“In the last four years, India has undergone a change for the disastrous worse,” lamented former Union Minister and Economist Arun Shourie on Saturday, 1 August 2018.
Shourie’s scathing attack came in response to a question by veteran journalist Karan Thapar, at an event titled Dedh logo ki sarkar, organised by The Wire. Remembering his days in the Vajyapee government, Shourie, who represented the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajya Sabha twice, said even “juniors like him were allowed to differ in meetings.”
But the party he was once a member of has, today – stressed Shourie – been reduced to a paune do logo ki sarkar (A government of one-and-three-quarter men). Referring to the alleged lack of inner-party democracy, Shourie said that “there’s no BJP today” and that only Shah and Modi take decisions, and the rest run about like “scared rats.”
But in this one-and-three-quarters configuration, who’s the person robbed of a complete value?
On the “Minister for Blogging”
Jaitley, the present Finance Minister, has in the recent past used Facebook posts to defend the government on issues ranging from demonetisation to the Rafale jet controversy. It is probably his new fascination for Facebook – which allows long posts – that earned the Finance Minister the notorious title of “the minister for blogging”.
When asked if India fared any better under the Modi government in comparison to the reign of UPA I and II, Shourie said the real comparison in GDP could only be established if both the NDA and the UPA’s performances were calculated in accordance with the new formula invented by the present dispensation.
“I said it from the first day – never believe a new series till the earlier years have been recalculated on the new methodology. For three years, they didn’t do that,” Shourie said.
On the government’s claim that the latest GDP numbers are the highest in the world, Shourie said that the numbers pertained to just one quarter. “These finer nuances are something that one cannot expect a lawyer to understand,” he quipped.
“Charges on Activists Outrageous”
While the economy has been left to the understanding of “the blogger”, the government and its power – Shourie claimed – lies not entirely in the hands of PM Modi. “From the Enforcement Directorate, to the Central Bureau of Investigation to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, much of the power today is exercised by BJP President Amit Shah,” he added.
He cited conversations with unnamed party insiders in the run-up to the 2014 elections to assert that “every time an idea was suggested to PM Modi, he would ask for it to be run through Shah. Today, it is Shah, who people and the media are scared of.”
Further, Shourie maintained that the government’s self-love, coupled with its opportunistic outlook towards turning everything into an instrument for retaining power, has further compounded the problem.
The present government, he argued, would go to any extent to divide the people to suit their needs. Referring to the recent arrests of activists over allegations of having links to Maoists, Shourie said that he knew Varavara Rao as a gentle man.
“The claim that Rao and others were planning a Rajiv Gandhi-type incident is outrageous,” he said.
Asserting that the Gujarat model was now being followed in Delhi, Shourie suggested that during Modi’s days as Gujarat Chief Minister, there were several reports of assassination attempts on the latter.
The Rafale Goof-up
On the Rafale deal front, Shourie claimed that after intense deliberations, the Air Force had suggested the purchase of 126 new fighter jets, out of which 18 would be bought in a ready-to-fly condition, while the rest would be manufactured by HAL in India, through a transfer-of-technology.
According to Shourie – “In 2014, the then Defence minister speaking in parliament, had said that 18 fly-away aircrafts were likely to be delivered in three to four years from the contract date. The remaining 108 licensed manufactured aircrafts in India would be delivered in the following seven years.”
But this was changed as soon as the government came to power, which decided to buy 36 planes. How did the government reduce the number from 126 to 36?
Shourie claimed that such changes to defence procurement can only be made through a fast track procedure, in the event of an emergency.
If there’s an emergency, a special defence committee meeting has to be chaired by the Defence Minister, based on proposals sent by the respective services headquarters. “But there is no record of any such meeting,” Shourie claimed.
Referring to the government’s position that the Rafale fighter jets were priced in accordance with India-specific add-ons, Shourie questioned whether “an additional helmet and a missile could make the jets costlier by Rs 1,000 crore, in comparison to the deal amount fixed during the UPA’s tenure.”
“Opposition Must Unite in 2019”
On the present mood of the country, Shourie said that the news of Hindus purportedly fleeing Kairana died out, as soon as the last vote was cast in Uttar Pradesh elections. Similarly, the controversy over the offering of Namaz in parts of Haryana appeared just before the Karnataka elections.
“Don’t you see a pattern in all of this?” he asked. “They will try any and every trick to divide people and win an election. And in doing so, they are mostly oblivious to the larger consequence of the instruments they use.”
We are getting accustomed to a new normal where institutions will be misused, rulers will lie and men will be divided and killed in encounters. We are adapting to worsening situations.Arun Shourie
The only solution to such a new normal is an alternative, a change. For this, Shourie stated that the opposition must unite and place a common candidate against the BJP. If proper alliances are forged in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra and if political parties set their egos aside, PM Modi – Shourie said – would find it difficult to return to power.
So far as tailoring alliances are concerned, Shourie said that a person not in the race – like Sonia Gandhi or Sharad Pawar – must act as intermediaries between parties.
This would be the last change, he warned, to stop this onslaught.
“If the opposition fails to check the BJP, it should give up the dream of free and fair election in the years to come,” said Arun Shourie.
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