Published On : Fri, Dec 22nd, 2017

Is the tide turning for Modi?

Advertisement

PM Modi
New Delhi: Yesterday, it was a shocking negation of all the ‘explosive’ 2G scam charges – a scam that was supposed to have robbed the country of a whopping Rs. 1760000000000/ !!!

The amount was so humongous that of course the nation was shocked. There was a collective baying for A Raja, the then Telecom Minister’s blood with aspersions being cast on the PM, Man Mohan Singh and Finance Minister Chidambaram also.

Opposition was handed a trump card for 2014 already in 2010

This disclosure was made in 2010. Though there were still 4 years to go for general elections of the country, the ‘opposition’ was already dealt a winning hand with this one by the CAG.

If anyone else had been PM, they would have still attempted to ‘manage’ it and brush it under the carpet, but not Singh. He, with his impeccable track record in public life HAD to take the CAG ‘allegation’ seriously and order a CBI probe.

Even then, some brave ones did try to reason that the loss was ‘notional’ , hypothetical and not real in any way.

Raja’s sensible reasoning that he wanted Telecom to be affordable for all Indians with this move, did not wash, or was not backed up strongly.

He not just had to quit the Minister-ship, he was jailed. (With not a shred of evidence it is now apparent.)

UPA 2 went into a tailspin with that… every decision of any Minister was scrutinized ad nauseum.

Adarsh ‘scam’ was another adarsh scandal to catapult BJP to power

In a strange co incidence this ‘scam’ also came to limelight in 2010; though it had been ‘unearthed’ way back in 2003 only! The issue was first raised in a newspaper report in 2003 but did not evoke any official reaction. In 2010, it was again raised by various newspapers and TV channels.

Opposition politicians latched on to this scam also since it ‘involved’ not one but 4 Congress CMs, one present and 3 past, many very senior bureaucrats, Army officers and builders who were also Congress sympathizers.

TV channels, more strident in 2010 than ever before had discussions and talk shows on it almost daily…till Ashok Chavan then CM had to resign.

Though it was Congress who was ruling Mumbai, and Maharashtra till 2014 end, the Enforcement Directorate and CBI were asked to begin investigations. A judicial investigation was ordered and it submitted its report in 2013. The Maharashtra government, under Prithviraj Chavan as CM initially rejected the report.

But after Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the then President and V. President of Congress publicly disapproved of Maharashtra cabinet’s decision to reject the judicial report, Chavan convened a cabinet meet to review the decision.

Not taking into account the PM and the top leadership of Congress taking serious cognizance of all charges in any scam the opposition went tong and hammers after it terming the entire party corrupt and guilty of ‘Crony Capitalism’. So much noise was made about all these that people of the country en mass began participating in ‘Anti – Corruption’ crusades. (Remember Anna Hazare in Delhi then?) Naturally, the main opposition party, the BJP unified under Modi, came to power in a ‘tidal wave’ across the nation. (Ab ki baar Modi Sarkar,became the anthem for the change.)

If they were serious about fighting corruption one would have thought that they would have seriously followed up on the investigations and brought the ‘guilty’ to justice.

But astonishingly nothing like that happened. One after the other all ‘scam’ case allegations are eating dust in our Courts.

It now appears that either there was no ‘case’ to begin with or it was not followed up seriously because punishing the allegedly guilty was never on the agenda. (One suspects that if ALL beneficiaries of Adarsh Housing Society are named, many names of BJP leaders would feature too.)

No, the scams were only electoral ploys to win elections.

Well, with the dramatic reversal of Gujarat elections where despite boasting of a ‘land slide 150+ seats victory’ the Ruling party could not even hit a century that plot seems to be fast unraveling.

As some observers noticed, the word ‘Corruption’ was not even used in Gujarat campaigning. (‘Pakistan’ was used much more!)

With corruption charges falling flat, what will be the ‘winning strategy’ now?

They have tried out Corruption; they have tried out Incompetence; they have tried out Ridicule ( remember the ‘Pappu brigade’ ?), they have tried out Communalism – with Love Jihad and Gau Rakshaks allowed to run amok. They have tried out Shock therapies by way of demonetization and sudden imposition of an immature tax regime of GST. They have tried a false ‘Make in India’ whereby foreign companies have had flood gates opened to enter India with ‘chosen’ Indian partners and they have promoted Babas like Ramdev who with all his talk of ‘Swadeshi’ only wants to sell ‘noodles’ and ‘pasta’ and ‘fairness creams’ to Indians!

The only ‘strategy’, they haven’t seemed to have tried out seriously is Good Governance benefiting all sections of society and people of all castes and Religions.

What is most unforgivable is how a complete Short shrift has been given to farmers in particular and rural India in general. Employment generation has also been abysmal.

These factors are bound to catch up with the Ruling party sooner rather than later though they are right now basking in the ‘glory of having captured 19 states – one more than Indira Gandhi’. (Quite failing to clarify that when she ruled, India only consisted of 24 states, now it has 29. If you count all the states that fragmented later, like Bihar, MP and AP, her count would probably go to over 20!!)

The Modi wave, or ‘tornado’ as some called it, seems to have peaked. We all know what happens afterwards…

—Sunita Mudaliar (Executive Editor)