The Report Card of NDA

The Bharatiya Janata Party's poster boy and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi recently claimed that growth during the NDA rule was greater than the UPA, claiming it to be 8.2 %. Though the BJP and its leaders have a habit of saying a lot of things without doing their homework well, after all its Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ravi Shankar Prasad doesn't even know how many total constituencies are there in his home state of Bihar, such a big blunder can prove to be too silly. To analyse and look into the matter, I thought just like I wrote the Report Card of its PM candidate Narendra Modi, why not make a Report Card of the NDA rule from 1998-2003 too. After all they call it the golden era in the political history of modern India. Let's have a fact checking to see if all that glitters is gold or not.

In order to assess the performance of the NDA Government in terms of various economic growth indicators, we look at two periods: the six-year period preceding April 1, 1998, and the six-year period after April 1, 1998. For convenience, we will refer to these as Period 1 and Period 2. This allows us to assess the performance of the NDA Government (Period 2) compared to its immediate predecessors in the form of the United Front and Congress-led governments (Period 1).

It is obvious that by both measures, growth of national income decelerated quite substantially in Period 2, that is, under the NDA Government. In fact, the period from April 1998 until March 2003 appears to have experienced a deceleration of growth compared to the earlier 15-year period as well. Growth of agricultural production was actually negative during this period, mainly because of the drought-induced collapse in production in 2003. Indeed, the apparently fabulous recovery during 2004, which has been cited so much in government and ruling party handouts, is essentially nothing more than the reflection of the recovery of agriculture consequent upon a very good monsoon. That brought home the unfortunate reality that the Indian economy was still heavily dependent upon the monsoon, which could create major changes not only in agricultural output but also in aggregate economic activity.

This was despite the much increased external openness of the economy, which has now been exposed to international trade and capital flows more than ever before. It also undoes some of the claims made by the votaries of such policies, that economic liberalisation had unleashed such animal spirits in the economy that agriculture was no longer of macroeconomic significance and that the growth impetus of the economy is no longer affected by it.

Even in industrial production, the slowdown of the second period is very marked. It indicated a sharp deceleration of the index of industrial production, by both trend and compound rates of growth. This cannot be blamed on the year of 2003 alone; the entire six-year period indicated sluggish expansion of industrial output. Why has this happened? Some clues can be gleaned from the pattern of aggregate investment, in terms of the rates of growth of real gross domestic capital formation. Such investment increased at a reasonable rate in the earlier period, above 9 per cent per annum in real terms. However, in the second period (the tenure of the NDA regime) the increase in investment had slumped to only around 5 per cent per annum.

Even this low rate of increase is of dubious significance, since both public and private corporate investment stagnated or even declined over this latter period. Indeed, such increase in capital formation as did occur after 1998 came about mainly because of household sector capital formation. This is determined in the national accounts as a residual, and essentially reflects increases in domestic construction activity.

Investment declined because public investment has stagnated or declined under the NDA regime. Despite the recent promises of national highway expansion and other such indicators of material prosperity, the NDA Government has spent less (in real per capita terms) on productive investment for infrastructure and economic growth, than any government in independent India. It is well known that in India, as in almost all other developing countries, there are strong positive linkages between public and private investment. Typically, high rates of public investment call forth and enable more private investment activity.

However, the policymakers of the NDA appeared to believe that they could further reduce the amount of productive public expenditure and expect private entrepreneurs to take up the slack and increase aggregate investment. Obviously, this was not likely to happen in the absence of any other major positive stimulus. So it is not surprising that the NDA's tenure has been associated with lower rates of growth of industrial production and economic activity generally, than the preceding period. Indeed, the bulk of economic activity over this period did not show much acceleration, certainly when compared to the earlier period. This is in conformity with other indicators such as employment generation, especially in the organised sectors, which also indicate stagnation or insufficient expansion. So the official figures suggest that, whatever else the BJP might claim to be the NDA's strengths, successful macroeconomic management is not among them.

This is evident in the slack that remains in the economy in the form of high unemployment and underemployment, wasteful build-up of reserves through allowing unnecessary capital inflows that are not being productively used, and of course through the appalling waste of public food stocks that were exported away at below BPL prices when hundreds of millions within the country remained hungry. But it is even apparent in the aggregate growth performance, which unfortunately has not been anywhere near as impressive as the current BJP PM candidate's propaganda would have us believe. However thrashing their claims, official data of the World Bank shows that the average GDP growth during the ten years of UPA rule is 8.2 % while that of the NDA is merely 5.4%.

That was about the economy and condition of the country during the NDA rule. Who can forget the disastrous India Shining campaign led by the BJP during the 2004 general elections which projected India touching the zenith of growth and development while millions were starving and the country's youth furious because of high levels of unemployment. The NDA also claims to have built more roads or highways than the UPA. Yet again, official data suggests, that the NHAI under the NDA built 2455 kms of roads where as under the UPA rule, it is 17195 kms and counting. Under the NDA rule, poor were heavily neglected and there were hardly any social welfare schemes that I can think of that initiated by the NDA. While during the UPA rule, the country got NREGA, MNREGA, Farmers Loan Waivers, Right to Education, Food Security and the most recent Land Acquisition Act which will be of immense help to the farmers.

Another big blot of the BJP led NDA government is the communalization of education in India.  In 2002, under the NDA government spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the government made an attempt at changing the NCERT school textbooks through a new National Curriculum Framework. Marxist historians raised objections to the new curriculum, claiming "saffronization" of education by allegedly raising the profile of Hindu cultural norms, views and historical personalities in school textbooks. The BJP opined that their only goal was to promote sectarianism, but present a more accurate picture of Indian history and Indian culture (such as Vedic science), which was being downplayed by the left wing ideologues. The NDA was defeated in the elections of 2004 and the new UPA government pledged to "de-saffronize" textbooks and curricula nationwide and restore the secular character of education. In March, the UPA Government released new NCERT textbooks, based on the texts used before the controversial 2002 updates. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, which oversaw this project, stated that it had made only minor modifications to the books that predated the "saffronized" era. In Delhi, the Directorate of Education, in collaboration with the State Council of Educational Research and Training, prepared 47 new textbooks, and other state governments were expected to do likewise.

And last but not the least, if you think that the NDA rule was free from scams, then you're very wrong. Let us have a look at the scams which happened under the NDA rule.

Tehelka.com, a website run by investigative journalism enthusiast showed BJP’s then president Bangaru Laxman taking bundles of cash as bribe. UTI – United Trust of India, now doing business as Axis Bank, lost its money putting investors to the verge of loosing their money.  Though the funds was managed well in UTI64, scam  hit during NDA regime which created the loss. Few thousand crore money involved.  The US-64 scheme had 2 crore investors, the bulk of whom were small savers, retired people, widows and pensioners. In 1998, the UTI crashed, and the BJP-led NDA government scrambled to organise Rs. 3,500 crore bail-outs to UTI.  The capital of UTI fell by 33% from 75,000 crores to 50,000 crores, making this a 25,000 crores scam. Additionally public faith in financial institutions was completely eroded. In a global recession such a mistake proved be catastrophic, retarded and hamper the country’s chances of recovery turning it into a full blown crisis.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and her close friendship with Reddy brothers, who are considered to be mining mafia in Andhra – Karnataka states is a known fact.  She was considered as Godmother for Reddy brothers.
Soon after assuming office in 1999, the NDA government embarked on a full-scale privatisation programme, offering controlling stake in government-owned companies to “strategic partners”. Starting in January 2000, in less than two and a half years, the government sold controlling stake in nine companies, apart from 19 hotels at various locations belonging to the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). The government earned Rs.5,544 crores from the strategic sale of the nine enterprises. Every single instance was controversial and initiated protests from the unions. The unions not only feared for workers’ jobs but alleged that the units were being sold for a song.

Another one is the BALCO SCAM: – Complete erosion of public money in the name of ‘disinvestment’. – The aluminium giant where missiles such as ‘Agni’ and ‘Prithvi’ were shaped, was sold to Sterlite company for a paltry sum of Rs.551 crore at a time when the assets alone were worth Rs.5,000-6,000 crore. Giving tough compitition to it in terms of its magnitude could be the Gujarat Cooperative Bank Scam 2003: – In Gujarat, the Narendra Modi Government had to pay out Rs. 870 Crore to small investors after the Gujarat Bank Scam of 2003 which led to the closure of 9 cooperative banks and 17 other being declared sick.  – The administrator of the crisis-ridden Panchamahal District Co-operative Bank even registered a complaint against Gujarat Minister of State Prabhatsinh Chauhan and 28 others, alleging their involvement in the embezzlement of Rs 124 crore (Rs 1.24 billion) from the bank.

These were just a few instances of mismanagement and misgovernance during the NDA rule which proves that under their reign both the Indian economy as well as the cultural fabric of the country were in the doldrums. There are plentiful more issues to further reiterate this point which due to the length constraint couldn't be mentioned here. After all, one the worst riots of modern India happened in 2002 in Gujarat during the NDA rule and that too under a BJP led government in the state and yet they didn't do anything to curb the brutal killing of thousands of innocents. Today after so many years when the BJP claims to give the only stable alternative to the current ruling government, the bigger question is whether they're capable of doing it or not. Just showing a show of unity at a Bhopal rally among their own party doesnot qualify them to stake a claim at the Centre but an effort to take the country forward together will. Unfortunately, their politics is not inclusive but divisive. They talk about war and not peace. And above all, history bears testimony that they've always been pro-mill owners and never pro-poor. So the choice is now yours.

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com

Why NaMo cannot become India’s Next PM

It is no surprise that by the time this article gets uploaded and spread over the social media, my twitter timeline would be flooded with abuses. This is not a new phenomenon given the fact that the so-called NaMo Brigade is forever ready to attack intellectuals but could hardly counter them with facts. The moment you point out flaws in him, you become a paid Congress agent. Such is the irony of our country where though the Constitution does provide the Right of Freedom of Expression, but it is often gauged by those who find it fancy to call themselves the voice of the nation. In my last article ‘The Report Card of NaMo’ which invited plentiful of abuses after it went viral, I talked about the mirage of development created by the BJP to project Narendra Modi as a ‘Vikas Purush’. Today I would be discussing about some basic points which clearly indicates a tough time ahead for the Gujarat CM in the upcoming general elections.

It would be fairly unfair to say that there is huge unrest in the country after the anointment of Narendra Modi as BJP’s official PM candidate, but yes, within the BJP and the hardcore supporters of Modi, it has gained momentum. Slogans of ‘Modi for PM’ are doing rounds since a very long time now in the social media. But one needs to understand that elections cannot solely be won of the basis of slogan chanting. After all, not everybody possess the charisma of Indira Gandhi, who would stand on a dias, clad in a khadi saree, and cheer the slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’, and people would realise that their messiah has come. Sorry boss, not happening. Then what are the bigger questions that the BJP and their crowned prince, Narendra Modi needs to look into? Let’s have a look.

The first and the foremost agenda which would be there in any party’s mind is the magic number of 272. It is not just a mere number, but will decide the fate of the largest democracy in the world in the next coming months. It is the number the BJP could not achieve even when there was the noise of 'Abki bari Atal Bihari' in 1998 and 1999. These were the two years when there was a BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. In 1998, the BJP fought from 388 seats and won 182 seats. A year later, riding the wave of the Kargil victory and the sympathy of losing the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha by one vote, the BJP assigned more seats to allies. The BJP contested 339 seats and again won 182 seats. Now let's talk about the last elections -- that is 2009. In it, after contesting on 433 seats, the BJP only managed 116 seats. So the question is, not only will Modi have to maintain this performance in the next election but also increase the numbers by one-and-a-half times, which is to be honest next to impossible.

Today’s politics is dominated by the coalition compulsions and no party can make it to Delhi without the support of a bunch of regional players. This is another hurdle in Modi becoming the PM is his image and politics. Vajpayee became the prime minister only after he found new allies in several states and made the NDA family big, very big. But in the final year of his regime, most partnerships broke down. Only Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena have been left behind. The trouble ahead for the NDA is to again bring closer old friends. It is said that Modi has a good political relationship with Jayalalithaa. But Amma hasn't yet made her stand clear. Naveen Patnaik is also firm on his stand of Ekla Chalo (walk alone) these days. Nitish's hatred is known to all and his latest exit from the NDA is a testimony to it. Mamata is worried about Muslim voters in West Bengal. If we talk about some new allies, the NCP is mired in allegations of corruption. The National Conference cannot get out of the Congress lap since its region has its own politics. So when they will not be able to make partnerships, will comments, shares and likes on Facebook make Modi the PM?

Even if for a time being if we forget about the coalition politics which depends a lot on calculations and self-interests after the elections, what about its own house which is not in order since a long time now. No one might be openly stepping out against Modi for the time-being but Advani, Shivraj and the Sangh Parivar have signalled on and off that the one-man show won't work. Leaders like Sushma Swaraj may feel that though she has been in central politics for two decades and has mass appeal, a state leader is staking claim when it is time for the top post. The point to be noted is that Sushma has never called Modi the party's most popular leader. Arun Jaitley, who once used to be Modi's Chanakya, is busy uprooting him, albeit with the calm of a lawyer. Rajnath is singing the Modi song but his existence and rise in the party has only been due to this. And the heaviest among them all, the eldest in the house, Advani, who has fallen silent for the time-being, has not missed the race yet. To encourage him stands a long battalion of dissatisfied party soldiers such as Gadkari and Sanjay Joshi. So till the time Modi becomes a non-controversial leader like Vajpayee in the party, how can he become the leader of the nation?

It is a well-known fact that the BJP doesn’t have reach in majority of the Indian states and is non-existent in many. BJP loves the word 'south'. In ideological debates, it is called a south-leaning party or a right-wing party. But nothing is right for the BJP in the country's south. We saw the debacle in Karnataka. In Andhra Pradesh, a grassroots leader like Bandaru Dattatreya was sidelined to make way for Venkaiah Naidu, a leader with the Delhi stamp. It lost an ally like the Telugu Desam. Whenever it found some ground in Tamil Nadu, it was on partnerships. For now, the party is empty-handed in the state. Due to the blank slate in the south, the party will not be able to have a pan-India presence allowing it to knock on the doors of 7 Race Course Road even if it does well in the north. 

In terms of reach and seats in the politically most significant state of Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have no answer. The BJP began sinking in Uttar Pradesh after 1998. As a result, the party's 57 MPs were reduced to 29. Kalyan Singh was expelled from the party and after Ramprakash Gupta, Rajnath became CM. He made a lot of announcements, a lot of promises but the party's Assembly seats in UP were reduced to 88. Rajnath came to the centre as minister and in 2004, BJP's condition deteriorated further. The situation now is such that the party is desperate to cross 10 seats in UP. But the BJP is still in a bad shape in UP. Here, it is filled with spent leaders for whom it will be enough if they retain their seats. All of them are busy manoeuvring with each other. And by just sending Modi protégé Amit Shah to invoke the Ram Mandir issue to polarise votes won’t help anymore. The voter of today is too smart to understand such narrow political tactics. In this scenario, if there is no answer in the BJP to politics in Uttar Pradesh, then the Delhi Durbar will just remain a dream.

So far, we had been only talking about external things. Now let us look at Modi's experience in the Parliament. Vajpayee got to the Parliament in the 1950s from UP's Balrampur. Other than a few breaks, he was in Parliament till 2004. Advani too has decades of parliamentary experience. The same thing can be said about Sushma, Jaitley and other central leaders. But Narendra Modi has seen Parliament only from the visitor's gallery. Manoeuvring, floor management and turning the direction of debates in Parliament is not as easy as addressing rallies. Modi has no experience of parliamentary politics whatsoever. This fact goes well against him. Those who have long experience in Parliament can fill even Modi with fear.

Modi fans by now must be boiling in fury and would say that his mass appeal and popularity would outdo all the points made here. Done, point well taken. But the bigger question is, has he won anything outside Gujarat? Narendra Modi is the lion of Gujarat. Not only his supporters, but we too believe this. After all, winning three Assembly elections on the trot is not a joke. But what about outside the state? Has the BJP been able to come to power in any other state using the Modi name? Will it be able to do so in the future? There is no answer to this. If we talk about the upcoming elections, in Rajasthan, the BJP is not dependent on Modi but Vasundhara. The party high command has given her a free hand and she would not like any interference. Shivraj too does not think of himself any less than Modi. Raman Singh too has been the CM since the time Modi became one. Delhi is the only state where Modi can openly play his cards. But the Aam Admi Party is here to spoil the game. This was the story of Assembly elections. In Lok Sabha elections, Modi will have a tougher task. Those projecting Modi for PM should answer if the Gujarat CM has come up with any strategy for Lok Sabha polls and what did it result in. After all the disaster in Karnataka, where Modi rallied quite extensively in his own capacity is still afresh in all our minds.

Last but not the least, one issue which would haunt Modi throughout his life and in my view would prove to be a huge deterrent in the upcoming general elections is the 2002 riots. Just like two rights don’t justify a wrong, similarly just talking about development cannot help in washing the bloods of thousands of innocents from his hands. Still nostalgic of what their very own PM, Atal Vihari Vajpayee said during the 2002 riots that, ‘My only message to the Chief Minister of Gujarat is that he should follow Raj Dharma and not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed and religion’. Modi moved ahead of Gujarat riots but the country remembers that he has never, till date, openly said that what happened in Gujarat should not have happened. He in his sheer arrogance has even refused to apologise for a gruesome mass killing which happened under his watch. The state government should have crushed the rioters with maximum force. Instead, those who were opposed to the riots were slowly side-lined and the rioters were given a free hand.

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com

Is the Broom an effective Sweeper too?

With the elections knocking at the door in all four polls bound states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi, both the BJP and the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to either retain power or make an impressive comeback. Unlike Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh where the fight will mostly be bipolar between the Congress and the BJP, in Delhi, the political scenario seems to be changing where the fight might well turn out to be triangular. If the recent opinion polls are to be believed, the Aam Aadmi Party is all set to make an impressive debut in electoral politics. However to know what actually happens, we have to wait till November end and if the polls are correct, then certainly Arvind Kejriwal and his team deserves an applause. But the bigger question remains, after that, what?

If we closely analysis the turn of events, ever since the AAP came into existence a year ago, Arvind Kejriwal has been promising that the party will usher in a new kind of politics. That has also been the running theme in all interactions that party leaders have had with the public. They have been fanning across the city since August, meeting small groups of people in public spaces.  In all of them, brandishing the broom – the party’s symbol which they say they asked for – the leaders vow to sweep out all that is bad in Indian politics and bring in what they insist will be an entirely new kind of politics, no matter how long it takes and regardless of how the party fares in elections. Unfortunately, that is exactly where the AAP promise flounders.

What they need to understand is that a new political culture cannot just be about the way a party is organised or functions. Nor can it be limited to symbolic gestures like shunning red beacons. It also has to be about the way a party engages with the voters. As of now, there is little evidence till now that the `new’ political style and culture that AAP promises is anything more than the way the party is managed and the behaviour of its elected representatives. So, the party has a transparent and democratic organisational structure; only candidates with a clean reputation are chosen in a very transparent manner; elected representatives will not use red beacons on their vehicles or live in sprawling government bungalows and be surrounded by a phalanx of security personnel.  The kerfuffle over a key member, sociologist Yogendra Yadav, being sacked from the University Grants Commission (UGC) is at variance with these lofty ideals, but more on that later.

To be honest, the AAP is not the only non-traditional party to have a strong ethics code in place. Several new do-gooder parties that emerged on the political landscape after 2007 are doing the same – fielding squeaky clean candidates, taking donations only by cheque, putting up lists of donors on their websites. It’s just that the AAP has managed to grab national attention, thanks to the India Against Corruption Movement, in a way that the others did not. It is only the legacy of the Anna Hazare led movement which is helping it make rounds in the mainstream media which is since then moniotoring each and every move of the members of the movement especially those with the most know face.

 

In our Indian political understanding, when one talks about old-style politics, the association is always with caste-religion-community based politics and economically ruinous populism. A new kind of political culture should entail a movement away from such divisive and fiscally imprudent politics. Instead, the AAP has only continued down the same path, down to some well-known Muslim figures joining the party at a public function. At that do, Kejriwal admitted that there were already a large number of Muslims working for the party. He then gave a somewhat unconvincing explanation that this special function was organised to highlight the politics of hate that was taking centre stage. 

Couldn’t this be done in any other way than putting an AAP cap on top of a skull cap that one of those who joined wore? How is this kind of tokenism any different from what mainstream parties do?

Similarly if we take a look at the pamphlets that the AAP candidate have been distributing in their areas. The promises they make include waiving of water bills and providing 700 litres of water a day to every family free of charge, halving of electricity bills and regularisation of unauthorised colonies. Where is the new paradigm in this? A couple of months back, the Congress government in Delhi regularised a host of unauthorised colonies. The BJP, which has been out of power for 15 years, has also been promising cheaper power bills. Nor is the AAP lagging in making tall promises. One of the ads it has placed on the back of autorickshaws laments the lack of security for women in the capital and promises – hold your breath – an exclusive commando force for women!

As far as the issue of Prof Yogendra Yadav’s expulsion from the UGC is concerned, though many might argue that it was not justifiable and was thus a very idiotic move by the Ministry of HRD. But the idiocy and meanness of the human resource development ministry does not diminish the fact that Yadav is also not entirely in the clear. He had been appointed to the UGC as an academician, which is what all commission members are. When he joined the AAP, he should have quit the UGC. Yadav says he had offered to resign last year and that the UGC told him to stay on and that his removal has been done not by the UGC but the ministry. But this is a kind of hair-splitting that does not speak well of the leading light of a party taking the moral high ground all the time. If he had insisted on stepping down from the UGC when he formally joined the AAP that would have been something completely different from the way normal politicians behave.

In India, I said this before and would like to reiterate it again, as far as the elections are concerned, corruption is not as big an issue as it is being made out to be. It is an issue only if people see that the politicians are concentrating only on filling their personal coffers without addressing their problems. There are innumerable such instances which could be cited where despite having a corrupt track record, people have repetitively voted the same representatives saying that they might be corrupt but they have fulfilled their promises and that they say matters at the end of the day. Let’s face it: honest people don’t get elected; `effective’ people do. If they are also honest, that’s an added bonus.

Right now, the popular disenchantment with the mainstream parties is so overwhelming that the AAP is getting away with mere marketing gimmicks, passing off the same old model as a radically different product. There is, of course, the matter of whether the public really wants a different political discourse. There’s no getting away from the fact that people are not really concerned with their elected representatives framing and legislating sensible policies. All they want is for them to do favours – recommend a child to a school here, stop the demolition of an illegal construction there, swing something somewhere else. The AAP too has probably realised this and that is why it is not departing from old-style paternalistic, sops-driven politics. Right now, it’s only USP is the `added bonus’ – people with clean reputations. But if these people don’t deliver on the things the public wants, disillusionment will soon set in. And then the AAP will be just another party. So the larger question that persists is whether Arvind Kejriwal and his team are prepared for that?

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com

A Culture of Autocratic Rule

Party members moving in and out from parties for political gains are not a new entity in the politics of the subcontinent. The history pages of our country bears thousand such exmples of defections where MPs and MLAs who contested elections on the ticket of one party and later joined another after winning the seat. The phrase ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ about the MP Ram Lal who supposedly changed his party thrice in a fortnight is reminiscent of that phase. Later the Parliament passed a constitutional amendment popularly known as the Tenth Schedule or the Anti-Defection Law which debarred party members from flipping parties. However, currently the leading Opposition party, BJP is going through a huge crisis in the poll-bound state of Rajasthan.

Ahead of the Rajasthan assembly elections later this year, a BJP leader quit the party Tuesday, accusing state unit chief Vasundhara Raje of functioning like an autocrat. The state unit’s former spokesperson and former member of the BJP’s national economic forum Sunil Bhargava said he had sent his resignation letter to party president Rajnath Singh. The resignation is seen by political analysts as an indication of the growing dissidence against former chief minister Raje being projected as the chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming assembly elections.
Bhargava’s resignation letter, a copy of which has been accessed by IANS, said that the workers devoted to party were feeling completely left out and confused about their role in the elections in the year end. He accused Raje of an “autocratic style of functioning”. Bhargava had made his displeasure known over Raje’s elevation within the party in the past too. In July, he wrote a letter to Rajnath Singh accusing Raje of encouraging factionalism. “I had written a letter to you (Rajnath Singh) on July 12 drawing your attention to the problems plaguing the BJP in the state, but I am really sad that two months have passed since I wrote that letter nothing concrete has been done to improve things in the party in the state,” he wrote in his resignation. 

He said Raje remained away from party affairs, for over four years, and returned only to enjoy being in power here. “The party’s efforts to come to power in 2014 Lok Sabha elections will be realised only when it wins in the assembly elections. But in Rajasthan, it seems difficult for the party to win as the workers are in a state of confusion due to the way Raje is functioning,” said Bhargava. Raje was named the chief of the BJP’s state unit in February.

In an effort to placate senior leader Gulab Chand Kataria, who was at loggerheads with Raje, the party leadership appointed him leader of opposition in the assembly. Raje had recently concluded her Suraj Sankalpa Yatra, a 78-day-long election campaigning tour across the state. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had attended the function held in Jaipur Sep 10 to mark the yatra’s completion. “I have been a committed worker of the party for the last over 40 years, but I feel that party in the state is being now run by sycophants. Decisions are being taken by people who are close to Raje and are from outside the state,” he said alleging that Raje ill-treated party workers.

The main problem lies with the core functioning of the BJP as a party and how they wish to treat their members. Apart from a few humble CMs such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan in MP or Manohar Parrekar in Goa, all other BJP Chief Ministers or former Chief Ministers holding the key position in their respective states are increasingly becoming autocratic, so much so that they can go to an extent of even ignoring senior party leaders to establish their dominance over the party. This culture of restlessness will harm the party a lot and trust me there are no image makeovers for such blunders before the elections wherein a senior party member is accusing the state chief of being autocratic. As of now, what I can conclude out this situation is that the party is now at a war with itself which seem to only deepen with time.

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com

The Politics of Rioting for Votes

Until a few weeks ago, communal violence was nearly unheard of in Muzaffarnagar, a 4,000 sq km district with Uttar pradesh’s highest agricultural GDP. Many Muslims here are converts and have identical language and culture to their Jat neighbours. Even Jat leaders like Ajit Singh, who’s Rashtriya Lok Dal has 5 MPs and 11 MLAs, counted this Muslim-Jat unity as their political power base. However on September 10, the town’s bustling dtreets, which otherwise smelt of ripe sugarcane being transported now wears a deserted look. The only people on the road were the Uttar Pradesh Police, the state’s Provincial Armed Constabulary, CRPF and the Indian Army. Three days from then, these streets were filled with screaming mobs brandishing every kind of weapon. The unity has cracked, police and administrative officials say and they believe that the state is in grave danger because of the politics of polarisation being played out by both the SP and primarily by the BJP. The Samajwadi Party is hypersensitive about the minority votes and the BJP and its so-called Sangh Parivar believes that it can make a comeback by riding on Hindu votes by having a riot or two in the politically significant state of Uttar Pradesh.

Not too dissimilar from other cases of religious violence reported since March from different corners of the country. In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 35 people were injured on August 20 after the carcass of a cow was found near a water channel. Similarly thirty people were injured after violence in Silchar, Assam, on august 25 after a rumour spread that beef had been planted in a Hindu Temple. In Nawada, Bihar too, on August 10, two people were killed after an altercation between two groups at a roadside dhaba. Curfew was then imposed and preventive detention was ordered. It was reportedly the sixth instance of rioting in Bihar in past six weeks. What is suspiciously peculiar is the fact that communal clashes suddenly occurred only after the JD (U) dumped its coalition partner BJP on June 16. This has indeed raised many eyebrows.

The caste politics of the BJP and Ajit Singh's RLD also played out in a bid to break the winning but weakening Muslim-Jat combination in Western UP in the hope of electoral gain. It allowed a Muslim panchayat and then a far more provocative Maha Panchayat organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union at which incendiary speeches were made by BJP, BSP and other party leaders. Hindus were instigated to violent retaliation for an incident that was videographed in Sialkot, Pakistan two years ago but now morphed to transplant a scene of 'Muslim terror' in Muzaffarnagar. The fake video went viral on Facebook and was reproduced in some Hindi dailies even as the State tried to block its circulation. There is dangerous mischief afoot and the origin and trajectory of the fake video need to be traced.


The VHP has a take on this, too. The joint general secretary of its Meerut branch, Chandra Mohan Sharma, told "The Hindu" that on August 27 a Muslim boy teased a Hindu girl, triggering tension. A fake video of this "incident" was screened at the Maha Panchayat at which the need for Hindus to protect their young women was stressed, fuelling passions. This is the Sangh Parivar's credo which was repeated in slightly different terms at the RSS-BJP meeting in Delhi on September 11, also attended by Praveen Togadia, the VHP chief, to discuss their 'core agenda' of Hindutva. According to Manmohan Vaidya of the RRS, Nitin Gadkari "spoke of the Ramjanambhoomi movement and temple construction, Article 370, cow protection, saving the Ganga and a common civil code".

Enter Narenrda Modi, crowned the BJP's prime ministerial face on September 13, and exemplar of the Gujarat 2002 "action-reaction" theory in which the "action" is contrived - in executing which pogrom he was ably backstopped by Advani as Union Home Minister. Advani once again expressed his protest at this premature elevation of the man before the autumn elections in four states by boycotting the BJP parliamentary board meeting. But he was ignominiously ignored though damned with faint praise. The very reason of appointing Modi loyalist Amit Shah as the party’s in which in-charge of UP which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and Varun Gandhi in helm of West Bengal which elects 40 members bears testimony to their plans to polarize as many votes as possible by inciting anti-minority sentiments.

The BJP has entered a new phase with the RSS actively in command and Hindutva as its masthead. This ploy has backfired in the past as it divides the nation even though it might consolidate a section of Hindus. Others, including many in the corporate world, realise this but believe Modi's "development card" will triumph. Their calculus is problematic as development and investment must be postulated on long term social stability which is what Hindutva undermines, apart from being regressive in itself. The charlatan godman, Asaram Bapu's arrest for alleged rape has been attacked by the VHP as "a conspiracy to erode faith or shraddha of Hindu followers". The BJP "demands" a UCC only as a stick with which to beat the Muslims who have not had the wit or gumption to call their bluff.

This is for me a big warning signal for all the Indian voters that the politics of division which the BJP and the Sangh Parivar propagates is corroding our country to the core and for them body counts is immaterial in the hunger for power. The real danger is that this tragedy may be the harbinger of an even darker gloom which might not be very evident to our naked eyes. But the fact remains that amidst all this, it is the poor and the marginalized which suffers and the majority of the Hindu-Muslims are not happy about it. It is time for us to now to identify the real culprits behind it who want to incite violence and do politics over dead bodies which sadly many parties have succumbed to.

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com

The Report Card of NaMo

Now that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is being officially crowned as BJP’s PM candidate, it is now time for the Indian voters to take a major decision. Every day I come across innumerable people who support Modi for his so-called development in Gujarat and trust me when I give them rationale reasons which clears the myth, I do see a shift of ideologies. But as the great saying says, you can never defeat an ignorant person in an argument and so some people will never buy your arguments, howsoever factual it might be. What he did in 2002 is something which is for me unquestionably a brutal and heinous crime, but for the time being even if we keep the communal card aside, there are plentiful to talk about. So I decided to make a report card of Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat over the years and burst the myth for everyone.

 First, about the rate of economic growth, during 1995-2000 and 2001-10, Gujarat increased its annual rate of growth from 8.01% to 8.68%. But so is the case with other major states such as Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Gujarat was ranked second after Rajasthan (8.34%) in the first period and third after Uttarakhand (11.81%) and Haryana (8.95%) in the second period. What is remarkable, Bihar and Orissa, the two most backward and poverty-stricken states have also shown growth pick up from 4.70% and 4.42% in the first period to 8.02% and 8.13% in the second period. Even smaller states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh have registered growth of 11.01% and 8.96%, respectively.

During 2001-04, the rate of industrial growth for Gujarat was 3.95%, and during 2005-09, it was 12.65%. In isolation, this appears to be a phenomenal jump, but not so when compared to some other states. During these sub-periods, industrial growth for Orissa was 6.4% and 17.53%; for Chhattisgarh 8.10% and 13.3%; and for Uttarakhand 18.84% and 11.63%. Thus, the hitherto industrially backward states have far surpassed Gujarat. In FDI, too, Gujarat has not been a leading state. During 2006-10, Gujarat signed MoUs worth Rs 5.35 lakh crore with potential of 6.47 lakh jobs. But Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu with Rs 4.20 lakh crore and Rs 1.63 lakh crore worth MoUs, expect about 8.63 lakh and 13.09 lakh jobs. To top it all, Chhattisgarh and Orissa have signed MoUs worth Rs 3.61 lakh crore and Rs 2.99 lakh crore more than Gujarat without much fanfare and Modi’s much-hyped industrial summits.

In the area of credit-deposit ratio, Gujarat is far behind other major states. In 2010, Gujarat’s share in total deposits of the scheduled commercial banks was 4.70%, as against 5.42%, 6.20%, 6.34% and 26.60% for Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, respectively. The share of Gujarat in total credit disbursed by these commercial banks was 4.22%; while the same for Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tami Nadu was 29.75%, 6.71% and 9.61% respectively. The amount of per capita deposit and per capita credit for Gujarat was Rs 37,174 and Rs 24,268; while for Tamil Nadu, it was Rs 42,580 and Rs 47,964; Karnataka Rs 49,598 and Rs 38,154; and Maharashtra Rs 1,10,183 and Rs 89,575. Even Kerala did better than Gujarat with Rs 43,890 and Rs 27,912.  In terms of per capita income (PCI), in 2011, Gujarat ranked sixth among major states with PCI of Rs 63,996, after Haryana (Rs 92,327), Maharashtra, (Rs 83,471), Punjab (Rs 67,473), Tamil Nadu (Rs 72,993) and Uttarakhand (Rs 68,292).

What about inclusive growth in Gujarat? Though Gujarat, with 31.8% people below the poverty line did better than Maharashtra and Karnataka, it still lagged behind Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, where poverty levels were 19.7%, 20.9%, 22.9% and 24.1%, respectively. On three important social indicators, viz life expectancy at birth (LEB), mean years of schooling (MYS) and school life expectancy (SLE), Gujarat is far behind some other states. In Gujarat, the LEB during 2002-06 was 64.1 years and it ranked ninth among major Indian states. In the areas of MYS and SLE, during 2004-05, it ranked seventh and ninth, respectively. Kerala ranked first in all three indicators. Even Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka performed much better than Gujarat.

With respect to Human Development Index (HDI), Gujarat’s story is devastating. The HDI for Gujarat, in 2008, was 0.527 and it ranked 10th among major states. Kerala stood first (HDI: 0.790), Himachal Pradesh scored 0.652, Punjab 0.605, Maharashtra 0.572 and Haryana 0.552. With respect to three HDI components – income, health and education – Gujarat does not present a shining story. In this respect, states like Kerala took the lead in every sector, while Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal did better than Gujarat. It is found that inequality with respect to income, education and health is higher in Gujarat than some of the major states.

Paradoxically, employment has not kept pace with the spurt in economic growth. NSSO data show that growth in employment has dropped to almost zero in the past 12 years. Rural Gujarat has been particularly hit despite the fact that there has been an increase in growth in the rural sector. The average wages (for jobs other than those under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) are also very poor, putting Gujarat at a low 14th rank among the States. The disparity in wages speaks of exploitation and an increasing use of contract workers. According to NSSO 2011 figures, the average daily wage a labourer in the informal sector in urban areas can expect in Gujarat is Rs.106 against Rs.218 in Kerala (which ranks first). In rural areas, Punjab ranks the highest at Rs.152 a day while Gujarat stands 12th at Rs.83. About 98 per cent of the women workers and about 89 per cent of the male workers in the State are engaged in informal work (against the corresponding national figures of 96 per cent and 90 per cent).

According to statistics from a report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, “Children in India, 2012—A Statistical Appraisal”, between 40 and 50 per cent of children in Gujarat are underweight, which bursts one more myth in Gujarat’s story of growth. Other States in this low weight category are Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Human Development Report 2011 said around half of Gujarat’s children were malnourished. Infant mortality, one of the basic indicators of the success of a government, is high in Gujarat, which ranks 11th countrywide in the rate of decline of infant mortality. According to “Children in India, 2012”, the infant mortality rate in Gujarat was still high, with 44 fatalities of infants per 1,000 live births. And with fewer health care facilities in rural areas, it is no surprise that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, both of whom are kept at the bottom of the social ladder, have a higher mortality rate.

In its 2012 State-wise report, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said, “Almost every second child in Gujarat under the age of five years is undernourished and three out of four are anaemic. Infant and maternal mortality rates have reduced very slowly in the last decade…. One mother in three in Gujarat struggles with acute under-nutrition….” The issue of children’s health is further compounded by the continuance of child marriage. Gujarat ranks fourth in reported cases of child marriage. Shockingly, in terms of hunger – as revealed by the ‘State Hunger Index 2008’ – Gujarat ranked 13th among 17 big states and worse than Orissa. In Gujarat, the percentage of women suffering from anaemia has risen from 46.3% in 1999 to 55.5% in 2004, and amongst children from 74.5% to 80.1%. The conditions of dalits and women have deteriorated during the last decade; while those of Muslims and tribals are still worse.

Education also seems to be low on priority when it comes to government spending. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election manifesto claims to have achieved 100 per cent enrolment in primary schools and reduced the overall dropout rate by 2 per cent. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) statistics show that Gujarat ranks 18th when it comes to success in keeping children in schools. The school life expectancy of children in Kerala (which ranks first) is 11.33 years, while that of children in Gujarat is 8.79 years. The State also ranks seventh among 15 major States in terms of literacy rates.

According to Census 2011, 43 per cent of the rural households in Gujarat get water supply on their premises and 16.7 per cent get treated water from a common tap. In urban households, the corresponding percentages are 84 per cent and 69 per cent. The data show that 67 per cent of rural households in the State have no access to toilets and members of more than 65 per cent of the households defecate in the open, very often polluting common water sources. Waste collection and disposal are matters practically unheard of. The larger issue of the environment is also severely neglected.

Despite the Modi government’s pride in the economic boom brought on by the industrial clusters of south Gujarat, these are actually environmentally dead zones. According to statistics from the Central Pollution Control Board, Ankleshwar and Vapi in Gujarat top the list of 88 severely polluted industrial areas in India. Ankleshwar has a CEPI rating of 88.50 while Vapi’s is 88.09. Of the 88 areas, eight are in Gujarat. Even Dhanbad in Jharkhand, with its intensive coal mining and a longer history of pollution than the Gujarat centres, ranks only 13th on the list.

These were just few facts that I could highlight for you while there are innumerable more things to point out to show the mirage of development that Modi claims of. Certainly no government is perfect and there lies fault in every administration, but the problem lies with the fact that no one else boasts about it so much as Narendra Modi does and now that other than Hindutva, development is also his calling card, we certainly need to introspect about it. In no way is he a crusader of development and not to mention not at all an inclusive leader. I would like to conclude this report card with the international media giant BBC’s headline while announcing Modi’s anointment as BJP’s PM candidate which clears Modi’s international stature. It said ‘Controversial Hindu Nationalist Politician to lead Opposition in Indian Vote’. Do I need to say anything more? It’s time for you to think about it and take a call.

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail at author.vish94@gmail.com

The Tale of Two Leaders

Over the years if there is one thing that the BJP and its top political leadership have failed to achieve is probably to let LK Advani sit at the Prime Minister’s chair. His overzealous desire of capturing the top job of the country is probably the most vocal compared to any other leader. Yet years after years, elections after elections, he is always the one biting the bullet and sacrificing his ambitions for the greater good of the country. It is not hidden from any of us that due to his polarizing nature back in 1996, he supported the candidature of Shri Atal Vihari Vajpayee for the post of the Prime Minister as the party was not able to gather enough allies. 18 years since then, the party stalwart this time seems too adamant to sacrifice his ambitions, thereby keeping some room for him to hit back at the country’s top job.

LK Advani’s continuous reservation has now put the much hyped official coronation of Narendra Modi as BJP prime ministerial candidate is in some doubt now. The internal conflict of opinion within the top leadership of the party has not been resolved and under the circumstances, party president Rajnath Singh can ill afford to call a meeting of the Parliamentary Board on the issue and let the divide within be debated bitterly among the senior most leaders that too in a structured meeting of 12-member party’s highest decision making body. While there is no doubt that the issue is being intensely debated within the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, the consultations, particularly given the strong and continued reservations of LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi, had not reached a point where the availability or convenience of members of Parliamentary Board could be sought or the dates for convening a meeting be discussed.

While the principal opposition is restless to name Narendra Modi as their Prime Ministerial candidate and the party’s top brass backfiring, the man who would be in the spotlight is BJP President Rajnath Singh. The current situation puts Rajnath Singh‘s skills as a leader and capabilities as the party chief under a severe test. He has been the most outspoken and ardent supporter of Modi’s elevation as the supreme leader of the party and official prime ministerial nominee for the opposition NDA. As party president he also has to deliver it, issuing the notification with his sign and seal – converting Modi’s de-facto position in the party into a de-jure position. But that can only be done if he has the parliamentary board’s approval on his side. So when Rajnath Singh drove to 30 Prithviraj Road, LK Advani’s residence, at 12.30 on Wednesday, there was great of expectation within and outside of Sangh Parivar. Half-an-hour later Singh left with his mission unaccomplished. He was apparently perplexed, even anxious to find a way of clinching the issue without creating an in-house blood bath.

If sources are to be believed, Advani did not move from his position on the issue and was arguing hard as to why it was not in the best interests of the party to declare Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate at this stage, ahead of assembly elections for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram where except for the north-eastern states, the BJP and the Congress were pitted head to head. No date for convening a Parliamentary Board meeting was discussed in the Advani – Rajnath meeting. Singh will be meeting Joshi and Sushma separately, trying to take them on board. A structured meeting of the parliamentary board can only be called if unanimity on the issue among all members is achieved. Any forced announcement after an open fratricidal feud would neither be in Modi’s or in the BJP’s interest.

According to sources, exactly a week ago, last Wednesday; RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had come to Advani’s home for dinner. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj had also been there. They had a free and frank discussion on the issue that has gripped the nation’s attention. Bhagwat conveyed to them what his deputy, Bhaiyaji Joshi had conveyed to Advani, Sushma and Rajnath only two days ago – that based on their feedback and informed considerations the RSS was of the opinion that Modi should be declared as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Advani and Sushma told Bhagwat that they had already conveyed why they felt the time was not yet right yet to make a formal announcement of Modi’s contention for the top post to Bhaiyaji Joshi. As it was, Modi was already face of the BJP’s campaign for 2014, he was the man in focus and as such there was not much that his formal announcement could add to shape the popular mood than the benefits that the party was getting now.

What is interesting to note is what RSS leader Ram Madhav said, “The country wants a change and we also realise it. During the two-day meeting between RSS and BJP this issue came up and it has been conveyed to the leadership in the party. Now the decision has to be taken by them but from our side the message has been given that the voters in the country want a change. When we say people want a particular change, it is obvious that the support and respect of the people is for which person and for which post. This is clear to all.” But the RSS did not set any timeline for the BJP to do that. The mighty RSS and the sentiment of their party’s rank and file are on their side. But can the BJP President and other Modi protagonists bulldoze Advani, the man who is credited to have built the party from a negligible two to the strength of becoming the ruling party, to submission or to the oblivion, is the key question? No one in the BJP has an answer to that but they all say that would not be the ideal take off situation for the old man’s one time protégé, Modi. 

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats, feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com

Battleground MP: Who stands where?

With the assembly elections hardly a few months away, all the major political parties are eyeing on gaining a big share of the pie. While the ruling BJP faces anti-incumbency, Congress too doesn’t seem to be a clear winner. So will this pave way for other parties to gain heavily in the coming state elections? The Nationalist Congress party seemed to be planning to play the biggest gamble in this regard. After almost five years in political hibernation, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party is ready to spring back to action in Madhya Pradesh. With the experience of the Congress ‘treachery’ in 2008 assembly elections still hurting, the party has decided to go it alone in the state. The NCP would have no seat-sharing arrangement or pre-poll alliance with any other party this election. A marginal player in the state so far, the NCP is looking to make massive gains from the weak electoral prospects of the incumbent BJP government and the opposition Congress as pre-poll surveys suggest neither of the bigger parties is set for a clear majority.

If we have a look at the last state elections which happened in 2008 where BJP was voted back to power, the BJP had secured 37 percent of votes against the Congress’ 36. Uma Bharti’s BJSP took away four percent of votes which the BJP counts as its own. The BSP’s vote share was 8.24 percent and the SP’s 1.20 percent. The NCP had fielded 105 candidates across Madhya Pradesh and it had a vote share of 2.5 percent. However, the BJP faces major odds in the coming elections, including corruption charges, falling popularity graphs of top leaders and ministers of Shivraj cabinet and the not-so-recent sex controversy involving a senior minister of the cabinet, Raghavji. Combined with the anti-incumbency mood, the party has an uphill task. To make matters worse, the party’s own poll surveys predict a downswing in vote margins as well as seats. As many as 20 ministers and 60 MLAs might lose if they contest, if recent surveys are to be believed.

The Congress, on the other hand, burdened with ‘factions within factions’, does not seem to be in a position to take advantage of the weaknesses of the BJP. The loss that latter could incur in the form of votes and assembly seats does not seem to be consolidating as a gain for the Congress. The NCP wants to fit in the gap. State president of the party, Brijmohan Shrivastav, has announced his aim to field candidates in all 230 assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh.  Shrivastava, a senior leader from the Nationalist Congress, a known strategist and one with great aptitude for political manoeuvring and poll calculations, has spread his attention across the state looking for candidates who can win. On target are seats where the BJP and the Congress both are unable to field proper winning candidates. 

The search is on to find dissatisfied leaders with powerful base in their areas, who after giving a lifetime to the giant parties have never been considered deserving of an assembly ticket. Also, on target are women leaders of the state, who according to poll-figures, have performed better than their male counterparts, yet will not be given assembly seat to fight for the simple fact that none is available. NCP is offering 92 seats, or a whopping 40 per cent of Madhya Pradesh’s 230 seats, to women. Thirty-five seats are marked for candidates from minorities such as Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Boudhs and so on. Wary of the poaching powers of both the Congress and the BJP, the party has not made public its list yet. But as per the president’s claims, 70 NCP candidates are already working in their respective constituencies, and shortly the first list of 100 candidates would be announced.

The Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh assembly, the Congress seems to lack cohesiveness to take against the ruling BJP and there is no single leader to lead the party. “Jyotiraditya Scindia is one day all set to be announced as the election committee chairman for Madhya Pradesh and the next day the plan is junked. Rahul Gandhi comes and promises big – ‘election candidates would be announced three months ahead of the elections’. It is now some days left for the Election Code of Conduct and yet not one single candidate’s name has been announced,’’ said Shrivastava to Firstpost. NCP’s game plan is simple and clear. With the Congress and the BJP both looking incapable of getting a majority, the party wants to cut into their votes and seats. It would not be adverse to enlisting rebels from both sides.

For all sorts of bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at author.vish94@gmail.com