–Dr Pentapati Pullarao
Prime minister Modi spoke in Parliament on 7th and 8th February,2022..The
speeches evoked great interest as Modi was combative . While Modi supporters
were very happy , opposition voices said that the Prime minister was too political
and the speech of Prime Minister was not appropriate and was too aggressive.
Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi strongly criticized Narendra Modi in very personal terms. Rahul Gandhi raised political issues and it was a direct personal attack on Narendra Modi .
He made the usual allegations that India was divided due to Narendra Modi
The country was quite keen to see how Modi would respond. If the prime
minister responds too much, there is the danger that he has given to much
respect to his opponents . If Narendra Modi does not respond strongly, then
public might say that Modi had no answers . Narendra Modi did face a big
dilemma . Modi must have felt that he would have faced criticism either way and it was better to hit out at his critics.
Modi has definitely great oratorical powers .There is no doubt that Modi’s oratory was visible in parliament .One can’t please some critics anyway. The fact is that Narendra Modi had to address his supporters and his critics at the same time .
1. Division fo Andhra Pradesh : Modi said Andhra Pradesh was badly divided
by the Congress party. Modi said that basic parliamentary procedures were
not followed and Parliament doors were shut and law was passed. Modi
said that thanks to such hasty work, the disputes simmer even today. Modi
pointed out that the haste was due to political greed and even Telengana
did not vote for Congress and Andhra evicted the Congress. This was Modi’s
way of showing that Congress did not respect parliament .
2. Dynasties : Modi also attacked political parties, which were dominated by
dynasties. Modi said dynasties were ruining democracy and obstructed
talent, as only family members got posts. Modi raised dynasty issues to
defend himself that there was no inner party democracy in the BJP.
3. Rahul Gandhi in his speech said that the BJP will never win in Tamilnadu ,
because the people there were different. In response, Modi pointed out
the Congress never won an election in Tamilnadu since 1962 and nearly 60
years have passed. Modi also pointed out that Congress has stopped
winning elections in West Bengal since 60 years and over 35 years in Uttar
Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar. Modi pointed out that Congress could not make
such accusations, as it was losing in many states for decades.
4. Modi on inflation : Modi admitted that he tried in all ways to control
inflation. But Modi said that sometimes inflation was due to the global
economy and that inflation was linked to economic issues overseas. Modi
then quoted Jawaharlal Nehru who said that inflation affected India due to
foreign wars and foreign events. Modi thus defended himself.
5. Rahul Gandhi alleged that India’s foreign policy was bad: He said that
Pakistan and China were now close against India. Modi thus responded
that Jawaharlal Nehru sacrificed India’s foreign policy interests to enhance
his own global image. He said that Nehru delayed taking over Goa from
Portugal,as he did not want to damage his image as a peaceful man.
6. Modi also said that his government achieved world-records in Covid
vaccinations and that medial education has been expanded greatly. It is a
fact that since 2014 number of medical seats had doubled.
7. Modi also pointed out to various infra-structural achievements of his
government and India is now the capital of Start-ups in the world. Modi
said that these Start-Ups would energize Indian economy.
8. Modi also made the stinging allegations that some non-BJP states
encouraged migrant workers to panic and lave cities and thus spread
Covid. .
What Modi did not talk about :
A. Modi never referred to the NoteBandi economic disaster . The root
cause of all economic problems is Notebandi and Modi avoided it.
b. Modi never referred to the Covid failures and the Second wave which
caught the country un-prepared and lakhs of people died.
c. Modi never referred to the un-employment problem or how he
proposes to solve it.
d. Modi also did not refer to the promise he made that he would farmers’ income by 2022.
While critics have said that Modi has lowered the prestige of the office of prime minister by speaking very strongly ,Modi had really no alternative. Modi also had to face personal allegations that he favored some businessmen .
There were serious allegations against Modi. When very serious allegations are made, one can’t stand on niceties and
precedents .If a political leader does not answer allegations ,then the allegations may tarnish him .
Modi said that there seemed to be permanent criticism of his government, which lowered image of India. Modi also had to give a message to his party and leaders, that they must rebut attacks. The opposition is putting great emphasis on weakening the personal image of Prime Minister Modi. The personal abuse of Modi ahs been constant ever since he became Prime Minister. Even foreign and defense matters were not spared abuse.
One should not forget that Rahul Gandhi and many Opposition leaders
have been carrying on a highly personal and mocking abuse campaign
against the Prime minister.
Narendra Modi probably felt that his oratory should be put to good use and it was. At some time, Modi would have had to reply to the abuse. In an ideal world, India’s politicians should be civil and careful. But neither is this an ideal world nor are the Indian politicians Mahatma Gandhis .
(Dr Pentapati Pullarao is a Delhi based economist and political commentator)