I am not very good with money or
with economics in general but then, when I hear all the hoo-ha about all the
great governance and the great economic strides that have apparently
transformed Gujarat in a relatively short political span of 12 years- to me, it
just somehow seems too good to be true. The sad part however is that to most
us, all this seems to perfectly align, ipso
facto, regardless of whether the 'facto'
is actually existent or not and if at all existent, presents any
corroborative evidence to this economic epiphany that Mr. Modi seems to have
shown his people. Of course, if this stellar growth and development were true,
the choice in the ongoing and upcoming General elections would be an easy one.
But do they really all add up..?
BJP and Narendra Modi's electoral
campaign has one main focus. Good governance and economic development; and of
course the belief and make belief that he
has been the one, and the only one,
to have been true to all these promises in Gujarat. The argument, nonetheless
losses quite a lot of its sheen in the light of some statistical data. The
story of Gujarat's economic robustness is not unique to Modi. Gujarat has been
outperforming the All India average GDP growth rate since the 1980's which of
course is a testament to it industrious people.
To put it into figures, before Modi, Gujarat performed on average 1.1%
higher than the national GDP figures and post Modi this average has been 1.3%.
While being above average is always good and so is the improvement, I do not
see this as stellar growth by a long shot. In my opinion, The Gaurdian, made a
very objective observation about this, "Though
Modi's stock is rising high, evidence for the success of Modinomics is
unconvincing." Then of course
there is the rural electrification brilliance. Unlike the claims, Gujarat is
neither 100% rural electrified and definitely not the first to be so. As of
31st January this year, according to a report by the Ministry of Power,14 other
states are ahead of Gujarat, mind you at 100%. There is also a power surplus
theory afloat that people of Gujrat, even in the villages, have no idea of what
a power cut is. I do not know what 11 lakh housholds, which roughly translates
to about half a million people, think of this; as according to the 2011 census
they do not have electricity as their primary course of illumination. Is it
just me or can it be that there actually are
power cuts or in some cases no power at all. 35 villages still to be electrified
as per data by the way.
So much about the power surplus, lets talk about industrial
investment - Modi's core competency - selling the idea of Gujarat to the world.
Among Indian states, Gujarat ranks 5th. While fifth is not bad at all but why
lie about facts. I assume, lies are not something that we desire from our
prospective Prime Minister. And is economic development everything..? I would
generally take Amatya Sen's and Raghuram Rajan's word over Narendra Modi's.
Maybe because between the former two, they share a Nobel prize, great
intellectual capacities, credits of having predicted the 2008 financial crisis
or may be just because they do not need to use gimmicky "clever" AK47
AK49 genre of punch lines to convey a point. Nonetheless, according to
them, the HDI (Human Development Index) and the CDI (Composite Development
Index) figures in Gujarat are quite disappointing to say the least. Google it
for yourselves and realize the trickery first hand. I am no congress supporter
but my voice is only against all this falsehood. BJP's constant refrain is that
Congress has never done anything. Ever...! And supposedly, AAP has no 'vision' for the country. The irony
however is that neither has the BJP made any clarifications on its own
developmental blueprints. Their favorite phrase of course is "The Gujarat
model of development" Well...whatever that is. No one really seems
articulate enough to let us know. He often asks, "I have no family. Who
will I be corrupt for?” I don't
know, maybe his Public Relations Officer. He seems to have done a pretty good
job with the hogwash.
Having talked about
the 'less important' governance and growth, let us shed some light on India's favorite
pass-time, Religion and the favorite board game of the Indian politician,
Religious sectarianism. If you go to the New York Times website and search for
an article called Timeline of the Riots in Modi’s Gujarat, one
can plausibly see why Modi has been so unapologetic. An action will have a
reaction is his reasoning because obviously rioting is the better thing to do ..!!
As opposed to say, not setting fire to entire neighborhoods, killing people, killing
children- born and unborn and mass raping women. Mr. Modi has a standard and in
some ways a pretty decent counter for this- that of having been re-elected as Chief
minister. This too, unfortunately, like a lot of his other 'facts' is a
little too simplistic and really lacks some of judicial reasoning. If winning
elections were to exonerate someone of
blame, why have courts at all. Lets all decide convictions on opinion
polls. The thousands of cases pending in court could obviously use some help. Then
of course you have the court verdicts which have 'exonerated' Modi. But no one questions
on what grounds and circumstances. The court suspects but has "Not enough evidence for conviction"
I hope at least a few of you have heard/read the chilling confessions by Babu
Bajrangi, "Narendrabhai got me out of jail…… He kept on changing judges….
He set it up so as to ensure my release, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out
yet... ". You think a person who has say over "changing
judges" has no control over the lowly constable or a an SI who does the
investigative 'errands' for the
Gujrat police. Who are we trying to fool..? Religious divisiveness sometimes
just stoops to really ridiculous levels in the Modi stable. In Kerala, for
instance during a campaign he said, "Kerala
the nursery of terrorism" I mean please, Give me a break. I have
experienced social cultures from 5 states in India now and as far as religious
health and harmony are concerned, Kerala wins hands down. And well, I am a
Malayali and I probably know it a little better than Modi himself does.
I can't, by the way, speak of Modi, without speaking about the
RSS. That was after all his training ground. In the onset I'd like to say, I am
not completely against the RSS, especially for the kind of relief work their
young members have done in the past. However, currently living in Germany, I
cannot but stop the Hitlerjungend (Hitler youth) picture baring down on my
thought process because RSS's founding was
inspired by The Fascist regime in Italy. RSS also holds Hitler in high
regard for his staunch adherence to the principle of racial and cultural purity.
This is not rambling by the way. Those interested can read the, Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists
and extremist groups" - Stephen E Atkins. It is not my
intension to paint a bad picture of the RSS but only to bring an objective view
on its ideas and principles, because some charity here and some volunteering
there is not what you are in your entirety. The principles you stand for, are
to me, a major factor. RSS intellectual M S Golwalkar put it down plainly. Vaisudhaiva Kutumbakam and Indian
values- which in itself is a good idea to start with. The problem is when they assume
their idea of India to be the only idea and that this idea is so good and therapeutic
that it is worth shoving down peoples throat. I hope they realize that the very
diversity of India that they are so proud of is the reason why a monochromatic
India is neither healthy nor justified. I am a Christian by religious faith but
I think of myself a little more Indian than Christian because things to do with
me and my maker are personal to me. However, my being Indian and the sense of
pride associating its history, culture and ancient civilization is very public.
Despite this, when history text books in Gujarat call Christians, Muslims and
Parsees foreigners, it pinches pretty badly. I am not sure how many understand
this but the promise of a better economy does not help. Really, it does not! It
just feels a little servile and cheap to me. "We will call you foreigners in the textbooks. In exchange, the economy
will be better and your monthly salary
will eventually see better days." You know, it feels quite demeaning,
not despite, but precisely because of
the promise of better economic sense.
Probably this voice of mine comes too little, too late and
maybe not too many will like or even read it but then, that is never a reason
to shut up. Whether you vote for Modi or against Modi - no matter. But let it
not be based on knowledge via the grapevine. Research well, vote wisely.
