted all the persons accused in the case. Subsequent to this Ambanis acquired nationwide 4G spectrum at 1/10th of the Rs 1,76,000 Crores expected from the 2G auctions, without as much of a whimper of a protest. Ask anyone in India, what was “2G Scam”, and you will be told how the 2G spectrum was given away for a fraction of what “could have been” raised, a mammoth figure of Rs 1,76,000 Crores. Media houses even decided to write down all the zeros to drive home the point, it is 1,76,000,00,00,000.

Rs 17,789 crore were siphoned off due to fraud in 12,787 banks during the year 2014-17. 15 lakh employees lost their jobs due to demonetization in the first 4 months of 2017, according to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. According to RBI Rs. 16,000 crore of demonetized currency came back to the bank and against which Rs 21,000 crore had to be printed to offset 99% currency in circulation. So what was the reason for this total administrative upset? Or so to say why still the things are going awry? In fact Middle class is financing the nation. They expected tax relief which did not come their way. They have even surrendered their subsidies. Ever since 2014 the government earned Rs. 4.5 lakh crore a year in Petrol.  So things might have been going wrong for some reason. The government might have been unable to control through effective governance. That is why the employment crisis has taken the shape of national calamity today. According to the Report released by National Labour Organization, only 8,23,000 jobs were generated during the period May 2014 to October 2017 against 2 crore jobs a year as promised by Modi. The unemployment rate jumped from 3.41% to 6.23%. So why was the alarm not raised by BJP party if not by the government itself? On the contrary the BJP president also started speaking in the same tone of Modi. He said in the parliament, “It is better to get down to work, run a tea or a pakora stall than idling due to unemployment”. Is it the only great achievement to reach the position of a Prime Minister from a tea seller? Is this the way to justify the irresponsibility of the government towards social and economic aspirations of the youth? Hence it is clear to understand the strategy of the government to talk about selling tea is to lure the poor to rally behind and stand with BJP. The BJP is now after OBC considering Muslim vote bank is no more in their agenda. Chanting hindutva is the order of the day to strategize polarization of votes. So is the concern for nation getting weak? Is grabbing power and thereafter selling the mantra of not losing but retaining power at any cost is becoming the reality of the day? What the people should think? Have people been cheated by the government they chose in 2014 or has the nonchalant attitude of the government eroded the aspirations of the people after the government assumed power? The nation must question. And those who dare to question must be answered point by point with data from authentic sources and not condemning with adjectives and specially devised undependable trolled data mindlessly forwarded in social media without checking their authenticity. Let us not allow the government to be complacent and thereby lazy to deliver by not questioning.