Dear
Mr. Narendra Modi,
Though
you’ve never been really dear to me since the time you took over as the Chief
Minister of Gujarat, with each passing day you are giving me more and more
reasons to continue to do so. The youth of this country today is really tired
of empty promises made by politicians and throwing stories of growth which are
nothing but a sham. And unfortunately you’re no different. I know that you have
a brilliant PR team working 24x7 for you and being a mass media student myself,
I’m well aware of the brownie points you’re gaining out of it. But no one can
really hide the truth for a long time and let me tell you that the Indian youth
is really smart and it can easily distinguish the lies which are otherwise
disguised as truth.
Recently
the city of Mumbai is flooded with hoardings of yours with lines such as ‘I am
a Hindu Nationalist” and “I am a Patriot. I am a Nationalist. I am a born Hindu”.
Let me tell you something. A nationalist is a nationalist. He or She can never
be a Hindu Nationalist or a Muslim Nationalist or for that matter a Sikh or
Christian Nationalist. You must be now wondering which community I belong to
right? Trust me it doesn’t matter and so doesn’t your luring of the majority
community. The youth of the city is disgusted with your politics of
polarisation and policies which is so discriminatory and divisive.
If my
memory serves me right, wasn’t your clarion call always about the so called
development in Gujarat? If you are so development oriented, why are you back to
the hardcore politics of Hindutva? Ah, you must have realized that today or
tomorrow finally the truth will come out in open and then your only face saver
would be the Hindutva card right? Sorry Mr. Modi not happening. By this you are
giving more and more feed to your critics and a thousand reasons to the voters
for not voting for you. Your aggressive election campaign would crumble just
like your party’s campaign of Indian Shining in 2004.
I
would suggest you to look after the state which has elected you for the third
time and put your national ambitions to a halt. Still wondering what you need
to work on in Gujarat? Don’t worry, I will put before you facts that is bound
to make you very uncomfortable. Starting with the most talked about ‘Vibrant
Gujarat Global Summit’ which boasts of turning the tide of the economy in the
state and heavy investments which will bring the state out of penury, the truth
is otherwise far from what is being projected.
The
findings of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy suggests only a small
percentage of projects announced in Vibrant Gujarat (VG) summits in 2009
and 2011 have actually moved on the ground. In VG held in January 2009,
government claims that 3,574 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed for
investments worth Rs 12 trillion. But CMIE could capture information and
details of only 220 projects worth Rs 3,947 billion (Rs 3,94,700 crore).
“The number of projects captured…were drastically low when compared with the
official numbers displayed on the event's website because of poor disclosure of
basic information about the projects proposed. In most cases the website does
not provide the details of a valid company name, location, product, and
capacity,’’ says the CMIE report.
And an opinion piece in a national daily by noted author Ramachandra Guha only reaffirms the crumbling infrastructure of the state which you otherwise claim to be the most-developed in India. He said, "As a sociologist who treats the aggregate data of economists with scepticism, I myself do not believe that Gujarat is the best developed State in the country. Shortly after Mr. Modi was sworn in for his third full term, I travelled through Saurashtra, whose polluted and arid lands spoke of a hard grind for survival. In the towns, water, sewage, road and transport facilities were in a pathetic state; in the countryside, the scarcity of natural resources was apparent, as pastoralists walked miles and miles in search of stubble for their goats. Both hard numbers and on-the-ground soundings suggest that in terms of social and economic development, Gujarat is better than average, but not among the best. "
And an opinion piece in a national daily by noted author Ramachandra Guha only reaffirms the crumbling infrastructure of the state which you otherwise claim to be the most-developed in India. He said, "As a sociologist who treats the aggregate data of economists with scepticism, I myself do not believe that Gujarat is the best developed State in the country. Shortly after Mr. Modi was sworn in for his third full term, I travelled through Saurashtra, whose polluted and arid lands spoke of a hard grind for survival. In the towns, water, sewage, road and transport facilities were in a pathetic state; in the countryside, the scarcity of natural resources was apparent, as pastoralists walked miles and miles in search of stubble for their goats. Both hard numbers and on-the-ground soundings suggest that in terms of social and economic development, Gujarat is better than average, but not among the best. "
Also
breaking the popular political rhetoric of development in Gujarat let me tell
you Mr. Modi that between 2006-7 and 2010-11, Gujarat had a growth of 9.3 per
cent, which was behind Naveen Patnaik’s Orissa at 9.4 per cent. Nitish Kumar’s
Bihar topped with 10.9 per cent while Chhattisgarh (10 per cent), Haryana (9.7
per cent) and Maharashtra (9.6 per cent) followed. Your state is the worst performer in malnutrition with 69.7% of children upto
the age of five, anaemic and 44.6% malnourished. The literacy rate in
Gujarat is marginally above the national average but extremely low in the
tribal areas; primary education in Gujarat is in the doldrums and the worst
sufferers are the poor and the marginalized.
Female foeticide is high in Gujarat and today the
Gujarat sex ratio has a skewed rate of 918 - making it one of the worst States
in the country. Unemployment is
rampant in Gujarat and that the average daily wage for casual workers in
Gujarat is just about Rs. 83 in the rural areas and Rs. 106 in the urban areas. Large
sections of the minority communities are confined to ghettoes and cannot live
in neighbourhood of their choice and the state instead has the most
draconian ‘Freedom of Religion Law’ in the country which necessitates that the
person has to seek the permission of the civil authority before they can
convert to a religion of their choice.
So
Mr. PM in waiting when you would be finally able to do away with all these
problems in your state, maybe we can think of considering you for any role in
the national politics. Remember growth and development should always be
inclusive and wholesome. History bears testimony to the fact that rampant
industrialization has always been followed by a revolution as it can alone not
solve all the problems of a state. And its high time you learn some lessons
from history.
Yours
faithfully,
A
Nationalsit Youth.
Na MoJi( MAUJI), runnig a class,no matter how well,or how good the results are, aa9 which incidentally are far from the PROJECTED truth,is a different ball game ,than running the school as a principal. Better to keep to your size..
ReplyDeleteNice collection of facts my friend!!! Hope people are as vigilante as you regarding Indian politicians!!!
ReplyDeleteCan you please suggest a better option against the Corrupt Congress...???
ReplyDeleteTaking into account that you are a Media-Student and you are talking about Socio-Economics of 1 politician...
Good response to PM hopeful NaMo but RSS trained Syamsevak won't learn any truth. Indian people are wise enough to reject such false claims of NaMo+RSS and down on him+RSS better lesson.
ReplyDeleteVery well exposed. No need to hide your identity. For those who are asking for better option, please note that corruption has now become a relative term in Indian politics. Chose the one who is less corrupt and is a lesser evil.
ReplyDeletehttp://guruprasad.net/posts/modi-phenomenon-propaganda-or-reality/
ReplyDeleteA nationalist youth mis-guided by the media, no wonder in that, as you are from the media. What did congress do for 60 years it ruled? 'Garibi Hatao' slogan was coined by Indira Gandhi and after 40 years, has there been much difference? Modi has done a lot to the infra-structure in Gujarat. Water, electricity and basic amenities has improved a lot which you conveniently missed to mention in your blog. Hope that you will have a unbiased view towards this as you claim to be, but dont seem to practice. Pity on you...
ReplyDeleteBishal, your viewpoint is surprisingly skewed. Why not look at Gujarat in its entirety instead of conveniently leaving out the good points and stressing more than necessary on the bad. You cannot pick an isolated place in Gujarat and say that it represents the entire state. Similarly, I think it is extremely foolish to assume that every Gujarati is stinking rich. As far as malnutrition report goes, the parameters need to be looked at. There was a report recently which claimed that a family of 5 could survive on less than Rs 100 a day. Take these reports with a pinch of salt. They are all politically motivated.
ReplyDeleteLet me stay beforehand that I don't stay in Gujarat but visited sporadically. The only complaint you can have against Gujarat is their no-alcohol policy. Other than that, it is quite impressive. The infrastructure, law and order, behavior of Gujaratis towards outsiders - its admirable.
Gujarat ranks number 1 in social capital in India, the world's largest grass roots refinery is in Gujarat, the world's largest shipbreaking yard is there. Thanks to the Jyotigram Yojna, there is 100% electricity in nearly all the villages in Gujarat. About 25% of total bank finance in India is in Gujarat. The economist, possibly one of the finest newspapers, called Gujarat India's Guangdong. The water distribution scheme that Modi gave his nod to has been implemented by other states because of its success. Gujarat is perhaps the only state where there was an energy surplus last year or maybe the year before that , and they sold it to other states. Solar energy plants are being set up there. The fun part is I haven't listed even half of it yet. Just type Gujarat development or Gujarat economy or look up Gujarat on wiki and you will stop whining. For a media student student, you are woefully uninformed.
It is also well known that Gujarat has kept red tape to a minimum and corruption is at its lowest. This has been acknowledged by many agencies and political watchdogs. So here is my question to you. Is this not enough to overthrow a shamelessly corrupt congress govt? 2G scam, Coalgate and god knows what else. How much more will it take for you to say enough?
Dear Rohan,
DeleteUnlike you visiting sporadically, i very much stay here and run my own business here in Gujjuland. We also execute government projects and are lucky to see the system more closely.
I quote your words "the world's largest grass roots refinery is in Gujarat, the world's largest shipbreaking yard is there. Thanks to the Jyotigram Yojna, there is 100% electricity in nearly all the villages in Gujarat. About 25% of total bank finance in India is in Gujarat".
I am born and brought up here and any average intellect gujju would tell you that none of the above mentioned developments by you happened in Gujarat in Modi Regime. The largest shipbreaking yard was largest even before modi and would perhaps remain after him as well. Sardar Sarovar Dam project was initiated much earlier and progressed fastest during previous regimes. In fact past 10 years performance on dam water distribution is strikingly poor. Regarding your comment on corruption i would like you to recheck the facts and even better get a first hand experience.
Jyotigram Yojna came after Modi. It can be said arguably that power is the very fundamental need of any social and economic activity/establishment. The benefits of 24/7 power trickle down to distant corners. Modi had hit a nail in the head by initiating Jyotigram Yojna. Gujarat Electricity Board was running down the gutter when Modi took mandate in 2001. Power theft was rampant across the state. Look at the current situation after a decade. If someone can't see the positive changes, there is something missing in the analysis.
DeleteJyotigram!! Bull Shit!!
DeleteA farmer needs electricity for his tubewells and not to light his house or for other luxuries which he anyways can hardly afford. They say Gujrat has excess power then why the hell in this world farmers tubewells are being given just 10hrs of power. and this 10 hrs are on paper god know how much they are actually getting.
Gujrats developent is more oriented towards industrialists and cities, their chief minister knows that polarisation alone can make him win as for development he can just be a feku and people will take it.
Deveplopment is no development if it doesn't includes the one at the lowest end of the stack
If Gujarat is doing so badly, why does NaMo keep getting reelected there?
ReplyDeleteLike mayawati was elected in UP! :)
DeleteI think u should have started this campaign just before NaMo got re-elected in 2007 as CM of GUjarat.Like now u thought that the youth of gujarat are smart enough. But they have elected him twice more. WHat is the guarantee that the youth of India are smart as you think.? Have they appointed you as their rep?I dont think that they r so foolish.
ReplyDeleteall this saying as anonymous itself shows the agenda of the author. when representing growth interms of the percentage the analogy should be between a malnourished child putting on weight and healthy man putting on weight.
ReplyDeletekindly ponder
he article is excellent in exposing the tall claims of Modi and his admirers. But unfortunately the Modi brigade will not agree with any logical argument as they are all blinded and deafened by the Modi cacophony. Modi is now like a flower that has bloomed too early and that will wilt away by the time its real use comes.
ReplyDeletetrue that !!
ReplyDelete