‘Modi, a
consummate showman’!
The sudden announcement of convening a five-day special
session of the parliament from 18th to 22nd September,2023,
without agenda and keeping it a secret, has raised suspicion of a hidden motive
behind the move. The fear and anxiety and
speculation of surprises, like change in the name of India; preponing the Lok
Saha election scheduled in 2024; and holding simultaneous elections for Lok
Sanha and State Assemblies in the name of ‘one nation, one election’ are set at
rest at last, with both the Houses of Parliament adjourned sine die,
four days after.
Former Home Minster Chidambaram in his column Style,
Substance and Slippery Ice says, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a
consummate showman...he knows how to occupy the camera frame without yielding
an inch of space to any of his ministers” (IE 17/9). A few recent events amply demonstrate that
Modi is a great event manager, projecting and promoting his self-image.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission
On 23 August, 2023, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 successful
soft landed on the south pole of the moon. It is the result of the collective
efforts of successive governments to promote space research. India’s first
Prime Minister Pandit Nehru was responsible for establishing the Indian
National Committee for Space Research (INCSR) in 1962 with the help of Homi Bhabha
and Vikram Sarabhai. On 15 August 1969, the INCSR was renamed as the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO), headed by Sarabhai. And after his sudden death, that created a vacuum
in the leadership of ISRO, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wrote a letter on 7
January 1972 inviting the Indian scientist Satish Dhawan, who was on sabbatical
at the California Institute of Technology, the US, to return to India and take
the leadership of the ISRO. Dhawan accepted the invitation and took up the
chairmanship of the ISRO with HQs at Bangalore.
The Indian government gave him full freedom to run the
ISRO as he thought it appropriate. The Chandrayaan-1 was a success in 2009. Chandrayaan-2
failed in 2019. And the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission is a tribute to the
devotion and dedication of hundreds of scientists and technologists, including
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar an A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, over a period of six decades. The
space programme has been viewed from a developmental perspective, and not an
instrument of muscular nationalism that Modi is trying to present. There is a
continuity in governance. But J.P. Nadda, BJP’s President, denied this when he said:
“I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi…Under his leadership, the country
is creating new feats of success, carving a unique space for itself in the field
of space exploration. The success would not have been possible without the Prime
Minister’s relentless efforts” (IE 25/9). The success of Chandrayaan-3 is
projected as the achievement of the Modi government.
G-20 Summit
So much hullabaloo is created about the G-20 Summit
held in New Delhi on 9th and 10th September and its
India’s Presidency. The Presidency is given through rotation among the member
countries in alphabetic order. In fact,
it was India’s turn to host the Summit last year, but India requested Indonesia
to host it instead and expressed desire to host the Summit in 2023, as a
prelude to the general election. That is how the hype was created around the
Summit, as an achievement of the Modi government. India spent more than
Rs.4000/- for the Summit. Re-carpeted roads, trees, potted plants, grass
lights, sculptures and billboards came up all over Delhi, covering the filth
and dirt in slums with huge green sheets all along the routes, so as to hide the poverty and inhuman living conditions of India’s poor, from the delegates. There was only one face everywhere, that of
Modi. Even the visiting leaders were not allowed a tiny bit of space in any billboard.
And at the Summit, the Prime Minister
did not allow the media, including the American contingency of journalists who
accompanied President Biden, to have any press conference of questions and answers. It was the first time that the heads of the two
super powers Xi Jinping and Vladmir Putin of China and Russia chose not to attend
the Summit.
The Delhi Declaration reiterated members commitment to
“inclusive, equitable, high-quality education”. How India, with the lowest per
capita income of some 2000 US dollars among G-20 countries and massive
privatisation of education, could ensure high-quality education? As Chidambaram says, “At present, India is
nowhere near the top of the Group of 20. It is at the bottom in terms of per
capita income, Human Development Index, Labour force participation rate, Global
Hunger and in some other parameters.” What have the common people of India
gained from the Summit? The event served only the political agenda of the
ruling dispensation; to project it as a great achievement during election
campaigns.
This is how Jairam Ramesh commented on the Delhi Declaration;”
Here’s yet another example of the staggering hypocrisy of the self-styled Vishwa
guru. At the Global level, in the G-20
declaration para 78, he commits to respecting religious and cultural diversity
and promoting dialogue and tolerance. At home in India, he refuses to act on
ethnic violence in Manipur …He remains silent on hate speeches, lynchings,
targeted killings, and attack on holy places. His party has torn apart the
social fabric of the nation” (The Hindu 11/9).
Special Session of Parliament
The 28 opposition parties of INDIA Alliance held
meeting in Mumbai on 31t August and 1 September to save
‘constitution and democracy’ and fight collectively against the BJP. On the day when the Alliance met, the Modi
government made a sudden and surprise announcement of convening a special
session of Parliament without giving any reason. Speculations ran riot about the motive of the
government, which is known for taking such decisions, keeping the people in
dark. At the G-12 Summit, the President invitation for a dinner was issued in
the name of ’President of Bharat’, instead of India, and even the name plate of Modi at the Summit table displayed ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’, giving rise
to speculation that the government intended to change the name of the country
to ‘Bharat’ during the special session, though the Article 1 of the Constitution
clearly states ‘The India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.’ Simultaneously, the government also announced
its intention to have ‘One nation, one election’ leading to widespread rumor
and speculation that a law would be passed accordingly during the special
session. It announced the setting up of a panel headed by former President Ram
Nath Kovind. It is the first time that a
former President is made the chairman of a government panel. A few days later a
panel of eight member, including the leader of the largest party in Lok Sabha-Congress-
Adhir Rajan Choudhury, was announced to examine the proposal for one nation,
one election; and submit report at the earliest. Choudhury instantly refused to
be a member of the committee, calling the excise an eyewash and that he ‘cannot
be part of the committee, the terms of refence of which have been prepared in a
manner to guarantee its conclusions.’ That leaves the committee with seven
members- Amit Shah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, N.K. Singh, Subhash Kashyap, Harish Salve
and Sanjay Kothari -who are known for holding pro-establishment views. This is
setting of yet another narrative to show that the government means business and
Modi is not afraid of taking hard decisions.
Women Reservation Bill
The Women Reservation Bill was hanging fire for the
past three decades. The Bill reserving 33% of seats for women in Lok Sabha and
State Assemblies was passed in 2010 in Rajya Sabha during the UPA regime. The Bill was defeated by seven votes om Lok
Sabha. Now suddenly on the opening day
of the special session of Parliament on 18 September, the Union Law Minister
Arjun Ram Meghwal tabled the Women Reservation Bill (Nari Shakti Vandan
Adhiniyam) in Lok Sabha, as 128th Amendment to the Constitution,
providing 33% reservation of seats for women. The opposition parties supported
Bill, asking the law to be implemented immediately with a sub-quota for the
OBCs. However, the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha without amendments moved by the
opposition, 454 members voting for the Biil and two members of the AIMIM voting
against it, and in the Rajya Sabha all 215 members present unanimously voted
for the Bill, with a caveat that the law would come into force only after the
General Census and the Delimitation of Constituencies, hopefully by 2029, as assured
by Home Minister Amit Shah. The reservation
will have a life span of 15 years. The Opposition, though know that the law
cannot be implemented immediately, voted for the Bill, as they don’t want to be
seen opposing the measures to empower women in the changed political
environment.
It is strange that the conditional Bill is passed
without any timeline as to when the law is likely to commence. What is the purpose of passing a law, that serves
as a postdated cheque, which is likely to bounce? And yet BJP’s women wing organized a ‘thanksgiving
show’ for Narendra Modi on 22 September,
shouting Modi hai to munkin hai in unison- a premature celebration to flatter him. A pleased Modi responded: "The
passage of the Bill marks the fulfilment of Modi’s guarantee that he will usher
in a new era of women-led development. Our BJP government has the privilege of
fulfilling the dreams of millions of mothers and sisters” (TOI 23/9). The Census and the Delimitation are a long-drawn-out
process. And “it is unfortunate that implementation is being linked to delimitation
for the principle of having a third of seats reserved for women has nothing to do
with the territorial limits of constituencies or the number of Assembly or Lok
Sabha constituencies in each State” (Editorial, The Hindu 21/9).
Rahul Gandhi at a press conference on 22 September,
said, the law perhaps would not see the light of the day for years. He accused the government of resorting to a
diversionary tactic. If the INDIA
Alliance comes to power at the Centre, after the general election next year, implementation
of the law may be expedited, even by amending the law to remove the
conditions.
The special session of the Parliament ended abruptly a
day earlier, once the purpose is served: the discussion on the so-called achievements
of the Modi government- the landing of Chanrayaan-3 on the moon, the success of
G-20 Summit and passing of the Women Reservation Bill- all this meant to show
case the new Parliament House. On 19 September, which happed to be the Ganesh Chaturthi, the MPs walked from the Old
iconic Parliament House to the New Parliament Building with great funfair,
holding copies of the Constitution, provided by the Government, that did not
have the words ‘Socialist Secular’ in the Preamble. Predictably, President Murmu was not part of
the celebration of the entry to the new Parliament Building, just as she was
excluded when it was inaugurated four months ago. What was the special session
about? All this could have been done in winter session.
Super Luxury Lifestyle
There is another angle to the building of Prime Minister Modi’s image and his persona. According to Dinesh K. Vohra of News Time, Modi is leading a super luxury lifestyle, unheard of in Indian history, the lifestyle not led even by Akbar, Ashoka and the Viceroy. All the Presidents of India led a very ordinary life. Modi is the only Prime Minister who changes clothes several times a day, which are very expensive. He flies in two exclusive VVIP flights, each worth Rs.8500 crore. Indira Gandhi used to travel in ordinary Air India planes. He uses car costing Rs.20 crore. Modi is a branded Prime Minister. All this super luxury lifestyle is at the expense of taxpayers’ money, while he talks all the time of being the son of a Gharibi chaiwallah. He markets the Gharibi. His new Prime Minister’s House is being constructed at the staggering cost of around Rs.500 crore. Lal Bahadur Shastri was very poor, yet he never drew the full salary and had to take government loan to buy a car. He did not have an overcoat when he went to Tashkent to sign the peace accord with Ayub Khan.
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