Modi,

HOW
MODI
FAILED
INDIA

A. GOPANNA
 CONTENTS
M o d i , a m i s t a ke Look Ahead... 4

How Modi failed India Rafale Scam 6

Modi Made Disaster 14

Where are the jobs? 20

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Blow to Farmers 26

A. Gopanna is an author, journalist, full time Congress Gabbar Singh Tax 30

activist and a staunch nationalist. He is currently
The ‘Insecure’ Nation 36
the Chairman of the Media Department, Tamil Nadu
Congress Committee. Bank Loot Scam 44
In 2018, he wrote and published a book Jawaharlal Burning Pockets 48
Nehru - An Illustrated Biography. The forewords for
this book were written by Former President Pranab Licence to Kill 52
Mukherjee and Former Vice President Hamid Hasari.
Rising Intolerance 56
The book fetched great reviews from eminent PUBLISHED BY
personalities and print media. Choking CBI 62
Surya Publications
In 2003, Gopanna authored and published a book Kamaraj Bhavan Undermining Democracy 66
Kamaraj - An Era in Tamil. This publication was well 573, Anna Road, Teynampet Atrocities against Dalits 70
received and is currently in its 5th edition. His interest Chennai - 600006
in nationalism has spawned several other books in Whither Lokpal 72
the last three decades. March 2019
Money Down the Drain 74
KEY CONTRIBUTORS Price: Rs. 100
Flagship Farces, All 78
Rajiv Netra Email: suryagopanna@gmail.com
Babu Jayakumar Contact : 94449 50044 / 98844 70111 UPA achievements - 2004 - 2014 80
LOOK AHEAD....
ord Yama was having a bad
day at the heavenly gates
as Chitragupta had taken
French leave. Bereft of
earthly records of the souls arriving
at his counter, he decided not to
send anyone to heaven and go by
their marital status to assign each
of them places in purgatory or hell.
So every man who answered ‘Yes’
to the question ‘Were you married?’
went straight to purgatory and
those who said ‘No’ went to hell
as ‘he had not experienced it in
earth.’ Reading the thoughts of
Yama, a smart man declared that
he was married twice, hoping that
might open the gates of heaven.
Hearing him Yama, lost his cool and
screamed: ‘Off to the eternal inferno
in hell. You can never be pardoned
for repeating the same mistake.’
Yes, voting for Narendra Modi
once is pardonable. But if the
same mistake is repeated even the
heavens cannot save us. Yet the
sceptical, discerning voter would
like to know why exactly he should
not vote the way he did in 2014. For
some may argue that half a decade
6 7
is a short period to really assess the
performance of an individual in the
business of running a country as big
as India. But the period since May
2014 threw up ample reasons to not
vote for Narendra Modi or the BJP
once again when there was nothing
much to write home about any
achievement. In fact, the country
saw the worst ever government
that showed an open contempt for
the people who elected it to power
and went out of its way to help the
extraordinarily rich become richer
and richer.
Not only that, crony capitalism,
corruption, financial irregularity,
undermining of established
institutions and fuelling of
communal feelings were so
common during the five years that
freedom, liberty and human rights
were trampled upon unabashedly.
Without going into the minute
details of various international
studies, reports and surveys
that showed India going down
the indices on happiness, press
freedom, personal liberties, ease of
doing business and so on, this book
seeks to just remind the discerning
voter of some major scams,
underlining the moments when the
nation was taken for a ride.
Piercing the fabric of the
quintessential Indian society
known for diversity in culture,
arts, lifestyle and food habits with
its communal agenda, the BJP
government destroyed plurality
and pushed sections of Indian
citizens to the edge. Its policies
and preferences gave a free run to
uncouth, unscrupulous elements,
who took it upon themselves the
duty of deciding what others should
do. Its respect for democratic norms
touched such a low that the Prime
Minister has still not addressed a
single media conference. All that
he does is to personally meet select
media persons and speak to them
‘off the record’ or answer pre-
prepared questions sent to him in
advance.
Forget the media, how did the
Prime Minister treat the Parliament?
Or for that matter other institutions
like the Reserve Bank of India or
his own Cabinet. Did he not sign
a renewed deal with the French
company, Dassault Aviation, for
procuring fighter planes for the
Indian Air Force when the defence
minister was inaugurating a mobile
fish stall in Goa? Did we not see
wealthy bank loan defaulters flying
away to safe heavens in foreign
countries when poor farmers, unable
to put up with the torture of petty
bank officials, commit suicide? Has
not the gap between the haves and
have-nots yawned more and more
during the last five years?
How pathetic it was to watch
ordinary people dying in queues that
formed in front of banks and bank
ATMs when all of a sudden the Prime
Minister came on television to tell
them that their hard-earned cash
was worthless. Stories are aplenty.
But in this book we just discuss a
score of issues that will ensure that
the Indian voter does not err, once
again. Yes, even the Gods, in all their
divine munificence, will not forgive a
voter who repeats a mistake.
A. GOPANNA
Author
 RAFALE SCAM
By meddling with Rafale deal to help his buddy Anil Ambani, Modi
T he Rafale deal is the mother
of all scams. Not only has
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s direct involvement been
established, the scam has caused
RAFALE IN NUMBERS

undermined nation’s security and our public sector’s integrity a slew of collateral damages: heavy
loss to exchequer, undermining of
126 36
a national institution like Hindustan
Aeronautical Limited, compromise
on national security, and unfair 526 1670
favouritism to Anil Ambani enabling
him to make undue profits.
THE VISIBLE MODI HAND
19
THOUSAND CRORE
60
THOUSAND CRORE
• In the morning of April 10
2015, the day Modi signed
the agreement for 36 Rafale
HAL NONE
fighter planes, the then French
President Francois Hollande
spoke to a newspaper about HAL ANIL AMBANI
the ongoing negotiations with
India for the sale of 126 Rafale
aircraft and had no inkling about SECURED COMPROMISED
the announcement that Modi
would suddenly make the same
afternoon. Anil Ambani flies sortie in
Rafale Fighter Jet at Aero
• Two days before Modi left India 2017
for France, the then Foreign
Secretary, S. Jayshankar, on
April 8, said, ‘We do not mix
I want to speak to every single member of the Armed up leadership-level visits with
deep details of ongoing defence
Forces of this nation. This is about your future, you contracts. That is on a different
defend us, you protect us, you fight for us, you die for track.’ So, even the Indian
us and here it is absolutely clear that the Prime Minister government was not aware of
has stolen Rs. 30,000 crores of your money, by-passed Modi’s plan to sign a new deal.

the process and given it to his friend Mr. Anil Ambani. • The then Defence Minister,
We have been saying that there should be a JPC, there Manohar Parrikar, who was in
Goa inaugurating a mobile fish
should be an enquiry. stall when Modi signed the deal
Rahul Gandhi in France, later made it clear that
Congress President
8 9
 at HAL. HAL has a long association NO TRANSFER OF
with Dassault and would have been
TECHNOLOGY
the natural choice for offset partner.
But now it has lost out to a new
private company that has absolutely
UPA proposal had Transfer of Why
Technology when HAL was to
zero experience in making anything,
leave alone a fighter aircraft.
assemble 108 aircraft. In the NDA was Anil
deal there is simply no transfer of

RELIANCE, THE WINNER

Three days after Dassault’s CEO
spoke glowingly of HAL in the
presence of Indian Ambassador
to France, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani
Group formed Reliance Defence
Limited.
technology robbing the country Ambani’s
of valuable technology know-
how. The present government, fledgling
which boasted Make in India,
has snatched away a state- company
owned defence-manufacturing
company’s chance at perhaps the chosen
biggest manufacturing deal in its

The Indian government had

the decision on the new Rafale
agreement was that of the Prime
Minister’s alone and that even
he came to know of it from the
Why did National Security Adviser. Parrikar
had reiterated his statement
the Prime subsequently.
Dassault Reliance factory site
cost went up to about Rs 1,660 crore
with the addition being avionics and
radar equipment. Now even if you
add those, does the cost increase by
3x?.
126 TO 36 AIRCRAFTS
history, to replace it with an order over HAL?
that eventually favours a private
suggested the name of Reliance corporation.
Defence Limited to be the
offset partner of Dassault in the
manufacturing of 36 Rafale aircraft.
This was unequivocally spelt out
by Francois Hollande, who was the
French President in 2015. He said in
September 2018 that Dassault did
not have any other choice but to
accept the name of Reliance Defence
Limited to conclude the deal.

• This clearly establishes that the Reliance Defence Limited was

Minister go deal was unilaterally decided
by Modi completely rendering
for the Rafale previously negotiated deal for 126
aircraft and authority of Defence
deal without Acquisition Council irrelevant.
taking 40,000 CR LOSS TO
EXCHEQUER
others into When the negotiations for 126
confidence? aircraft was on, the cost of one
fighter was quoted between Rs 650
and 750 crore but after Modi signed
the agreement for 36 aircraft the
10
Modi claims the cost per aircraft is
cheaper than the one negotiated
by UPA. If that is the case, then why
did Modi settle for only 36 aircraft
considering the dire need to add
more aircraft to the fleet?
HAL, THE LOSER
In March 2014, Dassault Aviation,
the makers of Rafale, signed
a work-share agreement with
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL) under which 70 per cent of
the manufacturing would be done
awarded the contract worth Rs
30,000 crore, depriving HAL of
the business, though it had no
experience in manufacturing
aircraft. The loser had 40 years of
experience in the business and the
winner was just 12-days old. This is
crony capitalism at its best. Reliance
was also awarded an additional Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation Eric Trappier (left), French Defence
life-cycle cost contract of Rs 1,00,000
crore. Thus it had pocketed a
Minister Florence Parly (right) and Chairman of Reliance Group Anil Ambani in
Nagpur on October 27, 2017, where they participated in the foundation stone
contract for Rs 1,30,000 crore, thanks laying ceremony of Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited
to Modi.
11
 NATIONAL SECURITY IN JEOPARDY
Why was When the IAF had a clear need to increase the squadron, procuring
just 36 aircraft has dealt a body blow to the fighting capabilities of
THE HINDU EXPOSÉ
Air Force’s our air force.

requirement of The government has claimed that it struck a deal for buying the
fighters off the shelf – at the cost of sacrificing the Make in India
126 fighter aircraft concept – so as to get quicker delivery of the aircraft and secure the

not taken into country’s defence. However, the 36 Rafale jets are to be delivered
within 67 months of the signing that took place in October 2016. The
consideration? first of these jets will not arrive before October 2019. How is this an
emergency purchase as proclaimed by Modi?

UPA’S PRIMARY MOTIVE WAS TECHNOLOGY

TRANSFER
The sustained campaign to undermine HAL could only lead to the
Is not the Rafale disestablishment of the prestigious defence public sector unit. Not
only was HAL taking care of most of the requirements of IAF, it was
deal a case of around which India’s future indigenous defence industry would have
been built. How long can the country afford to depend on foreign
crony capitalism, companies for defence supplies?

the hallmark of SUPREME COURT VERDICT IS NO CLEAN CHIT

FOR MODI
Modi regime?
The Supreme Court verdict on December 14, 2018 refers to a CAG
report, ratified by Public Accounts Committee. It was a fraud played
by the Modi government. The fact is CAG report was tabled in
Parliament on February 12, 2019. The court mentioned that Air Force
officials were examined by the court on the acquisition process and
pricing. This is also factually incorrect as the only questions they were
Why did the cost asked were regarding the generation of the Rafale aircraft and when
the last acquisition took place. The court also ignored pricing and
of Rafale aircraft major deviations in defence procurement procedure.
shoot about three WHY THE DEMAND FOR JPC
times in the deal Right from the beginning, the Congress Party has been demanding
a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee, maintaining that
struck by Modi? the SC is not the right forum to decide on a matter like this involving
national security. Only a JPC will have the scope to dwell deep and
come out with all the facts relating to a scam of this magnitude,
involving the Prime Minister.
12
ANTI CORRUPTION CLAUSES REMOVED • Why did the PMO conduct parallel negotiations? Did
the PMO try to protect special interests?
Key conditions for anti-corruption penalties and
• Parallel negotiation weakened India’s position and
an escrow account for payments were dropped
bolstered French’s position. The result - final deal price
days before the Rafale deal was signed, The Hindu
had reported, describing them as major and
unprecedented concessions from a government that
struck by NDA was more expensive than the UPA deal
by Rs. 1933 crore (246 mn euros).
has repeatedly stressed on fighting corruption in
ACTIVELY MISLED THE SUPREME COURT
defence deals.
Government not only failed to make full disclosure but
MISCONDUCT BY PMO - PARALLEL
NEGOTIATIONS
also suppressed information regarding the role of the
PMO in this case and objections raised by Defence
Defence Ministry raised strong objections to
Ministry. As the level of the objection was serious, it
should have been reported to the Supreme Court.
“parallel discussions” conducted by PMO during the
negotiations over the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal
between India and France.
13
 CAG REPORT
LEAVES QUESTIONS
UNANSWERED
Unresolved Anil Ambani Connection - CAG report
ignores the Anil Ambani connection since it does
not deal with the offset contract aspect of the deal
Unanswered Pricing Question - CAG report only
mentioned about the differences in pricing in
percentage terms. Without actual numbers, one
can’t really validate
Overlooked Dissenters’ Concerns - Three experts
from the Indian Negotiating Team raised objections
regarding the high price and slow delivery.
According to the team, actual deal is 55% more
expensive than what it would have been had the
2007 price been adjusted. The CAG failed to delve
into the objections raised
CAG Calls out Government’s Subterfuge - CAG’s
own report politely called out the government’s
subterfuge on the procedures followed
No Comment on Dropping of Key Clauses - No
comment on anti-corruption clauses, which
were removed at the very last minute. Silence
on dropping the requirement for a sovereign
guarantee or a bank guarantee, including routing
payments through an escrow account
14
THE VIOLATIONS
Defence Procurement Procedure
was not observed
Mandatory approval of Cabinet on
Security was not obtained
By letting PMO hold parallel
negotiations with the French side,
he undermined the role of the
official negotiating team
I deeply regret to say that the
CAG has meekly submitted to
the unpreedented demand of
the government and presented
a Report that contains no
useful information or analysis
or conclusions. The CAG has
failed the people of the country.
I think I was not wrong when I
said yesterday that the Report
may not be worth the paper on
which it is printed.
P Chidambaram
Former Finance Minister
Why would the NDA-BJP Government waive
the anti-corruption clauses in the Rafale deal?
The answer is very simple - because there has
been corruption in the Rafale deal. That is our
direct charge - the charge of Indian National
Congress - that there has been corruption in
the Rafale Fighter deal.
A sovereign guarantee and escrow account
is thrown by the wayside. It is replaced by
a Comfort Letter. Now which Government
would not want to secure the advances that
it has paid?
Manish Tewari
AICC Spokesperson
15
 MODI MADE DISASTER
It was like shooting at the tyres of a fast moving vehicle... Modi stopped the
Indian economy and made people suffer
What the PM has done is the biggest impromptu financial
experiment in the world. He did not ask anyone. The finance
minister did not know. The chief economic adviser did not
know. This decision is not that of the finance minister. This
is the Prime Minister’s decision
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
16
O GROWTH DECELERATES
n 8 November 2016,
Modi unleashed the ill-
planned and ill-thought
out demonetization among the As per CSO estimates, GDP
unsuspecting populace of the country.
growth rate was seen at a
It was a devastating stroke that
caused death of over 140 people and four-year low of 6.5% in 2017-18
plunged the GDP from 8.01% in 2015 -
16 to 6.5% in 2017 - 18. GDP (%) GVA
DEMONETISATION
ANNOUNCEMENT
It was on November 8, 2016, at 8.00
p.m. the Prime Minister of India
made a sudden announcement of
scrapping Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/-
currency denominations from their
legal tender and circulation. These
currency notes accounted for 86% of
the total value of the legal currency in
circulation in India. Overnight, the 86%
currency notes became mere papers
in the hands of the public, bereft of
their legal tender. This left millions of
people with no money to resort to.
DEVASTATING IMPACTS OF
DEMONETISATION
ATM deaths - Over 140 people died
waiting in long queues at the ATM
GDP - The GDP growth rate of 8.01% in
2015-2016 fell to 7.11% in 2016-2017 after
demonetisation. Indian economy lost
1.5 per cent of GDP in terms of growth.
That alone was a loss of Rs 2.25 lakh
crore a year.
Job loss - According to CMIE’s
Consumer Pyramids Household
Surveys (CPHS), approximately 3.5
million jobs were lost during the final
quarter of the financial year 2016-17.
17
 Black money turned to white:
Of the Rs. 15.41 lakh crore worth
Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes in
circulation on November 8,
2016, when the note ban was
announced, notes worth Rs. 15.31
lakh crore have been returned.
Demonetisation is a state-
sponsored once-in-a-life time
opportunity given to crooks to
convert their black money into
white and get away with lighter
penalties. Many wrongdoers, in
collaboration with corrupt bank
officials, distributed their gains
over many bank accounts to hide
their money. If stamping out black
money was the intention of the
move, not even 0.01% of that has
been extinguished
Fake currencies - The forgers,
though initially surprised were,
eventually able to forge the new Over 140
notes too. lives were
Cross-border terrorism in J&K lost due to
has, in fact, gone up between
November 1, 2016 and October demonetisation
31, 2017. There were 341 terror
incidents during this period
disaster
compared with 311 a year ago in
the same time span, MoS for Home
Affairs Hansraj Ahir told the Lok
Sabha on December 19, 2017.

Small Businesses - Demonetisation Agriculture - The farmers, especially

gravely impacted their revenue
collection and threatened their
existence. Many small shops had
to close down their business.
In the first four months after
demonetisation, business was
Indian economy down by as much as 50% for small
traders. It took about six months
lost 1.5 per cent for the situation, currency flow and
of GDP in terms business to normalize.
of growth. That Cash Shortage - Acute cash
shortage led to chaos in various
alone was a loss parts of the country. ATMs ran out
of cash and many ATMs were non-
of Rs 2.25 lakh functional. Violence broke out in
crore a year some parts of the country including
New Delhi. Many ATMs were short of
cash until April 2017 – 5 months after
the start of demonetisation.
small and marginal who largely
depend on cash to buy seeds,
fertilizers and to pay for sowing,
borrowing water for irrigation
and for other related agriculture
equipments, remained worst
affected and could not complete the
crop related activity.
Huge Printing Cost: Incurred huge
cost of Rs. 12877 crore in printing the
new currency. Further managing
the lakhs of crores of old currency
volume has also incurred a big
expense.
Easy hoarding: Rs.2000 currency
note will be much easier to hide and
can be used to store black money in
shorter space.

18 19
 IMPACT ON COMMON MAN
• People in the lower rungs of the
Thousands of SME socio-economic ladder lost their
units were shut lifetime savings
down. Lakhs of jobs • Poor traders went without business
were destroyed. and so their families without food
• The middle-class queued up before
banks and 140 people died trying
to lay their hands on their hard-
 Poor people lost won money
their lifetime • The rich faced no problem because
savings and their banks did not let them down (a
CBI raid at the premises of Sekar
families went Reddy, a businessman in Chennai,
without food even as people lined up before
bank branches, yielded 33.6 crores
of newly mint currency notes of
Rs 2000 denomination but the
Reserve Bank of India did not know
15 crore daily the bank that supplied the notes)
wage earners
• People who were travelling were
lost their caught unawares and had to go
livelihood for without food and basic necessities
though they had money with them
several weeks
• Mothers could not buy milk for
children and office-goers had no
cash for basic expenses like
transport and food
• Men and women took leave
from office and stood in front of
empty EVMs waiting for them
to be replenished with new
currency notes and most of the
I was stunned to hear the note-
time returned home empty- ban announcement. I don’t
handed know who had advised Prime
Minister Modi to inflict such
• Families who took sick relatives
a reckless step on the nation.
in hospitals were turned away
It was a ‘Black Day’ for India’s
as the currency they had was
economy and democracy. Rs. 16,000 crore out of demone-
useless
What is even more tragic is tised notes of Rs. 15,44,000
• Women in abusive homes
who scrimped and hid money
that none of the lessons from crore did not come back to RBI.
this monumental blunder have That is 1%. Shame on RBI which
were caught on the horns of a
dilemma: to let their savings go been learnt by the government. ‘recommended’ demonetisa-
a waste or get exposed to the Black money and tax evasion are tion. RBI ‘gained’ Rs. 16,000
husbands of their secret savings a menace but demonetisation crore, but ‘lost’ Rs. 21,000 in
was not the solution priniting new notes! The eco-
• Families of migrant workers lost
Dr Manmohan Singh nomists deserve Nobel Prize
the fruits of the hard work of
their sons and daughters toiling Former Prime Minister
in alien soil
P. Chidambaram
Former Finance Minister
• Senior citizens subsisting on
meagre cash struggled to meet
daily needs

Did the rich and the WHITE LIES OF BJP

corrupt stand in • BJP president Rajnath Singh said on 17 April
2014 that if his party came to power at the
queue? No. They just Centre, it would bring back black money
lapped up the gift stashed in foreign banks within a period of 100
wrapped opportunity days.

to convert all their • In 2014, Mr Modi, while campaigning for the Lok
Sabha election, promised to bring back black
black money in to money from abroad to India and deposit Rs. 15
white money lakh from it to every citizen’s bank account.

20 21
 WHERE ARE THE JOBS? W WHAT’S THE DATA
hen Prime Minister Modi
came to power in 2014, he
came with a promise that
with a boost given to the economy,
Unemployment touched a record high in the regime of Modi, employment prospects for youth
will increase phenomenally. What 7-10 million jobs 11 million jobs lost in
whose election promise for jobs is just a mirage is the situation today? People, created in 2017-18 2017-18 - Centre for
especially youth, are still looking for - Employees Monitoring Indian
jobs that are nowhere in sight. They Provident Fund Economy (CMIE)
are in poor circumstances and are Organisation (EPFO)
losing hopes of a bright future.

UNEMPLOYMENT IS AT A 18.7% jobless urban 27.2% jobless

RECORD 45-YEAR HIGH males aged 15-29 in urban females
2017-18 - National aged 15-29 in
Official reports giving statistics Sample Survey Office 2017-18
showing shrinkage in the
(NSSO), Ministry of
employment market are not
statistics
published and propagated by
the Government, leading to the
suspicion that actuality - and so the 3.5 million jobs lost in
truth - are suppressed. manufacturing sector since
2016 - All India Manufacturers
* In 2017-2018, the country’s
unemployment situation
Organisation
worsened

* Unemploymentrate stood at 6.1 per LABOUR MINISTRY NATIONAL SAMPLE

cent Labour Force Participation SURVEY OFFICE (NSSO)
Rate (LFPR)*
* Joblessness was 7.8 per cent in
urban area and 5.3 per cent in rural
areas

* The unemployment rate of 6.1 per

In a country of over 1.2 billion people, India is creating about cent in 2017-18 is the highest in 45
450 jobs per 24 hours while China is creating 50,000 jobs years.
in the same 24 hours. Our prime minister doesn’t seem to These figures appear in a report
think this is a problem. We need to first acknowledge that submitted by The National Sample
there is a problem, and then we need to galvanise support Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of
CENTRE FOR
Staistics.
to fight it. That is what we (Congress) believe in.
MONITORING INDIAN
Rahul Gandhi The heads of this organisation are
sad that the statistics have not ECONOMY (CMIE)
Congress President
been put out by the Government
22 23
 More than
50% of
India's
working-age
population
out of labour
force: NSSO
in the public domain. Their report Prime Minister Modi in his 2014 Lok
that exposes the unhappy situation Sabha election campaign promised
The youth of in the job market has not been
published.
20 million jobs every year but this
level was never achieved.
the country feel People wonder whether there is a According to the NSSO, the
betrayed. Their deliberate attempt to hide facts. joblessness rate among youth was
at higher level compared to the
is not contributing to any economic
activity.
DEATH OF NATIONAL
STATISTICAL Why Modi
Demonetisation and GST have had
terrible effect on jobs.
COMMISSION
Modi in an attempt to cover up the
did not put
Through January to December
2018, India lost 11 million jobs. Modi
grim state of the job sector post
demonetisation has withheld the
the same
had said in 2013 that 20 million jobs National Statistical Commission effort he
would be added every year, but that
never happened.
from publishing its report. This
has forced the NSC Chairman and has put into
The numbers do not look good. The
Modi Government has introduced
only remaining external member
to resign citing governments
fudging job
meddling over jobs data and being data into
new data-gathering methodology
after discarding Employment-
excluded from new GDP series. The
leaked report, however, confirms solving the
Unemployment Survey. As a result
there is a data gap on job creation.
the dire state of the Indian economy
under Modi government. job crisis?
The reasons behind employment
loss are the lack of new projects
and the attempt to build cashless
economy.
In Indian economy, employment
elasticity, that is, the ability to
produce employment by every one
per cent increase in investments has
been declining over the years. This
is another reason for the drop in the
employment rate.

hopes dashed The report is significant as it was the

first big and all-embracing survey of
previous years and much higher Labour-intensive sector reforms
compared to that in the overall are needed. Technology-intensive
as the Modi the unemployment situation in the
country after the November 2016
population. reforms will not bring more and
more jobs. Preferential privatisation
government demonetisation. The rate of joblessness among
will benefit only a few.
young rural males and females was
has not even According to Pronab Sen,
former chief statistician of India,
higher in 2017-18. Among the urban • Half of India’s working-age
males it was higher compared to population (15 years and
created a road- unemployment has been rising
rural youth and the unemployment above), for the first time, is not
since 2012.
map for job Unemployment rate rose to 5.0 in
rate among the educated also went
up. .
contributing to any economic
activity, according to the National
creation 2015-16 from the previous figures of
According to NSSO half of working
Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO’s)
latest jobs survey.
4.9 and 4.0.
age population (15 years and above)
24 25

PH.D’S FOR PEON
May 2017: For 6000 Group D
jobs in West Bengal, 25 lakh
appeared for exam, which is
400 applicants for each job
Jan 2018: For 18 vacancies
for peons in Rajasthan, 12,453
people applied. Applicants
include 129 engineers, 23
lawyers, a charted accountant
and 393 post gradates
March 2018: For 90,000
railway jobs 2.8 crore people
applied. They were vying for
jobs as drivers, gangmen,
switchmen, trackmen,
cabinmen, helpers and
porters
April 2018: For 1,137 constable
posts in Mumbai, 167 MBAs,
423 engineers, 543 post
graduates, 3 lawyers and 167
BBAs applied
June 2018: Those waiting
for their turn for jobs offered
through employment
exchanges throughtout India
was 4.27 crore
26
Unemployment rate
stood at a 45-year high
of 61% during 2017-2018
JOB CRISIS IS NOT DATA
CRISIS
“I don’t blame our opponents for
blaming us on the issue of jobs,
after all no one has an accurate
data on jobs. Our traditional matrix
of measuring jobs is simply not
good enough to measure new jobs
in the new economy of New India,”
Modi said.
An examination of multiple
datasets reaffirm the acuteness
of India’s jobs crisis. Modi should
stop citing the lack of reliable
and timely data as an excuse for
having a meaningful debate on job
creation.
After having failed to register
any meaningful growth in last
54 months advising people to
sell pakoda or startup India is no
more than a cruel joke.The BJP’s
attempt to steer the conversation
away from cold statistics to
political rhetoric around pakodas
is understandable given that the
numbers do not look good.
A misleading story of
Modi promised job creation
2 crore jobs How did the ‘Towards a Payroll
Reporting in India’ report
every year. He arrive at the 55 lakh new jobs
should have number? It used data from the
Employees’ Provident Fund
created Organisation (EPFO) which
10 crore jobs registers employees from the
formal sector for provident
in 5 years. In fund benefits. It found that as
of November 2017, there were
reality, not even 36.8 lakh new members in
10 lakh jobs the age group of 18-25 years
who registered with the EPFO
were generated vis-à-vis the previous year. It
assumed that any 18- to 25-year-
old registering with the EPFO
implies that he or she found
a new job in the organised
sector. It then extrapolated this
November 2017 data to the
full year of FY-2018 and boldly
claimed that 55.2 lakh new jobs
were created in FY-2018.
It doesn’t take much to realise
the flaws in this analysis: New 18-
to 25-year-old EPFO members
do not automatically mean net
new jobs in the economy; an
informal job that turns formal
with an EPFO registration does
not mean it is a new job; cherry-
picking an EPFO data point and
post-demonetisation/Goods
and Services Tax (GST) time
frames lead to these grossly
misleading conclusions.
It is well-known that when an
employee loses her job or stops
working, her membership
from the EPFO database is not
removed automatically. So,
the EPFO data set may reflect
new additions accurately but
not deletions, i.e. job losses.
When we talk of new jobs in the
economy, we usually mean net
new jobs, not gross jobs. So, it is
somewhat misleading to claim
that the economy has “created
55 lakh new jobs” when we do
not know how many lost their
existing jobs.
Jairam Ramesh
Former Union Minister
Praveen Chakravarty
Chairman, Data Analytics, AICC
27
 BLOW TO FARMERS T WHY FARM LOANS SHOULD BE
he Indian farmer suffered the
most under the Narendra
Modi government. Though WAIVED
Modi had promised of doubling
farm income by 2022, it remains • To ease farmers’ pain, loan waiver can be a balm. But
Modi would not waive farm loans though bad loans of crony capitalists to the a mirage as farmers, in the past Modi government is admantly refusing to help the
five years, suffered more. Apart farmers in distress, ignoring growing incidents of suicides.
tune of Rs. 3.5 lakh crore were written off by banks from demonetisation that had an
• The total outstanding institutional crop and term loans as on 31
impact on poor farmers, the sector
March 2018 were Rs. 11,63 lakh crore, which is only about 1.5% of the
has been woefully neglected in the
GDP.
past few years with the government
more keen on facilitating top- • Of the total loan outstanding, crop loan amounts to Rs. 3.76 lakh
notch industrialists get multi-crore crore only. If crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh are waived, it would add up
contracts like it did to Anil Ambani only to Rs. 1.90 lakh crore.
in the Rafale deal
• Recently elected Congress governments waived loans to the tune of
5 YEARS OF NEGLECT Rs. 18,000 crore in Rajasthan, Rs. 38,000 crore in Madhya Pradesh,
• Agricultural growth was sluggish Rs. 6000 crore in Chattisgarh and Rs. 34,000 crore in Karnataka, as
at 1.9 per cent in Modi rule even promised by Rahul Gandhi during polls.
after the GDP figures were • When Modi made public sector banks write off bad loans worth
reconfigured by the government Rs. 2.41 crore between 2014 and 2017, why not farmers’ loans. Will he
to show a growth rate of 7.2 per favour only crony capitalists?
cent. The 1.9 per cent growth rate
was half of what it was during the
previous UPA government

• Farmers’ suicides went up so

much during Modi rule, the
government stopped printing
the suicide figures from February
2017

• The government’s Minimum

Support Price (MSP) did not
If Narendra Modi can waive off a loan of 3.50 lakh crore match the promised MSP of 150
per cent of the cost of cultivation.
outstanding loan of 15 rich people, then he should also Also government made no efforts
waive off the loan of farmers in all states of the country. to increase procurement of the
produce
“We will not let the Prime Minister sleep till he
announces a loan waiver”. • Since 2015, less than 10 per cent
of the farmers have been able
Rahul Gandhi to sell their produce at the MSP
Congress President announced by the government
28 29
 GST ON AGRICULTURE Low Investment = Farmers’ woes
Modi government has earned the
dubious distinction of being the first
government ever to tax agriculture.
Modi government has imposed 5%
GST on fertilizers, 12% GST on tractor/
agricultural implements, 18% GST
on pesticides, 18% GST on tyre, tube,
transmission parts and 18% GST on
cold storage equipment.

FAILING CROP Investment related to GDP

Souce : Pocket book of Agricultural
INSURANCE SCHEME statistics 2017

Reply to an RTI query reveals

Under UPA, • The government should have
invested Rs 6.4 lakh crore
agriculture to achieve its goals for the
farm sector, according to the
witnessed recommendation of the Ashok
Dalwai Committee but it allocated
its highest only Rs 2.12 lakh crore in the last
five years
ever growth
• The BJP reneged on
phase of 4%, implementing its promise in
the manifesto for 2014 elections
compared to that it would evolve a National
the low 1.9% Agricultural Market to give
farmers the best price for their
growth in the products even while protecting
consumers from high prices.
four years of The scheme launched in April
2016 has been a non-starter,
Modi rule thanks to lack of funds and the
implementation of GST
30
COST + 50% = JUMLA
Modi promised to Cost + 50%
profit to the farmers in their 2014
election manifesto. The stark reality
is that Modi Government has
betrayed the farmers in the last five
years. The farmers are struggling
to cover the cost of cultivation
leave aside make any income or
profits. Raising the MSP to at least
1.5 times of the comprehensive
cost of cultivation was one of the
recommendations of the National
Commission for Farmers led by MS
Swaminathan. On an average there
is a 25% shortfall between MSP
recommended by the Commission
and one declared by the BJP Govt.
that PM’s crop insurance scheme
ended up being a goldmine for ten
private insurance companies in
just two years, with the difference
between premiums received and
compensation paid at nearly Rs
16,000 crore in just two years. Crop
insurers enjoy huge profits while the
farmers toil on the fields. Farmers
have also realised it’s a long wait for
claiming money under the scheme
with reimbursements going up to 18
months.
NO FARM LOAN WAIVER
FOR POOR FARMERS
Govt has written off Rs 3.5 lakh
crore bad loans of corporates in four
and a half years. However, it is not
considering waiving off the loans of
small and marginal farmers to get
rid of their debts.
INVESTMENT IS ABYSMALLY WHY NO EXPORTS?
LOW AND FALLING With no clear policy on export of
Agriculture is the key to India’s agricultural products, the Indian
economic growth. Though it farm industry has failed to evolve
contributes just 15 per cent of the a proper export market. The
GDP, it supports 70 per cent of unpredictability of import and
the country’s population, besides export restrictions has come in
providing the foundation for other the way of linking Indian products
to the global markets. If the Modi
sectors. For the industrial sector
to grow, agricultural sector has to government had brought about a
grow. Public + Private investment proper trade policy and removed
should grow. restrictions on export, farm industry
might have looked up.
Modi government has done next
to nothing. Agrarian distress
has gone up; farmers have
committed suicide; agricultural
income has declined; and
market prices in almost every
commodity are lower than the
MSP, causing losses to farmer.
Yashwant Sinha
Former Finance Minister
31
 GABBAR SINGH TAX
Modi opposed GST as CM of Gujarat but ruthlessly implemented it as PM,
unmindful of lakhs of workers losing their jobs
As soon as we come to power, we will change
the ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ into the real tax. We will
implement one tax at lowest rates. All power would
be used to generate employment.
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
32
T
he implementation of the Goods
and Services Tax (GST) by the
Narendra Modi government at
the stroke of midnight on July 1, 2017,
Collections have failed to achieve an average of more
than Rs 1 lakh crore consistently as assessees have
managed to find ways around the GST by dealing in cash.
was seen as a daylight robbery by many
small businessmen in the country. But, Comparison of Gross GST Revenue
as it is his wont, Modi went on berating (Average 2017-18 & April’18 to Dec’18)
about it, saying, ‘the world is in awe (Figures in Rs. crore)
seeing how we implemented the new 105000
tax system in such a short time.’ The 103459
fault, to be precise, is not with the
1,00,710
tax system but with the way it was 100000
tweaked to help big business houses 97,637
96,483
95,610
MODI AND GST 94016 94,442 94,726
95000
93,960
• ‘‘It is Gujarat Sabotage Tax’. This
was what Modi said of the GST in 89885
2011 when the UPA government 90000
introduced it in Parliament. What he
vehemently opposed for many years
as Chief Minister of Gujarat became 85000
an ideal tax scheme after he became
Prime Minister
80000
• GST was typical of any other Modi Average Apr-18 May’18 June’18 July’18 August’18 Spet’18 Oct’18 Nov’18 Dec’18
(2017-18)
initiative: Hurriedly and clumsily
rolled out after a grandiose theatrical Source: PIB, Government of India, Ministry of Finance
announcement. It was done without
preparing the nation and the I-T
department for the task and sending
panic waves among the business
class that was not ready for the
change in taxation.
• When it was introduced in July
2017, Modi came up with five
different rates of tax under GST.
Soon he started giving in to
demand by various lobbies that 365
amendments were made to GST in
the first 10 months itself, pointing to
the fact there was no application of
mind when it was brought in.
33
 d
to s an ll
d
le nd y bi HOW SMALL BUSINESSES information technology took a
u
tem ref -wa WERE WRECKED long time to be resolved. The first
s ,
sy ling he e
filing system was so cumbersome
I T fi f t • One year after GST roll out, small that it had to be abandoned. What was wrong in
k ed urn n o business were reporting drop in Besides multiple registration
the implementation?
f- ba ret atio sales and struggling with high requirements complicated
l in nt thing for every one and made
Ha lay • Very less
cost of compliance. As a Delhi-
e companies fear about multiple
m still g
based dealer of power tools and
de ple m assessments and audits. compliance time

GST
industrial hardware said, he
te in
im tem g sys match lost 60 % of the business in the period
s lin HOW GST WENT WRONG?
sy lt
n fi a resu one first year as customers were not
u r • Penalty and
et s d prepared to pay Rs 18,000 tax on • Though the tax system subsumes
i n al r lace, a being a purchase worth Rs one lakh a variety of indirect taxes like late fee started
F
o t in p s not and went to buy branded goods. excise, VAT levied by the Centre
n e too early, from
i nvoic His business with an annual and States, sales and service
of turnover of Rs 17-18 lakh was taxes, for small business people November 2017
earlier exempted from excise and the tax slabs under GST are too
hanis m • Same late fee for
Refund mec
the goods sold were only taxed at high, much higher than the
s 5% VAT. Now the 18% slab and the grand total of all the myriad taxes small and large
still in a mes 28% tax make his locally made that they paid earlier businesses
goods prohibitive
• Since only businesses with
• Some returns like
Frequent ch • According to a dealer of mild annual revenue of less than Rs
anges in tax steel ball bearings, his suppliers 20 lakh are exempted from GST GSTR-1 are very
and laws - m es
ore than 450 in Punjab had shut their registration, most small scale descriptive
notification manufacturing units, laid off industries fall under it purview
s and 100 cir
have unsett culars employees and had switched and are forced to pay more tax
led the who to importing goods as they find than before, even if it is just 18%.
le system

FAILURE
that economical. GST had made
Com manufacturing by small scale

and plex t
industries unviable as the same
sev ax s goods could be imported at a
era t
l ce ructur cheaper price.
sse e
Li
tig s an - 4 ta • Filing returns was another
Pe at
d levi x slab headache for the small business
tit i es s
io ons people. They have to delegate the
ns a work to professionals, which was
ha re an additional financial burden for
ve su
be rgi them
en ng
fil - O • Also compliance process became
ed ve a dampener with glitches in the
so r 10
34 fa 0 35
r
 IMF, Most of those companies lack the infrastructure to file the numerous
returns that need to file periodically and have to expend money on
AUGUST 2018 seeking professional help

‘India, which is • As far as organised businesses are concerned, those with a turnover of
over Rs 1.5 crore were paying about 24% taxes earlier. Now under GST,
like an elephant they pay less if they fall in the 18% category or a little more than earlier
This is a Government hypocrisy
starting to run, if they pay 28%. Also they are equipped to upgrade the infrastructure
by a hypocrite…..these four
required to file a plethora of returns every quarter
needs to simplify GST means one tax rate only.
years have cost us dear. It is
• GST did away with countervailing duty, levied under old excise law, and a very expensive ‘Tughalaki
its GST structure’ special additional duty imposed on imports to create a level-playing field If (it has) multiple rates, call it
farman’. I will give you an
for goods manufactured locally and cheap imported products ‘RSS tax’... It is an undeniable
example of how expensive it
fact that GST has not yet had
CENTRE VS STATES a positive impact on economic
is. AIMO is a very well known
premier organization. Its survey
BRITISH GST does not augur well for cordial Centre-State relationship as the entire growth. The design, structure,
reveals that operational profits
process would make the Centre very powerful as it decides on the rate of
BROKERAGE revenue to be shared with States. Similarly it can affect some states that
infrastructure backbone, rate
of traders have dropped by
or rates and implementation of
FIRM HSBC IN are more dependent on products than services. the GST were so flawed that GST
70% since 2014. Job losses are
reported at 43% in the trader
ITS JUNE 2018 TAXING THE CONSUMER has become a bad word among
segment, micro-segment
business persons, traders,
REPORT GST primarily taxes the consumer and not the manufacturer. So the burden exporters and the common
reports loss of 32% jobs, small
of the new tax regime is on the shoulders of the common man segment reports of 35% and
‘GST has not citizens.
medium scale about 24%
delivered on its P. Chidambaram
Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Former Finance Minister
promise to the AICC Spokesperson
economy. Indeed,
its glitches
such as delays
in tax refunds,
the network’s
teething issues
and higher
tax rates, had
increased the
demand for cash’
36 37
AN ‘INSECURE’ NATION N
arendra Modi’s stint as Prime
Minister would go down in history
as a period of weak national Why has Modi, the NSA and the Home
security with rise in militant attacks, and
Minister not owned responsibility for the
army and civilian deaths. Besides the
Weak policies and lack of will for stern action made the Modi regime a period Pulwama massacre, Modi’s flip-flop policy unpardonable failure of National Security
that saw too many attacks on security forces on Pakistan had put the nation at risk. and Intelligence apparatus?

PULWAMA ATTACK
The dastardly Pulwama attack happened
on 14 February 2019 bang in the middle Why was the request of CRPF and BSF for
of the Kashmir valley. Convoy of vehicles
movement of troops by air denied by MHA?
carrying security forces was attacked by
Were the CRPF jawans not stranded for one
a vehicle driven by a suicide bomber. The
week on account of bad weather before the
attack resulted in the death of 44 CRPF
personnel. Attack was carried out by a
convoy movement? Would air transit not
Jaish-e-Mohammed member named Adil have saved precious lives of our jawans?
Ahmad Dar, an Indian citizen. What were
the Indian forces doing? This is a major
break down of security and the Modi
government has no answers. This was a
planned and coordinated operation where Why did the government ignore the
about 80 kg of militant grade RDX was threatening video released by Jaish-e
used to rip apart multiple trucks. Mohammed two days before the
attack?
This was a
planned and
coordinated
How did local terrorists acquire hundreds
The brave are martyred. Their families struggle.
operation where of kgs of RDX, M4 Carbine and rocket
Forty jawans give their lives but are denied the about 80 kg of launchers? How was an RDX laden car
permitted to enter the most secure
status of “shaheed”. While this man has never militant grade Jammu-Srinagar National Highway,
given and only taken. Modi gifted 30,000 cr of their RDX was used to despite the ‘standard operating
money and will live happily ever after. Welcome to
Modi’s New India. rip apart multiple procedure’ for sanitising the convoy
stretch?
Rahul Gandhi
trucks.
Congress President
38 39
Doubts over
recorded many such acts of terrorism, all when the
BJP was in power and many of them when some
Pulwama
election was coming by. They are:
The manner in which the BJP and the Narendra
Modi government tried to gain political capital
when Indian brave heart Wing Commander Abi-
nandhan Varthaman was in the custody of Paki-
stani army is highly regrettable.
Similarly, the government allowing the Pulwama
tragedy to happen without heeding to recom-
mendations for the airlifting of the CRPF jawans
in Kashmir raises many doubts because there has
been a pattern in recent Indian history that has
Modi strikes a pose for
a photoshoot when the
nation was in mourning
40
• May 1999: Kargil war. Indian troops had to fight
Pakistan soldiers for three months to flush out
the infiltrators who had occupied Kargil in the
Indian territory along the border
• December 1999: The hijacking of the Indian
Airlines Airbus A300 from Kathmandu to New
Delhi, which led to the BJP government re-
leasing three Islamist militants at Kandahar in
Afghanistan. Those three militants subsequent-
ly wreaked havoc by planning and executing
many massacres including the murder of jour-
nalist Daniel Pearl
• December 2001: Parliament attack that saw five
armed Islamist terrorists entering the Parliament
complex. Six police personnel, two Parliament
security staff and a gardener were killed
• February 2002: The Godhra train burning inci-
dent in which 59 persons were burnt inside the
Sabarmati express train. The incident led to the
infamous Gujarat riots that left 1,044 persons
dead, 223 missing and 2,500 injured
• September 2002: The attack on the Akshardham
temple complex at Gandhinagar in Gujarat by
two heavily armed terrorists. The siege ended
with the intervention of the National Security
Guards after a day but by then 30 people had
been killed. The Supreme Court later pulled up
the Gujarat Police for the shoddy investigation
into the case as the six accused, picked up later
on, were all acquitted
• March & November 2002: Two attacks on the
Raghunath temple at Jammu. In March 2 suicide
bombers struck, killing 11 persons. In November
also two suicide bombers killed 14 devotees
• January 2016: Terrorist attack on the Pathankot
Air Force Station that left seven security person-
nel and a civilian dead, besides the five attackers
• September 2016: A pre-dawn attack on the army
brigade headquarters in Uri of Jammu and Kash-
mir that left 17 army personnel dead
• July 2017: Eight pilgrims were killed on their way
to the Amarnath cave shrine as terrorists opened
fire on them. Earlier attacks on Amarnath pil-
grims had happened in 2000, 2001 and 2002 – all
when the BJP ruled the country
POLITICISATION OF BALAKOT
The Congress condemned the
Pulwama attack and praised
the IAF strike on a terror camp
at Balakot in Pakistan. In such
a tense scenario between India
and Pakistan, the Prime Minister
should have convened an all-party
meeting to discuss the issue.
Instead, he and his colleagues
focused on maximizing the attacks
for political gains.
The statement made by BJP
leader Yeddyurappa that this
attack will fetch the BJP 22 seats in
Karnataka [in the upcoming polls]
reflects their perverse mindset.
Amit Shah in a rally said “under PM
Modi’s leadership, the government
carried out an air strike after the
13th day and killed more than 250
terrorists”.
On the contrary, IAF’s chief B.S.
Dhanoa clarified that the Air Force
does not count human casualties
and the Indian and foreign media
have refuted those numbers
as well. All Indians are proud of
the Indian Army which belongs
to the nation. Congress will
vehemently protest BJP’s attempt
to appropriate the Indian army as
its own.
41
 ‘FLIP-FLOP’ PAKISTAN
• 
POLICY
In the budget • Warm welcome: In 2014, Modi
for 2018-19, Modi invited Nawaz Sharif for his oath
taking ceremony and gifted a
government’s shawl to Sharif’s mother. Pakistan
responded with a dozen ceasefire
allocation for violations in the next few months.
the Armed • Cold shoulder: In August 2014,
Pakistani High Commissioners
Forces was just decision to meet separatists
before official talks with India.
• Cold Again: Within days of the
1.58 per cent of
In a knee-jerk reaction, India
responded by cancelling meeting
the GDP, the with foreign secretaries. In the
lowest since SAARC meet at Kathmandu, a
perfunctory handshake between
1962. Modi and Sharif did not translate
into a full-fledged bilateral
engagement
42
Soft Approach: Cross-border
• Dialogue again: In November 2015,
terrorism in the meanwhile
continued. On the sidelines
of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation summit in Ufa in
July 2015, Modi along with Sharif
reinstated the need to commence
dialogue and engagement. A
• Impromptu Stopover: In December
National Security Advisor level
meeting between Pakistan and
India was scheduled for August.
call for talks in Ufa, Gurdaspur in
Punjab and Udhampur in J&K
were at the receiving end of terror
attacks emanating from Pakistani
soil. Following this, the meeting
between NSAs was cancelled, as
India stuck to pre-conditions that
Pakistan could not agree to.
in the Climate Change Conference
MODI TAKES CREDIT FOR
in Paris, Sharif and Modi reiterated
their commitment to the dialogue
SURGICAL STRIKES
process.
Modi took undue credit for the surgical strikes
2015, Narendra Modi made a surprise carried out on September 29, 2016. The fact
stopover in Lahore to greet PM Sharif however is such strikes were carried out in the
personally. This was as impromptu past and were never made public as part of
as was his decision to demonetize
government’s policy of maintaining strategic
high value currencies. Within days
of his visit, the Pathankot Air base
restraint.
was attacked by Pakistani militants,
Modi and his govt ran a high-voltage
taking everyone by surprise.
publicity campaign including innumerable
India even agreed to have a joint
investigation with Pakistan. However press conferences/advertisements/ posters/
with Pakistan blaming India for the
attacks, the relationship reached a
hoardings taking credits for Surgical Strikes.
point of no return.
43
• Cycle continues: The vicious cycle of violence
and terror continued unabated. Pathankot attack
was followed by Uri. India denounced Pakistan in
international forums and responded with surgical
strikes which did not achieve the desired goal and
led to great hardship of the people living near
the border. Neither did it lead to any appreciable
reduction in Pakistan’s cross border attacks. We had
a attack on Sunjwan camp in February 2018 and very
recently the Pulwama attack.
Modi’s approach of befriending one day and
• 
ostracizing next day shows his incompetence in
foreign policy affairs. Working with Pakistan requires
understanding of complex dynamics, nerves of
steel and stamina for the long haul, which the Modi
government lacks.
COWERING BEFORE CHINA
Modi government did not confront the Chinese over
the building of a military complex at Doklam and a
new road to the south of the plateau though two Union
Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman
visited the country for bilateral talks.
The military complex had come up 10 metres away
from an Indian Army post and the road south of
Doklam plateau gave easy access to China to Jhamperi
Ridge overlooking the Chicken’s Neck, India’s gateway
to the northeastern states.
RISING ATTACKS IN KASHMIR
• In fact, since May 2014 when Narendra Modi became
Prime Minister, there has been a dangerous spurt in
terrorist attacks across the Kashmir Valley besides
the cycle of violent street protests.
• Since 2014, over 400 soldiers have lost their lives in
the combat operations and militant attacks in the
conflict-ridden state.
44
• A comparative study of data shows that there has
been 500 percent rise in the terror incidents after
the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014. While
in 2013 there were 170 terror incidents, 2014 saw 222
incidents. The subsequent years, 2015, 2016, 2017
and 2018 have witnessed 208, 322, 342 and 614 terror
related incidents respectively.
ATTACKS IN The Air Force should be given an
opportunity to come up with facts. After
• There has also been an alarming rise in the local NUMBERS the air strikes, we were told there were 300
deaths, 350 deaths. But I read reports in the
youths joining militancy. From 2010 to 2014, as many New York Times and the Washington Post
as 114 youths joined militancy. But despite “Operation
All Out” from 2014 to 2018, under Modi rule, over 524 • 498 soldiers have which said no human was killed. Another
foreign media report said only one person
youths joined militant ranks in Kashmir Valley.
• Under Modi government, the anti-India sentiment lost their lives was injured.
in Kashmir has certainly turned into hate-India We have the right to know, people of this
sentiment on the ground if the funerals of local slain country want to know how many were
militants are anything to go by. • 278 civilians killed killed (at Balakot). Where the bomb was
• While the wrong policies of Narendra Modi actually dropped? Was it dropped on the
target? We don’t want politics over the
government are pushing Kashmir Valley towards
Pakistan, even the Line of Control and International
• 524 youths joined blood of jawans who guard our frontiers.
militant ranks
Border in otherwise peaceful Jammu region are not I condemn this attempt by some to reap
secure. political dividends to get votes.... We don’t
• The state recorded 2,936 instances of ceasefire
violations by Pakistan in 2018—the highest in the
between 2014-18 as want any war for the sake of elections, we
want peace
past 15 years with an average of eight cases daily.
compared to only Mamata Banerjee
NEGLECT OF ARMED FORCES CM, West Bengal
114 youths between
In the budget for 2018-19, Modi government’s allocation
for the Armed Forces was just 1.58 per cent of the
GDP, the lowest since 1962. Parliamentary Standing
2010-14
Committee under Major General B C Khanduri exposed
the neglect of the armed forces saying that 68% of the
equipment was vintage and there was no money for • Over 5000 ceasefire
purchase of emergency weapons
violations since 2014
Modi shelved the raising of the Mountain Strike Corps
at the cost of Rs 64,678 crore. The additional 90,274
soldiers were meant for deployment along the China
border
45
 BANK LOOT SCAM B
esides the known fact that
Gujarati diamantaires,
Nirav Modi and his uncle
Mehul Choksi, were close
to Narendra Modi, there is also a
The Modi regime allowed 19,000 bank fraud cases involving Rs 90,000 crore to Choksi-Arun Jaitley connection that
happen. He also let 23 fraudsters flee the country after duping India of is intriguing: Choksi’s fraudulent
firm, Gitanjali Gems Ltd, paid a
Rs 53,000 crore retainership fee of Rs. 24 lakh to
Sonali Jaitley, the Finance Minister’s
daughter, for God knows what.
The escape of the uncle-nephew
duo, who was duped the nation of
Rs 26,306 crore, was not prevented
though a complaint lodged with
the Ministry of Corporate Affairs,
the Prime Minister’s Office,
Enforcement Directorate and
Serious Fraud Investigation Office
in May 2015 clearly mentioned that
Choksi had shifted his family abroad
and was diverting money in order to
run away from India after defaulting
everyone. Even the Gujarat High
Court was told about it.
was tracked down in the United not address this issue. After the
Kingdom, nothing has been done RBI governor Raghuram Rajan
about bringing Choksi back. He left identified the problem, the
India in January 2018 and became a government held a three-day
citizen of Antigua. Though India has brainstorming with banks in Pune
no extradition treaty with Antigua, in August 2015. The seven-pronged
the Prime Minister could have plan to reform the public sector
taken up the issue when he met banks, however, remained a non-
his Antiguan counterpart Gaston starter. Only more scams came to
Browne in April 2018. That he did the fore after that.
not ask for it speaks volumes. Nirav
Modi, too, may not be brought back
in the near future, going by the
delay in the extradition of earlier
offenders like Lalith Modi and Vijay
Mallaya from UK.
FALLOUT OF HIGH NPAS
Frightened by the surging bad
loans, banks cut down their lending
to industries during the Modi
regime. As a result, the growth
of industries was stunted, which
means that they were not creating
jobs. The Modi government did

When the Harshad Mehta scam

broke in 1992, Dr Manmohan Singh,
the then finance minister, was
held responsible and had to face
an inquiry by a Joint Parliamentary
Nirav Modi (circled) was part of the Indian delegation, led by Prime
Committee to explain his role.
Minister, to the World Economic Forum at Davos in January 2018
Similarly when the Ketan Parikh
scam broke, Yashwant Sinha had to
This Rs 22,000 Crore (PNB) scam cannot have been face the music. But after the Nirav
Modi-Mehul Choksi scam broke, no
done without a high level protection. It must have
such thing happened and neither
been known by the people in government beforehand the finance minister nor the prime
otherwise it is not possible. PM will have to come forward minister has been held responsible
and answer questions for it.
Rahul Gandhi While India has asked for the
Congress President extradition of Nirav Modi, who
46 47
THE GREAT INDIAN LOOT MODI CAUSED RAISING OF
NPA
Bank fraud cases peaked after Modi became Going by records, it is clear that Non- Why Jaitley
Prime Minister. And many of the defaulters Performing Assets of nationalised banks
are reportedly close to him. Did the banks went up from Rs 2,83,000 crore in May did not alert
take advantage or is Modi responsible? 2014 to Rs 12 lakh crore in March 2018,
the authorities
making Modi responsible for Rs 9,17,000

Loan fraud cases amount to

crore worth of NPA. Besides crony
capitalism that saw Modi’s blue-eyed
when he knew This scam exposed
weakness of India’s banking
the

Rs. 61,260 crore boys getting loans unfairly, schemes like

that Mallaya system. It also soiled the
demonetization and faultily implemented
prime minister’s image of
PSU banks have reported
GST caused the spike in NPA and the
collapse of banking system
was about to incorruptibility. The prime

8,670 loan cases in

SBI’S STATE OF AFFAIRS escape? minister is well acquainted with
both Nirav Modi, who owned
the last five financial years
several companies and used to
In the 200 year history of State Bank of
India, its NPA raised to the highest figure
sell high-end diamond jewellery
Excluding PNB scam, loan
of Rs 2,25,000 crore in 2018 under Modi under his eponymous brand,
fraud cases worth IT’S YOUR MONEY
government. In that year, out of 21 public and his uncle Mehul Choksi,
Rs. 17,634 crore sector banks, 19 were showing losses.
To overcome the loss, the government
What has been swallowed by who ran Gitanjali Gems, as their
reported this year sharks like Vijay Mallaya, Nirav photos and videos together
allocated Rs 2,70,000 crore Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vikram attest.
PNB reported 389 fraud Kothari and many others is LETTING MALLAYA
cases till FY17 amounting to actually the people’s money. ESCAPE Yashwant Sinha
Non-Performing
6,562 crore For, the banking system of any Former Finance Minister
Rs. country comprises of the small
If you are wondering how easily
Assets of savings of the people. It’s the
Vijay Mallaya left India leaving
behind a debt of Rs 9,000
little drops of people’s savings
Bank of Baroda reported 389
fraud cases amounting to
nationalised that become a mighty ocean of
crore, don’t look elsewhere.
The culprit is Narendra Modi’s

Rs. 4,473 crore banks went up money in the banks. Though the
banks need to let the money
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
When Mallaya met Jaitley in
from Rs 2,83,000 flow out of its reserve to earn
profits, when the borrower fails
Parliament corridor, he had
Bank of India reported 231 agreed to settle the dues before
loan fraud cases totaling crore in May to return the loan, the banks go
bust with the people’s savings
leaving for London.

Rs. 4,050 crore 2014 to Rs 12 going down the drain. So, it

is the governments duty to
When Mallaya tweeted this
after fleeing, Jaitley had a
State Bank of India reported lakh crore in protect people’s money. In the weak defence. He denied the

1,069
case of India, the government meeting. But Mallaya made it
loan fraud cases in
the last five financial years
March 2018 itself lets its favourite borrowers
run away with the money.
clear that they had spoken while
walking in the corridor.
48 49
 BURNING POCKETS T Taxing A comparison of the price buildup for petrol
hough petrol and diesel
between 2013 and 2018 shows a higher excise
costs were always high in
India, it was only during the times duty and VAT contributing to the high price
The common man suffered the worst in Modi regime as the prices of petrol Modi regime the price escalation
and diesel went up despite crude oil rates falling was due to the government’s greed Crude Oil Price
to make more money. Earlier, the
109.47 (India Basket, $) 69.3
prices shot when crude oil prices 80
1.79 Dealer 3.62
went up globally but under Modi 12.68 Commission
even when crude became cheaper, 16.34
petrol and diesel were sold for 60
exorbitant rates. Modi increased 9.48 VAT (Delhi UT)

in Rs.
excise duty twelve times between 19.48
November 2014 and October 2018 40
— raising Central excise on petrol by Excise duty
52.15 37.43

Source: The Hindu

211 per cent and diesel by 443 per
cent.
20
Price Charged to
POOR HURT BY THE FUEL Dealers (excluding
PRICE HIKE Excise Duty & VAT)
0
• Most of the two-wheeler users UPA - 2013 NDA - 2018
lead a hand-to-mouth existence
and a price hike pinches their
pockets. Auto rickshaw drivers
charge more every time there is a
price hike.

• Whenever the price of diesel goes Modi’s Tax

up, the price of commodities after taking over, bringing the
shoot because major transport

vehicles run on diesel. The
extra cost is passed on by
the traders to the customers.
Since Independence, as the
Only 15 to 50 people are benefiting under BJP’s government had its finger on
regime. Prime Minister has shown the path to the pulse, it extended subsidy
Doubled
price of diesel close to that of
petrol. The escalation of diesel
prices triggered an overall
inflation that continues
on Petrol
• Even the freight charge for petrol,
diesel and LPG goes up with

capitalists and entrepreneurs but has led farmers,

women and youth towards darkness
to diesel to keep its price much
lower than petrol. The Modi
government took away the
every raise in diesel cost and that
in turns reflects on the price paid
by consumers of the petroleum
Tripled
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
subsidy in October 2014, months products
on Diesel

50 51
$120

$110 • Under NDA’s rule, in 2018, after

the global price of crude oil had
$100
CRUDE OIL $
$90
$ come down to $64.70 a barrel,

$80
$/BBL the price of a litre of petrol was
higher at Rs. 76.61 and the Modi
$70 $ government took Rs. 19.46 from
$60 $ every litre. Diesel price was at
$50 $ Rs. 67.86 as the Centre took
$ away Rs. 15.33 as tax
$40 $
$30
DIESEL COST MORE Central government saves
$20
THAN PETROL! Rs. 15 on every litre of petrol due
2003-04 2005-06 2007-08 2009-10 2011-12 2013-14 2015-16 2017-18
In a rare occasion, the price of to fall in crude oil prices. Central
`120 diesel went over that of petrol in government puts additional tax
`110
the State of Odisha in October, of Rs. 10 on every litre of petrol.
`100
PETROL 2018. At that point, diesel sold Bonanza to central government Prices of essential commo-
PRICE IN ` at Rs. 80.40 a litre and petrol is Rs. 25 on every litre of petrol. dities are burning holes
`90 ` ` Rs. 80.27 a litre. That happened
DELHI This money rightfully belongs in the budgets of the all
`80 because unlike other states,
` to the average consumer. It is Indians. People of India will
`70 Odisha charges a uniform 26
possible to cut upto Rs. 25 per not forgive and forget the
`60 per cent VAT on both the fuel.
Since the other costs like base litre, but the government will Modi govt. for the ‘Fuel Loot’
`50
` ` not. They will cheat the people and give a befitting reply to
` price of the fuel, excise and deal
`40
commission etc came on par by cutting price by Rs. 1 or 2 per the BJP in the forthcoming
`30
the equal VAT did not give the litre of petrol. elections.
`20 minor difference that other states
2003-04 2005-06 2007-08 2009-10 2011-12 2013-14 2015-16 2017-18 could give to the two fuel. It could P Chidambaram Randeep Singh Surjewala
happen only under Modi. Former Finance Minister AICC Spokesperson
THREE CONTRIBUTORS Value of Rupee: Since India
•  goes up. Thus when the first
has to pay for crude in foreign two factors cause a price hike, it
TO FREQUENT PRICE BRING PETROL, DIESEL
currency, whenever the value triggers the third factor, too
HIKE of the rupee drops, we have to
UNDER GST
Crude oil price: Whenever the
•  pay more which reflects on the UPA VS NDA BJP government lacked the
domestic price of petroleum • In 2013 when the global price of political will to bring petrol and
price of crude oil goes up in the
products. Under Modi, the crude oil was at $105.87 a barrel, diesel under GST. Because of
global market, the domestic
Rupee’s value plummeted against the UPA government kept the excessive tax by the centre and
rates of petroleum products
the dollar like never before price of petrol under check at states, petrol and diesel are sold at
also increase. This is something
Rs. 76.1 per litre, of which the exorbitant rates, thus burdening
that India cannot do anything • V
 AT: The Value Added Tax levied
central government took just the common man. Bringing petrol
about because crude oil price is on petrol and diesel is charged
Rs. 9.48 as tax. The diesel price and diesel under GST can reduce
determined by various agencies ad valorem. It means that when
was Rs. 52.54 with the Centre the fuel price and provide relief to
and consortium of oil-rich the price goes up the tax also
taking Rs 3.56 as tax the public at large.
countries

52 53
 N
arendra Modi never
LICENCE TO KILL
uttered a word decrying
the dangerous breed of
cow vigilantes, who have
killed at least 118 Muslims and Dalits
after he took over as Prime Minister.
The cow is revered by many for centuries but the Modi government has On the contrary, BJP leaders have
engendered bloodshed in the name of cow eulogised the vigilantism, giving
legitimacy to the hate crime. Some
self-styled vigilantes like the killers
of Mohammed Akhlaq, lynched
on the suspicion of storing and
consuming beef in 2015, were given
jobs at a state-owned thermal
power company at the behest of a
BJP MLA of Uttar Pradesh.
LYNCH MOB COMES
ALIVE UNDER MODI
REGIME
• The Modi regime, on assuming
power, made the cow an
instrument of political warfare
and men from the
fringes sprang up
from all over
• Cocking a snook
at citizens’ right to
culinary choices,
Hindutva leaders
advocated blanket
ban on beef, invoking
the riff-raff in their
ranks to assume the
Policemen in #Alwar took 3 hrs to get a dying Rakbar Khan, role of protectors of
the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just 6 KM away. the cow
Why? They took a tea-break enroute. This is Modi’s brutal • A demand for
“New India” where humanity is replaced with hatred and banning cow
people are crushed and left to die slaughter was
vociferously revived
Rahul Gandhi
by BJP giving rise to
Congress President
54
a proliferation of cow protection
societies called ‘Gau Rakshak
Samitis’ in the cow belt, driving
vigilantism
• The ‘Gau- Rakshaks’, as the lynch
mob has christened itself, saw in
their new role an opportunity to
target hapless Muslims and Dalits,
who have always been their
punch bags, to satiate their blood
thirst
VIGILANTISM VS TRUTH
• Not behind every lynching
Die or fake
death?
incident has been a real case
of cow slaughter or beef. Four
Dalit youth in Gujarat, who
were stripped and beaten with Mohammed Rizwan,
iron roads in 2016, had not
killed the cow but only skinned
a trucker, had to play
it. Traditionally, Dalits collect dead to escape from the
violence of mob. Rizwan,
carcasses, skin them, sell the hide
who regularly transports
buffaloes from villages in
and around Pataudi, was
confronted by a group of
men near Delhi in April
2017. Though Rizwan
was doing nothing illegal
– he had the papers to
vouch for the legal trade
that he was part of – the
vigilantes just wanted to
kill him. They let him off
because they thought he
was dead.
55

to the leather makers and meat
to butchers where it is legal and
hence there was no violation of
law in that case
• Two Muslim women, who were
attacked in BJP-ruled Madhya
Pradesh in 2017 on charges of
carrying beef by a mob, were
actually having buffalo meat,
which has not been banned at all
• Father of an Indian Air Force
personnel, Mohammad Akhlaq,
Modi never spoke who was killed in 2015 after the
vigilantes found ‘beef’ in his fridge,
a word against
had in reality stocked only goat
the self-appointed
meat, which was revealed by tests
protectors of the after his funeral
cow. In fact, he only
LYNCH MOB THRIVES
looked the other way
UNDER MODI REGIME
when the lynch mob
was having a free • When one of the killers of
run, striking terror Mohammed Akhlaq died of
natural causes later on, his coffin
among the poor
was draped in the national
people tricolor, sending across the
message that killing of an Air
56
Union Minister
Jayant Sinha
garlanded eight
men convicted of
lynching Alimuddin
Ansari in Ramgargh
in 2018 when they
came out on bail
Force official’s father in the name
of cow, whether there was any
truth in the charge or not, is a
commendable act as far as the
government is concerned
• One of the police officers, Subodh
Kumar Singh, who investigated
Akhlaq case and brought out the
fact that the meat in his fridge
was not beef, was killed in a mob
violence at Bulandshahr district in
Uttar Pradesh. Even that mob was
protesting against alleged cow
slaughter. The inspector’s family
suspected a conspiracy within
the police force that seemingly
supported vigilantism
• When 28-year-old Rakhar Khan
was attacked in Rajasthan’s
Alwar district and left in a pool of
blood, the local police not only
took three hours to ferry him to
hospital but also beat him even
as he was bleeding profusely.
They stopped midway to drop
in a shelter the cows that Khan
was accused of smuggling and
also took a tea break, deliberately
delaying the timely treatment
that could have saved him. Thus
the police openly declared where
they stood
BJP LEADERS
GARLANDED LYNCHERS
• A central minister, Arjun
Meghwal, said the number of
lynchings would rise as the
popularity of Narendra Modi grew
and justifying Rakhar Khan’s
killing, a BJP MLA from Telangana
called cow vigilantism as a ‘war’.
• In the aftermath of Akhlaq’s
murder, Sangeet Som, a local BJP
leader, said the lynching was a
show of anger against the state
government, which then was led
by the Samajwadi Party, as it was
favouring Muslims
• When a dairy farmer Pehlu Khan
was beaten to death in Alwar in
2017, the local BJP MLA, Gyandev
Ahuja defended the killers, who
had boasted of immunity from
the law in view of their proximity
to the legislator
• The response of RSS senior
functionary Indresh Kumar to
the killing of Rakhar Khan was
to tell Muslims to stop eating
beef if they would like to save
themselves from being lynched.
Kumar’s views were endorsed by
Giriraj Singh, a minister in Modi
government
COW VIGILANTISM IS
TEARING APART INDIA
• Cow vigilantism has heightened
the feeling of insecurity among
Dalits, Muslims and others
making them feel vulnerable in
their own country.
• If farmers are forced to take
care of their cows in the non-
productive years, one would be
spending Rs. 17,600 on a single
animal for each year of non-
productivity. In Uttar Pradesh
there are two crore such cattle
and it would entail Rs. 30,000 for
maintenance in Gaushalas
• India’s beef export has taken a
severe hit, leading to large scale
job losses. In the near future, as
the country may have to spend 1.5
times its current Defence Budget
to take care of an additional
27 crore unproductive animals
annually
• The imposition of lifestyle
changes thrust on people
through the bans on cow
slaughter and beef reveals an
intolerance by the ruling class
that is also seen a threat to the
basic freedom guaranteed by the
Constitution.
There can be no
shadow of doubt that
the authorities which
are conferred with
the responsibility to
maintain law and order
in the States have the
principal obligation to
see that vigilantism, be
it cow vigilantism or
any other vigilantism
of any perception, does
not take place
Supreme Court
57
 RISING INTOLERANCE C
ommunal differences and
religious intolerance touched
a nadir during the regime
of Narendra Modi with Hindu
Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh were just a few who were nationalists having a free run in
murdered by the Sangh associates. There is more, too killing, assaulting and intimidating
people of other faiths. Apart from
minor attacks on churches and
Christians throughout the country,
poor Muslims were targeted in
planned assaults and were even
killed mercilessly
A SAMPLE OF ATTACKS
• Latehar in Jharkhand: Two
Muslims, including a minor who
were herding buffaloes were
killed. The bodies were found
hanging by a tree. They were
killed just because they were
Muslims
• Harda in Madhya Pradesh: Elderly
Muslim couple was beaten up
on train. Later, the leader of
the assailants threatened the
superintendent of police
because in many states the police
turn a blind eye to their crimes.
The same police are swift in
• The ruling party and its parent
arrested people belonging to the
minority communities even for
sharing a post in Facebook
• A huge army of people are
involved in Hindutva propaganda.
They spread hatred towards
minorities in a systematic manner
through trolls, fake news and
social media posts. Call centres
have been set up further the
• By enacting elaborate dramas in
right-wing agenda and they
spread falsehoods, demonizing
Muslims
• Whenever there is an attack on
minorities, the leaders of the
ruling BJP justify the crime and
never ever condemn it, leave
alone demanding action against
the perpetrators. This has given
confidence to the lumpen, jobless
elements to unleash violence on
innocent people
body, the RSS, have been
raking up the Ayodhya dispute
repeatedly, to spread hatred
against Muslims. In October 2018,
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, urged
the Prime Minister to enact a law
to enable the construction of Ram
temple in Ayodhya, which is to
keep the pot boiling
the pretext of protecting religion,
tradition, culture and so on as
they did in the case of Sabarimala
controversy, they mobilise people
and empower them to indulge
in violence. Those elements then
strike terror elsewhere, too, as
they consider themselves as
immune to the law of the land

• Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh:

Noman, a youth hailing from
Sharnapur in Uttar Pradesh, was
Tolerance is embedded in our culture and it is quite sad to see what has killed. The victim was a cattle
been going on back home in the last four and a half years. We have seen a trader
lot of intolerance, anger and division between communities. It stems from • Udhampur, Kashmir: Zahir
the mentality of the people who are leading India is generally tolerant, we Ahmad was killed over rumours of
tend to listen and need to go back to that. cow slaughter
I don’t want to restrict India just to the boundaries of India. We don’t like
WHY THE SURGE IN
an India where journalists are shot, where people are beaten up for what
they say. That is something we want to change, that is the challenge in the HATRED
upcoming elections • Lumpen from the Hindutva
Rahul Gandhi brigade has been emboldened
Congress President to attack and butcher anyone
58 59
 AMERICAN
ALARM
The US was alarmed,
sometime in mid-2016,
that it asked the Indian
government to protect
citizens. Expressing
concern over reports
of rising intolerance
and violence in India,
the US asked the
Indian government
to do ‘everything in
its power’ to protect • While the thugs attack minorities,
citizens and to
bring to justice the
perpetrators. US
State Department
spokesman John
Kirby said, ‘we stand
in solidarity with
the people and • The government has embarked
Government of India
in supporting exercise
of freedom of religion
and expression in
confronting all forms SOME HINDUTVA PREACHINGS
of intolerance.’ He said,
‘the US looks forward • Democracy is alien to Hindu
to continuing to work
with the Indian people
to realise their tolerant-
inclusive vision, which • Only a Hindu, and only a certain
is so deeply in the
interests of both India
and the US.’
60
Dalits, women and liberals, the
RSS-BJP combine continue to
employ cheap tactics like spinning
fictitious tales in the name of
history and creating a sense of
pseudo-nationalism, which in turn
breeds hatred
on an academic project to study
ancient history with a view to
demonising Muslim rule in India
and rewriting history
culture. Manu is the first and
greatest wisest lawgiver of
mankind
kind of Hindu, can be an authentic
Indian. Non-Hindus can only be
second class citizens
• Culture is a product of our
all-comprehensive religion
(Hinduism), a part of its body
and not distinguishable from
it. India’s national culture is its
Hindu religious culture
REWRITING HISTORY
The Ministry of Culture, in 2016, set
up a committee under K N Dikshit
to examine ancient Indian history
and the chairman made it clear
that he has been asked to present
a report to enable the government
re-write certain aspects of
ancient history. The committee
members are all right-wingers with
affiliations to the RSS. One of the
members, Balmukund Pandey,
has said ‘the time is now to restore
India’s past glory by establishing
that ancient Hindu texts are fact
not myth.’
DOUBTING
SHAH RUKH KHAN
BJP has taken
intolerance to
such an abysmal ‘And those not killed by the State
depth that even machinery are getting lynched by the
the popular well-trained and well-nurtured goons.
actor Shah After all, if full-fledged training camps
Rukh Khan’s are running under several right-wing
patriotism has banners to target the ‘other’, there is
been questioned. bound to be violence. What else will
Kailash the ‘trained’ men and women do but
Vijayvargiya said: to lynch and destroy structures, human
‘Shah Rukh Khan and otherwise. I have been told by several
lives in India, but villagers in Uttar Pradesh that if they are
his mind is in Pakistan. His films earn crores here not connected to the ‘shakhas’ and not
but he sees India as an intolerant nation. If this is close to the ruling mafia, they will have
not sedition, then what is it?’ little chance of getting protection and
Shah Rukh Khan responded: ‘Relgious much more along the strain.’
intolerance…. is the worst kind of crime. We may Humra Quraishi
talk about freedom of speech but people come author-journalist
outside my house and throw stones. I have not
been in a situation like that.’
But another prominent BJP supporter was more
nasty by saying: ‘ If the majority community were
to boycott his films, Shah Rukh would have to
wander the streets like a common Muslim.’
Other prominent Muslims too have faced BJP
leaders’ uncivilised outbursts though they had
been known for their secularism. Yogi Adityanath,
when he was an MP, even went to the extent of
linking Shah Rukh with extremist Hafiz Saeed.
61
SAMPLES OF HATE SPEECHES
“You have to decide. Do you want a “Mother Teresa was part of the conspiracy to
government of Ramzaadon (followers of Ram) Christianize India. Hindus were converted in the
or those who illegitimate” name of doing service”
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti “In places where there are 10-20% minority
Union Minister population, stray communal incidents take place.
Where there are 20-30% of them, serious communal
“Those with four wives and 40 children are
riots take place and where there are more than 35%
responsible for the population increase in the there is no place for non-Muslims”
country. Hindus are not responsible for the
increase in population. Strict laws and required “Those who want to avoid yoga and Lord Shankar
in this country if we really want to curb can leave Hindustan”
population”
Yogi Adityanath
Sakshi Maharaj Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
BJP MP
“Muslims have no business being in India and
“These people who call themselves secularists should to Pakistan or Bangladesh… The cremation
are like people without parentage or who don’t ground inside the Taj will be destroyed.. Taj Mahal
know their bloodline” was in fact a temple… Only our temple will exist and
only the pillar that exist around it will stand ”
Anant Kumar Hegde
Union Minister Vinay Katiyar
BJP leader
62
In Pakistan, anti-Hindu minister
was fired. But here, Modi has not
acted on his hate speech leaders.
On the contrary, hate speech
from politicians has gone up by
almost 500% in the last 4.5 years
“Every Hindu should carry weapons like lathis
and attack other communities’ members if
they said anything wrong”
T Raja Singh
BJP MLA from Telangana
There is no such thing (cow slaughter)
happening in the state. It hasn’t happened
in the state in the last 15 years. Has it? We will
hang those who kill cows”
Raman Singh
Former Chief Minister of Chattisgargh when
he was in office in 2017
“I had promised that I will break the hands
and legs of those who do not consider cows
their mother and kill them”
Vikram Singh
BJP MLA from UP
“Muslims who assimilate into our culture will
stay in India. Those who will not are free to
take asylum in any other country”
Surendra Singh
BJP MLA from UP, echoing the voice of M S
Golwalkar in ‘Bunch of Thoughts’
REACTIONS
FROM ABROAD
“Religious intolerance has deteriorated and
religious freedom violations have increased in
India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
regime.. since 2014, hate crimes, social boycotts,
assaults and forced conversion have escalated”
a reported titled ‘Constitutional and Legal
Challenges Faced by Minorities in India’,
sponsored by US Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
‘Authorities often did not prosecute violence
by vigilantes against persons, mostly Muslims,
suspected of slaughtering of illegally transporting
cows or trading in or consuming beef”
US Congressional-mandated annual report on
International Religious Freedom, 2017
“During the first six months of the year (2017),
Christians were harassed, threatened, or attacked
for their faith in 410 reported incidents, compared
with 441 incidents in all of 2016
Open Doors, International non-governmental
organization
“In 2016, students were accused of sedition
for expressing their views: people who raised
concerns over challenges to civil liberties were
deemed anti-Indian; Dalits and Muslims were
attacked on suspicion they had killed, stolen
or sold cows for been and non-governmental
organsations came under pressure due to India’s
restrictive foreign funding regulations”
Human Rights Watch
63
 CHOKING CBI N
arendra Modi was government after Asthana stood
singularly responsible for exposed and was expected to be
the shameful drama that asked to go on leave The CBI is
unfolded at various venues under
the title ‘CBI vs CBI’, which should WHAT’S AT STAKE NOW? being misused
When he feared that CBI might investigate the Rafale deal, Modi tried to be read as ‘Shame on India.’ For, it
change the chief in a mid-night coup was a case of two top sleuths of the
• CBI’s credibility has touched
an all-time low under Modi
by Modi to
premier investigating agency of the
country fighting it out like street
government after it fuelled the intimidate
controversy involving the top
dogs, creating a credibility crisis for
the special police force formed in
officers political
1941. But it was all because of Modi. • By using the CBI for vindictive opponents in
actions, the government turned
MODI AND ‘CBI VS CBI’ it into its long arm. Thus the the same way
CBI was impelled to play a role
• The government triggered the detrimental to the functioning of in which the
controversy by first posting Rakesh
Asthana as special director of
democracy
Gestapo was
CBI, just to spite the director Alok • Making the CBI raid the premises
Verma of political adversaries and also used by the
• Asthana, a Gujarat cadre police
bureaucrats who refused to toe
their line became a routine affair
Nazi regime of
officer, was reportedly brought
in to subvert CBI investigations
for the BJP government Adolf Hitler
against people close to the BJP
leadership. Though there were
slew of bribery cases against him Alok Verma Rakesh Asthana
the Modi government needlessly
brought him into the CBI

• When Alok Varma moved the

Alok Verma
The PM’s blue-eyed boy (Rakesh Asthana), Gujarat cadre
officer of Godra SIT fame, infiltrated as No 2 into the CBI,
has now been caught taking bribes. Under his PM, the
CBI is a weapon of political vendetta. An institution in
terminal decline that’s at war with itself
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
Central Vigilance Committee with
several corruption charges against
Asthana and also cracked down on
him by filing FIRs, he was removed
from his job in a dramatic
midnight operation
• In the meanwhile, Asthana also
filed a complaint against Alok
Verma
• An interim director, M Nageshwara
Rao, was appointed by the

64 65
MODI’S BLUE EYED BOY In 2016, Common Cause
opposed his appointment as
unearth and bring them out in
the open before the elections
Rakesh Asthana, who was suddenly appointed CBI Spl Director as his name • The CBI could be misused to
as additional director of CBI, is a blue-eyed had figured in a Rs. 3.88 crore intimidate political opponents
boy of Modi. In Gujarat he headed the special money laundering case. in the future as the Gestapo was
Investigation Team that looked into the used by the Nazi regime of Adolf ….where a posse of CBI
He has always landed plum
Godhra case. It was his team that said that Hitler personnel went to
positions because of his
the attack was pre-planned though the initial question the Kolkata
proximity with Modi • Since the National Security These so called raids, closing
charge sheet did not mention it. Police Commissioner at
and other top Advisor Ajit Doval was also briefed and sending CBI officers on
In 2008, he investigated the Ahmedabad officials in the by the affected CBI officers, at his residence late in the compulsory leave during
bomb blast cases. When Modi moved to Delhi, Modi government. the behest of Modi, the BJP’s evening, though he was midnight, show complete
hand is very much visible in the only a witness, reflects the
the PM called him to join the CBI. panic. Just see what this does
controversy
changing mores of the CBI. to the morale of civil services.
• The manner in which a CBI team This should be a matter of This is complete disregard to
went to Kolkata to interrogate concern for one and all that and conducting such
the City Police Commissioner and
• Nothing came out of the for anything that they felt the raids looks like Soviet Union,
the resistance put up for that by M K Narayanan
many raids the CBI had on the local police would not be able to China or middle eastern
the West Bengal government Former National Security
premises of many bureaucrats handle that image has gone countries.
Why should the and politicians. The raids in Tamil
• The ugly controversy is a blow to
brought to light the politicisation
of the investigating agency and
Advisor and former
There is no prime minister
Nadu are an example. No one Governor of West Bengal
government knows what was found in the
Indian democracy because at the how much it acted as a hand office (PMO). Only the PM. No
end of the day the real loser is the maiden of the Centre office. Every one else is like a
interfere in the Chief Secretary’s office in Fort St
George and other premises that
common man, who at least had clerk or a worker, even senior
the hope that the CBI would be
functioning were raided
fair and honest in protecting his
bureaucrats.
Central Vigilance
of the CBI in • CB’s integrity has taken a right and upholding the laws and Arun Shourie
nosedive after the Modi the Constitution
Commission Former Union Minister
such a clumsy government took over, which
THE SPECULATIONS
could well lead to the common colluded with
manner if Modi man treating the premier
• The blatant subterfuge of the
investigating agency hereafter Modi government
and others in like the local police force, bereft
government to paralyse the CBI

of the awe and respect it earlier

has given rise to a plethora of to transfer Alok
the BJP have speculations, the primary one
evoked
being the fear over Rafale scam Verma by denying
nothing to fear • Hitherto, CBI enjoyed a high
• There is also a suggestion that him the right to be
regard among all for its efficiency
about? in investigating cases entrusted
there has been enough evidence
against many BJP leaders in heard. Why?
with it. With people demanding
corruption charges and the CBI
a ‘CBI probe’ at the drop of a hat
was being stifled before it could

66 67
 N
arendra Modi was highly successful in demolishing institutions
that formed the pillars of democracy. The founding fathers
of India had built the nation on those institutions that kept
the democratic spirit alive even when minor threats came
the way of individual freedom or the country’s secular fabric or the
rights of citizens was concerned or the Constitution. Today we see those
institutions like the Judiciary, Parliament, Cabinet, Planning Commission,
Reserve Bank of India, Comptroller and Auditor General, Election
Commission being undermined.

UNDERMINING
DEMOCRACY
Showing scant respect for democracy, Modi has been
demolishing its hallowed institutions
We are not the voice of one person, we are the voice of one sixth of
humanity. This is not a small thing. We are the voice of 1.2 billion people
and when we speak, we don’t want to speak as an individual. We want to
speak as this country’s voice: we want to be the country’s expression. That
is the difference between you and us
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
68 69
 HOW THE PILLARS WERE PULLED DOWN? undermined by the Modi government for speaking
truth: Unemployment in 2017-18 was at an all-time
high in the last 45 years

Judiciary came to the States. It delayed the
under a cloud when announcement of date for Gujarat
four Supreme Court wilfully with a view to enabling the
judges held a press state government come up with
conference to point last minute schemes and flood
fingers at the Chief Justice of India, relief work to impress voters that
Dipak Mishra, over allocation of would not have been allowed under
cases in January 2018. Even an Code of Conduct. One instance
impeachment motion was moved in which the Commission was
against the Chief Justice in the found behaving like a government
Rajya Sabha. Undermining the department was when its
Supreme Court happened when disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi
BJP President said the court should Party MLAs of Delhi was thrown out
not have given the verdict that it by the Delhi High Court. There are
gave on the Sabarimala case many others like some decisions
on Tamil Nadu Assembly after the
Parliament has
death of J Jayalalithaa
been repeatedly
insulted by Modi Reserve Bank
and the high of India was
point was that the discredited by the
Union Budget of demonic decision
2018 was passed to demonetise high
without a discussion. Established value currency
Democratic Conventions were notes in November
thrown to the winds by making the 2016. Not only the bank lacked
2019 Election Year Interim Budget in competence to deal with the
read like a regular annual budget crisis that followed the note ban,
with announcements of substantial its autonomy was crushed. Then
measures the government diktats made the
bank issue various notifications
Election
that were changing dates and rules
Commission,
for exchange of old notes, which
under Modi rule,
corroded its credibility totally. The
was found violating
RBI officers and employees wrote
conventions on the
to the government in January
announcement of
2017 pointing out the operational
dates for elections
mismanagement
Planning Commission
was summarily
dismantled by Modi
though the institution
has a historic role to
play in the development
of India since
Independence. NITI Agyog that
replaced Planning Commission has
been found to be ineffective
Centre-State
relationship has
always hung by
a slender thread
through Modi’s
tenure. There
had been many
instances of Prime Minister and
Chief Ministers having vituperative
exchanges. The West Bengal Chief
Minister resisting a CBI raid was one
that hogged the national headlines
but Modi had badmouthed
Karnataka’s Siddaramiah, back-
stabbed J & K’s Mehbooba Mufti
and has been having a running
feud with Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal.
Also Kerala’s Pinayari Vijayan was
insulted with a paltry aid of Rs 100
crore when the state was ravaged
by floods in 2018
The National Sample
Survey Office, whose
reports had a lot of
credibility among
the educated classes,
was needlessly
Defence Forces were politicised by the
Modi regime by by-passing seniority in
appointing the army chief and invoking
Institutions have been subverted,
pride in the military engagements for
political propaganda. The 2016 surgical political opponents hounded, dissent
strikes along the Pakistan border and suppressed and freedom of speech
a military raid of Myanmarese rebels sought to be silenced. Values, principles
by the armed forces were indiscreetly and provisions of the Constitution are
revealed for blatant use in election under continued attack during the Modi
propaganda, deepening the threat to regime.
national security
Congress party is defeating the BJP
in ideological fight as also the daily
Cabinet, which is collectively responsible
discourse. Congress is the only party
to Parliament, was repeatedly trampled
upon by the Prime Minister, who has that speaks for the entire country
been usurping the duties of the Ministers as a united entity. Unemployment,
concerned. He would travel to various demonetisation and Rafale scam have
countries and not let the Foreign Affairs Minister undermined the Modi government’s
go anywhere, only inform the Finance Minister of
credibility.
demonetisation and not even inform the Defence
Minister of the Rafale deal that he struck in France. Sonia Gandhi
He would inaugurate all trains even if there is a
railway minister. The list goes on
Governors appointed by the
previous regime were forced
to resign when Modi became
Prime Minister and those
who left were all replaced
by persons associated with
the RSS. The list is long but
it has been established that
Modi government has filled up Raj Bhavans with
obedient RSS acolytes. This goes against the grain
of democracy and more precisely against Supreme
Court observation in 2010 that the government
cannot arbitrarily transfer appointed governors
without compelling reasons

70 71
 ATROCITIES AGAINST THE DALITS
Crimes against Dalits go up under Modi government
His (Modi) thinking is anti-Dalit. All Dalits and people
from the weaker sections know that the prime
minister has no place for Dalits in his heart and mind
and wants to crush Dalits. That is why we are standing
against him
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
72
I
ndia witnessed an alarming
rise in violence against Dalits
after Narendra Modi took
over. The National Crime Records
Bureau registered a six to eight
times upsurge in the rate of crimes
committed against Dalits in the
five years than the previous five
years. Among the violent incidents
reported were crime like rape,
murder and assault.
Pained by the way Dalits were
treated in the Modi regime,
Savitribai Phule, BJP’s Lok Sabha
member from Bahraich, resigned
from the basic membership of the
party in December 2018 on the
death anniversary of B R Ambedkar.
She also wondered why Dalits were
not appointed priests at Hanuman
temples if Hanuman was a Dalit, as
claimed by UP Chief Minister Yogi
Adithyanath
Research scholar Rohith Chakravarti
Vemula committed suicide after he
was suspended by the University
of Hyderabad and thrown out of
the hostel, along with four Dalit
students, in January 2016. Action
against the activists of Ambedkar
Students Association followed a
complaint by the ABVP to the then
Union Human Resources Minister
Smiriti Irani, who forwarded it to the
vice chancellor. The ASA members
were accused of beating up an
ABVP leader up in his room.
Union Minister of State for Skill
Development Anantkumar Hegde
called a group of Dalits protesting
against his threat to change of
Constitution of India as ‘barking
dogs’ in January 2018. He was in
Karnatak’s Ballari district for a job
fair and skill exhibition when he was
stopped by the Dalit demonstrators
WHY ARE DALITS ANGRY?
Surging Dalit anger came to the fore
when the Supreme Court banned
immediate arrests under the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,
brought in by former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 with a view
to making the country atrocity-
free. Though the agitation, in June
2018, called to protest the court
ruling brought Dalits, particularly
the youth, in large numbers to the
street, it was evident that Dalits had
a long-time grudge against the
Modi government. The Supreme
Court ruling and protest were just
a pretext to express their pent up
anger against the goverment.
Dalits, who had supported the NDA
(according to an estimate, 24%
Dalit votes came its way) in the
2014 elections, felt let down by the
Modi regime as the policies were
blatantly against them. Besides,
several decisions and utterances
of the government reinforced the
lack of trust among the Dalits.
One particular fear was that the
Modi government was against
reservations. The manner in which
the UGC changed the formula for
calculating reserved posts, and the
failure of many institutions of higher
education to fill up Constitutionally-
mandated quotas led to a feeling of
discrimination like never before.
The suicide of research scholar
Rohith Vemula led to a widespread
feeling of alienation among Dalit
students in universities, who are
generally first generation learners.
Adding to that sense of alienation
was the fear that started spreading
after poor Dalits were mercilessly
killed on the pretext of having beef.
The ban on cattle trade and cattle-
related activities came a severe blow
to the Dalits, who found it difficult to
find alternative employment all of a
sudden.
Dalits were also the worst hit in
the unexpected demonetization
exercise and also the hasty roll out of
the GST as they were mostly in the
informal sector. Also the increase in
the chasm between haves and the
have-nots, a hallmark of the Modi
government had given rise the
feeling that the privileged class was
enjoying more privileges than ever
before.
Two other issues that stirred the
conscience of the Dalits were the
nature of crimes against the Dalits
taking a turn a for the worst after
Modi became Prime Minister and
the BJP not bothering to appoint a
Dalit as chief minister in any of the
20 states ruled by it. The two issues
made it clear that the Modi or the
BJP were not in favour of the Dalits.
73
 WHITHER LOKPAL
Modi scared to set up the watchdog?
T
he Supreme Court, in
January 2019, pulled up the
Narendra Modi government
for not appointing a Lokpal. Though
the BJP came to power on the
plank of anti-corruption, it has done
little to fulfil the promise. In fact the
selection committee to choose the
Lokpal met only in March 2018, 45
months after the Modi government
took office. Till then, Modi didn’t
74
chair a single meeting. In response
to a Right to Information (RTI) plea,
the Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) further revealed
that no meeting of the search
committee was convened during
that 45 month period.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act
was passed in 2013 to set up an
independent and empowered
body to look into cases of corruption
during the UPA regime. The
Manmohan Singh government
held two meetings of the Lokpal
selection committee but Modi failed
to take it forward. Modi’s inaction
only points to his reluctance to
have a Lokpal in the country. How
can Modi afford to have such a
watchdog empowered to pounce
on corrupt politicians?
By only bringing political
parties which work for
the people, we will be
weakening the system.
Lokpal is one of them but
this was not allowed by
the Modi government.
We brought (the) RTI
(law) but this was diluted.
Demonetisation was the
worst scandal.
The biggest corruption
happens in land. We passed
the Land Acquisition Act
and Narendra Modi’s first
attack (was) on this act.
He wants to give land to
corporate(s). I was battered
for taking a tough stand on
the land act. You know the
leader who fights against
corruption comes under
greater attack. You check
the media and will know
who is being battered — me
or Modi?
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
75
MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN
Modi’s vanity and pomposity has cost the nation heavily as he embarks
on meaningless pursuits like the world’s tallest statue
Ironic that a statue of Sardar Patel is being
inaugurated, but every institution he helped build is
being smashed. The systematic destruction of India’s
institutions is nothing short of treason
Rahul Gandhi
Congress President
76
With the Rs 2,989 crore,
Govt could have built
• Two new IIT campuses (considering one
costs Rs 1,167 crore)
• Two AIIMS campuses (considering one
costs Rs 1,103 crore)
• Five new permanent IIM campuses
(considering one campus costs Rs 539
crore) could have been built.
• The money could also have been used to
support ISRO to launch six Mars missions
or three Moon missions.
COLOSSAL WASTE
The 182 metre tall statue of Sardar
Vallababhai Patel at Gujarat’s
Kevadiya was constructed at a cost
Rs. 2989 crore displacing tribals
living in the area. Most of the
money was raised through public
sector companies like ONGC and
Hindustan Petroleum. The project
showed Modi’s vanity as the same
amount could have been used
in infrastructure development,
77

The Bullet Train cost is
over 3 times that of the
nation’s Health Budget
education and health care in India,
for which the credit of having
the world’s tallest statue means
nothing.
TRAIN TO NOWHERE
The Rs. 1,10,000 crore project to
bring a bullet train to India by 2022
is another waste of public money.
The train will run between Mumbai
and Ahmedabad, covering a
distance of 508.17 km and the fares
are expected to be 150 per cent of a
first class AC ticket. This is another
vanity project which has little or
no economic and practical viability.
The project has now been hit with
78
land acquisition hurdles and will be
delayed by few years with escalating
costs.
Why spend over 1 lakh crore
for a 508-km HSR used by rich
passengers when over 90% of rail
passengers in India travel by sleeper
or lower class?
SAFFRON SPLURGE
Narendra Modi’s style of functioning
is a threat to Parliamentary
democracy and Cabinet form of
government. For, after nearly five
years, his is the only face of the
government that is known to the
public. He achieved that by wasting
public money on advertising
himself. NDA incurred an expense
of Rs 4880 crore during April 2014
and July 2018, which was double
the amount of Rs 2048 crore
spent by the UPA on all forms of
advertisements between March 2011
NDA’S PUBLICITY EXPENSES: and March 2014.
JAUNTS AND NUMBERS
Print Advertisements
2128.38 crore
• The money spent on trips till June
Rs 2018 was Rs 2000 crore, according
to an RTI reply
• A total of Rs 1088.42 crore was
Outdoor publicity
spent on maintenance of the
Rs 620.70 crore PM’s aircraft and Rs 387.26 crore
on chartered flights during the
period between June 2014 and
Audio visual Media June 2018. The total expenditure
2131.57 crore
on hotline facilities was Rs 9.12
Rs crore till 2017
• Modi went to China six times and
to USA and China five times each
• By travelling abroad so frequently,
Modi was out of office every third
day
• Government still owes Rs 325
crore to Air India as charges for
the chartered flights that Modi
used
WHY THE VISITS ‘Mr Modi’s desire to
WERE A WASTE introduce himself to
• Relations with Pakistan did the world was entirely
not improve a bit. In fact it understandable after
has worsened, as it unravelled many years of international
through the Pulwama terror ostracism where the only
attack. Modi could not move country willing to grant
beyond inviting Nawaz Sharif to him a visa seemed to be
Delhi for his swearing-in in 2014
China’
• China is pushing India around,
remaining a threat militarily and
Shashi Tharoor
economically Congress leader
• Ties with United States are at an
all-time low
• Winning Nepal’s trust remains a
mirage after choking that nation’s
economy through a de facto
blockade. Now Nepal is getting
closer and closer to China
• Maldives is turning hostile
by refusing visas to Indians,
cancelling projects involving
Indian companies and even
adding the line ‘Indians need not
apply’ in the advertisements for
jobs open to all nationalities
79
 FLAGSHIP FARCES, ALL
• The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Schemes envisaged by the Modi government, purportedly to help the
poor, flopped due to the lack of understanding of the people’s needs
domain, the government spent Rs
530 crore on promoting the Clean
• The Jan Dhan Yojana that saw
India Mission in the media since
the programme was announced
in 2014.
• Under DDUGJY,
18,452 villages
were provided
electric power
• The Pradhan Mantri Awas
but electricity
generation did
not show much of a growth.
Perhaps that was because power
generation saw a mere 5.66%
annual growth during Modi days,
which is much lower than the
5.9% growth shown during UPA
rule. Even the scheme is a farce
because a village qualifies to
• Prime Minister be called electrified if 10% of its
All schemes of Modi had households and public places
Narendra Modi launched have power.
Swachh
government like Bharat Mission on October 2, • Also there was
the Deen Dayal 2014, by wielding a broom on another Pradhan
the streets of Delhi. However, Mantri Shaj Bijli Har
Upadhyaya Gram Ghar Yojana or the
his government instead of
Jyoti Yojana, Skill improving the working conditions Saubhagya scheme
under which poor
India Programme, of ‘Swachh Bharat soldiers’ is
more interested in spending households would be given free
Ujjwala Yogana and the budgeted money on party’s electricity connection but the
Jan Dhan Yojana propaganda. According to RTI consumption to be metered and
information available in the public billed. Most households did not
have failed terribly take the connection.
80
• The Mudra scheme, which
with the target to provide five crore
LPG connections to women from
poor households by the end of March
2019 too was a flop and there was
no commensurate increase in gas
consumption as the beneficiaries could not afford to
buy cylinders priced at Rs 600 and continued to use
firewood and kerosene that were cheaper.
the opening of 31.6 crore bank
accounts with a combined
deposit of Rs 81,203.59 crore,
under the scheme for financial
• 
inclusion did not take off as 20% of the accounts are
inactive and 1.9% have been closed
Yojana has also come a
cropper. Launched with a
target of 5 crore housing units,
3 crore of them in rural areas
and the rest in cities, by 2022, the project saw just
4.13 lakh houses coming up in cities till December
207. The target cannot be achieved at this pace.
focuses on meeting the
capital requirement of
first-time women and
Dalit entrepreneurs, has been advertised as a big
job creator by the Modi government. However,
a close scrutiny of average loan size reveals that
Mudra’s optics is more attractive than its reality.
Though nearly Rs 6 lakh crore has been disbursed
to over 12 crore, the loans could best provide
underemployment and not full-time employment.
Also the loans are risky as they had been given
without any collateral
Skill India was launched with the
aim of training youth. However,
marred by overlaps in roles and
responsibilities across departments,
the scheme failed In the first phase,
the National Skill Development Council (NSDC)
trained 18 lakh people and certified another 12 lakh
but the second phase could not reach the target to
skill one crore youth by 2020. Besides in the chase
for achieving the number target, real training did not
happen.
81
GOLDEN DECADE
Between 2004 and 2014
India progressed in all spheres

• Investment of public fund in • Defence expenditure was increased by 154% leading to the induction
Apart from GDP growth, the decade between 2004 infrastructure projects in north- of sophisticated military hardware, missile systems and surveillance
and 2014 was a halcyon time for the industrial and eastern states led to internal technology and the welfare of the defence personnel was given priority in
service sectors. Agriculture grew at a rate of 2.3% and security improving in the region budgetary allocation
it was a time when government polices had a distinct with extremism-related violent
activities declining steeply. MGNREGA, which is an acronym for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
• 
pro-poor and pro-rural slant. A plethora of social Employment Guarantee Act, was brought in by the UPA government,
welfare schemes were drawn in that decade that saw Peaceful dialogues with many of
the extremists groups brought benefiting every fifth household in the country, providing jobs for women
every Indian progressing. It was the time the UPA, and people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. It raised the
many of them into the political
headed by the Congress, was in power. bargaining power of agricultural labour, improved economic outcomes
mainstream
and reduced stressed migration
• Left-wing extremism was dealt
LOOKING BACK with in a holistic manner ensuring
rights of the local communities
and good governance. An
integrated action plan triggered
growth in the region and brought
Kashmir was more peaceful
• 
down incidents of violence
with militancy-related
incidents coming down by 10
times. By adopting a multi-
pronged approach in militancy
affected areas and working
in close cooperation with
the state government, the
UPA government was abled
to contain loss of lives. The
stress was on development,
employment generation and
mainstreaming of youth
82 83
 • Farmers benefitted enormously from the UPA’S PERFORMANCE since 2012-13 when the base year was changed and a
enhancement of Minimum Support Price for various new methodology was adopted. Here are the results:
farm products, increased support to rain-fed areas 1. Empty coffer? (see table)
and raising of agricultural credit
The opening cash balance
GDP at Factor Cost GDP at Market Prices
Telephone density increased by 25 times and
•  on 1.6.2004, just after the
New Series Average New Series Average
broadband connectivity improved in the rural areas NDA government demoted
Growth Rate Growth Rate
even as telecom rates remained the lowest in the office was negative Rs 2730
NDA 1 (1999 - 2004) 5.69 5.68
world. High speed data links were provided to 998 crore
institutions of higher education. UPA 1 (2004 - 2009) 8.87 8.36
The opening cash balance
on 1.6.2014 just after the UPA government UPA 2 (2009 - 2014) 7.39 7.68
demoted office was Rs 26, 510 crore. We do not NDA 2 (2014 - 2018) n.a 7.33
Food security was ensured through improved food
•  subscribe to the empty coffers – who left behind
production due to a three-fold increase of food empty coffer? The conclusions are obvious: the 10-year period of the
subsidy and a five-fold hike in agriculture credit and UPA recorded the highest decadal growth (8.02 per
reaching food to the people by raising supply through 2. Foreign Exchange Reserve: cent at market prices and 8.13 per cent at factor cost)
public distribution system since Independence. When the UPA demitted office,
2003-04: UPA assumed office the foreign exchange
growth had recovered in 2013-14 to 6.39 per cent at
• Consistent increase in health care led to reserve was $ 113 billion. At the end of 2016-14 ie
market prices. The Modi government had inherited an
improvement in life expectancy and decline in infant on 31.5.2014, the reserves stood at $ 312 billion – Rs
economy that was on the upswing. Gross Fixed Capital
and maternal mortality rates 1872000 cr
Formation in 2013-14 was 31.3 per cent. Merchandise
Welfare of minorities was accorded high priority
•  3. Foodgrains: 263 Million Tonne Wheat 34.4 Mt; Rice exports had scaled a new peak of USD 315 billion.
with the expenditure for it increased by 10 times 28.4 Million Tonne Foreign Exchange reserves had reached a high of USD
and beneficiaries reaped the fruits through various 304.2 billion.
Total 62.8 Million Tonne at FCI stock asas 1.5.2014.
scholarships and the multi-sectoral development
Under ‘true reforms’ would fall the Fiscal Responsibility
programme and priority sector lending from banks 4. GDP 2004 Rs 30 lakh $ 500 billian and Budget Management Act, passed by Parliament
• All Central ministries were mandated to allocate 10% 2014 Rs 120 lakh $ 2 Trillion when the NDA-1 was in office but notified by the UPA-1
of plan budgets for the North Eastern Region, which When figures looked up 5. Lifted 9.5 cr people above poverty line.
government. Likewise, the Value Added Tax (VAT) was
witnessed a growth rate higher than the national implemented under UPA-1. Special Economic Zones
were established following the passage of the Special
average
• GDP by 3 times UPA VINDICATED Economic Zones Act in 2005. At end-2017, there were
Higher Education was given priority with increase
•  222 SEZs and they gave a big push to merchandise
A cheerleader for the BJP writing on the editorial
in outlays in the five year plans leading to Central
Universities going up from 44 to 77, opening of nine
• Per Capita Income 3 times page of a newspaper thanked Mr Arun Jaitley and me exports that grew four-fold in 10 years. PPPs were
for engaging in a ‘high quality debate on economic instrumental in the aggressive expansion of capacity
new IITs and seven IIMs in airports, ports and power. The Mahatma Gandhi
• Rural consumption by 4 times growth.’ He reluctantly conceded that I had won the
growth debate but charged that the Congress party National Rural Employment Guarantee programme
• The revolutionary Right to Education (RTE) Act
had ‘mismanaged the economy’. (and the Act that followed) supplemented rural-
enabled the nation achieve near universal education
at the primary school level - where the mid-day meal • Agricultural wages 6.8% Some of you may have missed the development that
agricultural incomes, staved off hunger, and created
demand in rural India. The universalisation of the Mid-
scheme also helped improve attendance - and bring
triggered the debate. The development was the release day Meal Scheme had huge externalities.
down dropout rates in the middle and secondary
of the back series data of GDP to be able to compare
school levels - P Chidambaram
the growth rates of the past with the growth rates

84 85
 UPA ACHIEVEMENTS
IN A NUTSHELL

• Implementation of Right to • Telecom Revolution

Information Act
• Bharat Nirman Scheme
• Right to Education Act
• Indira Awaaz yojana
• Right to Food Act
• Education loan for all
• Right to Work Act
• Agricultural loans – went up
• Land Acquisition Act from Rs 83,000 crore in 2003-04
• National Rural Health Mission to Rs 8 lakh crore in 2014-15

• Integrated Child Development • Agri credit cards given to 12.03

Scheme crore farmers with a credit
facility of Rs 6,17,233 crore
• Aadhaar – Unique Identity
Number • Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme
86