Losing The Plot

From what we had during the 10 years of corrupt Congress-UPA govt, the current one has come a long way in restoring governance at the Centre. It is nearly a year of ModiSarkar and one hasn't heard of corruption or scandals. The dramatic decline in corruption has also been acknowledged by big industries. The govt has done many significant things right and there has really been nothing to seriously criticise. What is being passed as criticism is the demand for more, greater speed in action in some areas and avoiding doing stupid things like the ITR form goof-up. Yes, govts must be strongly criticised and frequently too but what we are seeing is "orchestrated criticism". 

People like SoniaG and RahulG have suddenly discovered their voices in the parliament. The comedy king first went on a spree even mouthing absolute nonsense on the Net Neutrality issue. Then the queen went on a round of hypocritical blabber about govt throttling information and RTI being blocked. This is the same woman whose govt refused to divulge even details of her many travels abroad as also that of her son. She even wants the corrupt to be punished urgently - that is like seeking a self-goal. In reality, the Opposition doesn't really have valid criticism but will keep shouting in the parliament to make sure the govt doesn't pass any bills at all. 

When the "Christians under attack" fraud was being perpetrated by the Opposition and media they got hold of any Christian celebrity who was willing to attack the GOI and play victim. It's a simple trick by the media - quote only those willing to criticise and play victim and black out those saying the opposite. They seek out persons who will go with their agenda. Shahid Siddiqui once tweeted he was dropped from a debate on TimesNow because his vieews did not match that of Arnab’s agenda, which was to tar Modi on the Moradabad riots. He was told the programme was cancelled when it wasn’t. They even got Julius Ribeiro to write a “Meena Kumar oped” where he claimed he felt like a stranger in India now and was on hit list. There have been a couple of church related incidents since then but since the media-fraud got exposed they have been more circumspect. I am sure Headlines Today got Arun Shourie (AS) in the same fashion. I doubt HT even wanted to interview Shourie. It is possible that he may have volunteered to slam ModiSarkar and HT's delight must have gone through the roof.

AS is a much respected journalist, writer and politician but he is downright ordinary when it comes to diplomacy. It is something expected of a mature politician like him. And it is seriously unbecoming of him to trash his own party (Although I wonder if he is still in BJP) when a guy like him does have access to those in power. There is absolutely nothing in criticising ModiSarkar and he can do so as much as he wants. And it's also not that all of his criticism was invalid. The problem is doing an interview with a known Modi-hater like Karan The Tool (Who wanted a sudden removal of Modi so Congress could regain power in Gujarat) and even using lies to garnish the criticism. You cannot use the lies of Ribeiro and the fake minorities-under-attack nonsense and claim good intentions. It makes it abundantly evident that AS's crticism was motivated and probably comes out of a sense of frustration of being sidelined from any ministerial position. 

If you look at the laundry list of his complaints there isn't really much substance except on a few issues. Much of it is mere personal opinion - Saying the govt lacks clear thinking is a very general statement. Then statements like Modi's economy policy is directionless is another mother-hood statement. If it was so, AS could have criticised the Union budget when people all around were praising it. He says Modi's foreign policy is a success but must follow up on MOUs. Does he have any evidence there is no follow up? This whole point quoted by HToday reads quite silly:

"Modi's foreign policy is a success but India has to follow up on the MoUs. Modi needs to execute policies quickly. China is a principal challenge for India. India's foreign policy is getting reoriented. Modi has to move much faster. Nobody is waiting for us. The US is already feeling impatient. Keeping Sushma Swaraj on the margins is wrong".

What exactly do these disoriented statements mean at all? If anything, the whole country acknowledges if there is one thing Modi has moved fast on it is Foreign relations. What is the US feeling impatient about? And our govt must work to satisfy their impatience? That’s a stupid statement one can expect from the C5M not someone like AS. And AS adds the govt must have clarity on Pakistan. Now what clarity does AS want? Years of attempts with Pak hasn't got India anywhere so Modi focusing on other countries of opportunity makes a lot of sense. I have found only one important message from the entire thing that TheJaggi points out: 

"Modi's discomfort with empowering competent people beyond a chosen few is worrying...  Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari have strong credentials, and are competent administrators. Modi has to allow them to grow further and cultivate a higher profile in the interests of the nation".

In fact, GOI often gives an impression it's being run by a small coterie of Modi-Jaitley-Amit Shah. Modi has also given the impression of being excessively flamboyant which is not the image he had earlier - that of a tough-working, result-oriented CM. And as Jaggi says at the end of his article: "For example, why not propose an amendment to Article 30 – which guarantees minorities the right to run their own institutions – to give the exact same rights to majority-run institutions? Who can oppose this right to equal treatment under the law? Being intelligently pro-majority is better than being dragged into the usual tokenisms like offering chadders at Ajmer". Special helplines for Christians, Chaddars at Ajmer all seem to follow the same appeasement nonsense of earlier govts. ABV with a coalition govt managed social issues quite well. Modi, with a brute majority in current times, seems unwilling to address social issues, especially where Hindus are concerned. Having promised Kashmiri Pandits a return to their home-state why would we see such an agitation which wasn’t seen so often in the past? 

I have written before there are two kinds of development that affect people - One that is visible and one that is experienced. Good foreign relations, terminating antiquated laws are all good things but do not directly affect people.  For instance a BJP MP complained roads in his UP town are not built despite PM Sadak Yojana funds made available. That is really a State problem but the GOI has to pressurise the state to execute too.  ModiSarkar is failing in communicating those achievements that are not visible but are being experienced. Even good achievements like reduction of power supply deficit aren’t being communicated all too well. We haven’t seen agitations in Delhi like before and even UP reportedly is experiencing better power supply:

Modi increasingly gives an impression he doesn’t listen anymore to anyone other than his small coterie. And his Delhi-Durbari Arun Jaitley organises secret dinners for media editors who have indulged in concocting fake reports against his govt and his party. From Rambo to 10-lakh suit to Luis Vuitton shawl to a documentary on his community being the latest fraud. Here’s the latest fraud by Indian Express:

Jaitley organised this secret meet and also wanted no one report it. Why? The PM also dropped in briefly at this party. These attempts to convert the anti-BJP MSM crooks to being “faithful” slaves is the most stupid thing yet by the GOI (Or Jaitley in particular, if you like). A report on this secret dinner really makes BJP and GOI look foolish. There are hundreds of fraudulent articles written with malicious intent by many media houses. Either bring a strong autonomous watch-dog or prosecute every criminal media house indulging in wanton, willful slander. No, instead the Delhi-Durbari wants to groom media editors as has been his passion through his entire career. What is the message being sent out? That there are no sane voices to listen to? People like Jaggi are strong supporters of Modi and offer very valid criticism. He also wrote a piece “Modi doesn’t need a Palanniappan Jaitely” and that should tell the PM a lot. A good cleaning up of fraudulent NGOs gets this response from the US Ambassador who exceeds his brief with such comments:

GOI must clearly assert that it will not tolerate interference in our internal affairs and not receive sermons from US Diplomats. This obviously comes over the Ford Foundation being put under scrutiny. And the Ambassador’s nonsense confirms that many criminal NGOs are indeed poodles of the US govt (in case of FF, there are many reports of CIA links). According to MHA this TOI report indicates FF has illegally funded profiteers and political parties too. If there is wrong-doing GOI should damn well kick out FF the way it has dealt with Greenpeace. Ditto for thousands of other NGOs too. Modi became PM under the weight of excessive expectations (part of it created by himself) and therefore he gets measured by those expectations. It is not as if the govt is doing badly or has not done good things. It is just that criticism is for demanding more and there is nothing wrong in that. But motivated criticism from people like Arun Shourie need not weigh heavily. But ModiSarkar is giving the impression they don’t give a damn for any voice even from those who support him. 

It is important to win private victories before public victories as Stephen Covey puts in 7 Habits. I could even ask if Modi wants to be the next model for Mayur suitings like Virender Sehwag or a PM. It is disgusting; the kind of promotions being undertaken. Who is doing all this for you? Your jokers at PMO or Arun Jaitley’s durbar? Modi needs to win at home before seeking foolish victories abroad. I would rather Modi gave an interview to Dinamalar or Chitralekha or some such media in India than India-haters like TIME. The silly obsession of seeking laurels from Western-trash (from the same morons who trash Hindus and Hindu culture for no reason) is the first sign of a silly govt that has forgotten who got them there in the first place:

Also, the belief in incrementalism in many areas by the govt is also surprising; like income tax rules. There are many areas where incrementalism will not produce any great results. There is a distinct lack of courage in taking bold decisions. The media went gaga over Jaitley’s budget (for obvious reasons - they being his durbaris) but I would consider it one of the most uncreative budgets of recent times. What is obvious is that there is a serious lack of creativity in the Cabinet although most ministers are doing quite well.  For a country like India saddled with the sins of past govts it needs to show some dramatic and bold decisions. 

Modi and his team need to communicate more with people. Fraudulent reports in the media must be dealt with through regular press conferences and not through silly debates in criminal media channels. The unwillingness and lack of courage to change public discourse is the biggest failure of ModiSarkar. After the recent dinner nonsense of Jaitley one very strong supporter of Modi and BJP since the party was born remarked in private: They are losing the plot or have already lost it.