DELHI: 12 June 2014
The Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI) has termed the President’s joint address to Parliament which spelled out the BJP’s Narendra Modi led NDA Government’s agenda of priorities as high on rhetoric. It is up to the government to prove that the plans are rather done than promised. The address is more or less a compilation of election slogans and the BJP election manifesto and the party is bound to implement them.
SDPI national president A. Sayeed in a statement said that traditionally, the address is seen as a tool for political signaling, as a compendium of good intentions and a wish-list that governments, more often than not, fail to adhere faithfully to. As coalition politics was the order of the day in the last few decades the outgoing governments failed to fulfill their commitments due to pull and push of the ruling participating partners. However, BJP having got comfortable majority in the 16th Lok Sabha elections faces no such dilemma and common man has very high expectations from it to perform and not indulge in rhetoric.
Sayeed said that high economic growth is meaningless unless a proper accountability system is put in place to show zero tolerance to corruption. – Independent investigation and prosecuting agency, fast track courts to try the corrupt politicians and quick punishment. – If this system is not put in place, all the wealth produced by the high economic growth will end up in secret bank accounts overseas.
He said that India should get rid of daydreams. First try and match up with countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia before competing with China. They are way ahead of India. Sayeed said it is well-known fact that citizens, at least a fairly large section of citizens, were totally disenchanted with the performance of the UPA government. But we should not lose sight of the fact that NDA government was in power from 1998 to 2002. Although it claimed to have performed better, ordinary people were not convinced and they rejected NDA, did not elect them in 2004 and also in 2009. UPA came to power, but in later years, poor governance coupled with rampant corruption resulted in anger of citizens which was successfully used by Narendra Modi to defeat the Congress and UPA. It is true that 65 years of misrule has led to Congress being punished. The question is how long would the people have to suffer?
While cautioning BJP, he recalled that in 1984 when Rajiv Gandhi got a majority of 400+ seats for Congress but nothing substantial or spectacular could be gained by the party while succumbing to the Sangh Parivar’s religious and fundamentalist onslaught. A shouting brigade then headed by P. Chidambaram used to shout down opposition and behaved arrogantly, which also did not pay. As such the BJP-led government should take notice of it and not be arrogant because of its big mandate in the Lok Sabha elections. It must deliver as only announcements will not work.
The citizens should be aware of some major constraints within which the NDA government will have to work. BJP will have to do the balancing act when it will have to protect interests of both retailers and consumers. When it deals with inflation, it does not appear to have a concrete plan of action. Unsurprisingly, nothing that suggests that Modi government will combat the cancer within i.e. fascist forces which are rearing their ugly heads. Or even worse, these evil forces are taking the arrival of this government as a green signal to execute their treasonous agenda the, statement added.
Meanwhile, Sayeed said that the new government seems to be more interested in “divisive” issues than solving the burning problems of common man. Soon after the Modi cabinet took oath some ministers started to raise the controversial and divisive issues like abrogation of Article 370 granting, Uniform Civil Code and others while the people were expecting resolution of “acute problems like price rise, unemployment, agrarian distress and increasing crimes against women will be addressed.
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