In one of his best speeches of recent times, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in his parliamentary address reduced the opposition to
smithereens. The speech which was high both on rhetoric and facts have
decimated the ridiculous outbursts of opposition. Parliament which emerged as
platform for meaningless rattle today witnessed a discussion which was grounded
in commitment towards nation. Besides, highlighting the urgent need for all
political parties to work together for the upliftment of poor, Modi has come
down heavily on sycophancy afflicted workers of oldest political party. At a time
when political analysts are categorically alleviating the declining prospects
of BJP in the recently concluded assembly elections in Punjab and Goa, Modi has
reenergized the party cadres with a resounding rebuttal. In this election
season, political parties of various hues have colluded to take head-on their
principal opponent BJP. Invigorated by political windfall of the Mahaghatbandhan in Bihar, Congress and
Samajwadi party have formed an alliance to capitalize on the minority vote
bank. BJP on the other hand is riding on two main issues- surgical strikes and
demonetization.
Modi’s speech couldn’t have come any better time. In a
befitting reply to Rahul Gandhi’s taunt who in December threatened that “there would be an earthquake if they allow
me speak”. Modi in his reply to the discussion on motion of thanks to
President’s address, deftly bulldozed the earthquake jibe and quipped “How can someone see seva or any other
positive virtue in a SCAM?” Earlier Modi used the acronym SCAM (Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh
Singh and Mayawati) appealing the voters to root out SCAM and give a chance
to Lotus in an election rally at Meerut. Irked Rahul Gandhi redefined the SCAM as Seva, Courage, Ability and Modesty.
Twitterati gaga over Rahul’s definition delivered a troll treatment of epic
proportions. Modi had equally retorted to opposition leader Mallikarjuna
Kharge’s statements extolling the sacrifices of Indira Gandhi and other leaders
of Congress for the country “while not
even a dog” from BJP could match those contributions. Modi scathingly
remarked that “we are not brought up with
sycophancy” (Hum Kutton Wali pampara
se pale bade nahin hai). He added that “there
are many people like me who are born after independence and we weren’t lucky
enough to take part in the freedom struggle but we have been living and working
for India. I have said it in the
past- every prime minister has contributed to nation. But there is a party here
that wants to attribute everything to single family”.
Despite all the ground work BJP is clearly aware that
demonetization as a core issue can change its political fate. Hence in
anticipation of massive political surprises, Modi for the first time defended
the timing of demonetization. He argued that post-Diwali businesses usually
experience sudden dip in sales for a month or so and recovers in 50 days.
Government timed the well-thought out process of demonetization to match that
period to reduce inconvenience. In response to decommissioning of high value
currency when economy is robust and healthy, Modi drew an analogy to a doctor
who prefers to conduct a surgery when a person is in pink of health. He remarked
as why no one questioned the secrecy of surgical strikes but were taken aback
by the sudden announcement of demonetization? Modi reiterated that
demonetization is pro-poor and likened it to Swacch Bharat mission (to clean up of black money and corruption). In
response to the poor implementation of demonetization and change of rules and
regulations for almost 150 times, Modi reminded the Congress that MNREGA was
amended 1035 times.
While crediting Congress party for initiating various welfare
schemes, absence of commitment and zeal to reach out to the poor appalled him. In
this connection, he questioned the grand old political party of India for
failing to notify the bill on benami property for 26 years. “In 1988 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime
minister, he had more majority in both houses than Pandit Nehru. The Congress
was everywhere from Panchayat to Parliament. A bill was made to tackle benami
property but was never notified?” He also commended previous state and
central governments for initiating social welfare measures for the poor. But
sadly, most of them failed to yield desired results because of poor planning
and existence of leakages. On the contrary, Modi pronounced that in the past
two years’ government managed to stop leakages worth Rs 7633 crores and
constructed about 22,27,000 houses. He
then enunciated that procedural changes in the existing schemes under the NDA
government began to make desired impact. Modi then elaborated about the new
changes in crop insurance schemes, popularization of LED bulbs, supplying of
neem coated urea to farmers etc.
In response to presentation of budget just days before the
state elections, Modi replied that “we
don’t see everything from the prism of elections. The interest of nation is
supreme for us. It doesn’t matter how big you are, you will have to give what
belong to poor. My fight is for the poor” MNREGA project which was once
highly criticized by BJP while there were in opposition, received the highest
allocation. But unlike the UPA, all the beneficiaries of MNREGA are now
registered through Aadhar card and the cash benefits are directly transferred
to their accounts. Modi even highlighted advantages of digitization and
elucidated how government is making use of technology to check leakages and for
direct cash transfers.
While Modi’s oratorical skills are nonpareil, his agility to
change the tone and tenor of speech to suit various audience is impeccable. He
questioned the democratic credentials of Congress party and reminded them of
media censorship and jailing of political rivals during 1975-77. Breaking the
suit-boot the Sarkar myth created by Congress, Modi steadily focused on the
welfare schemes and potentially stressed BJP’s objectives of empowering the
poor. Throughout the speech, he critically attacked the opposition for looting
the coffers and reiterated efforts of NDA governments in steadily building
national resources. Modi also reminded Parliament, the power of janshakti which made it possible for a
person hailing from poor family to become prime minister of India. The speech
which symbolically highlighted the achievements of NDA government also faintly
exudes trepidation of party’s electoral gains. Psephologists are highly
skeptical of repeat of BJP’s 2014 magical performance in UP and believe that
demonetization would cripple BJP’s chances of reclaiming UP’s throne. By and
large while Modi seized this opportunity to make an indelible impression, its
impact can be construed after March 11th.
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