My Opinion

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pre-election interim budget placed in Parliament on Friday could become a big game changer during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections due in April-May.  He has given relief to 12 crore small and marginal farmers, 3 crore middle class income tax payers, 30 crore workers in unorganized sector and small businessmen.

It was impossible not to notice Congress President Rahul Gandhi sitting glum, holding his chin inside the Lok Sabha as Finance Minister Piyush Goyal read out his budget speech to huge applause from members. The opposition benches were silent as ruling party MPs chanted ‘Modi, Modi’ slogans normally heard at the PM’s rallies.

It was an interim budget only on paper, because Goyal was reading out Modi government’s economic road map for the next 10 years.

The first major sop was to the middle class income tax payer with taxable income upto Rs 5 lakh a year. They will not have to pay tax. The second major sop was to small and marginal farmers having upto 5 acres of land. They will be paid Rs 6000 per annum in three instalments directly to their bank accounts, to be implemented with effect from December last year.

The third major sop was to millions of workers in unorganized sector, who will be getting Rs 3000 monthly pension on attaining the age of 60. The fourth major sop was exemption of TDS on interest from fixed deposits raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000. Moreover, Rs 1,70,000 crore was earmarked for national food security and Rs 60,000 cr for MNREGA (national rural employment guarantee).

The Rs 6000 per annum payment to small and marginal farmers will be completely funded by the Centre. The farmer community was said to be unhappy with Modi government in recent years, and one reason for the poor poll performance in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh was attributed to agrarian unrest. This major sop to small and marginal farmers is expected to douse farmers’ anger to a large extent. The first instalment of Rs 2000 to these farmers will be reaching their bank accounts before March 31, according to Goyal.

Similarly, the middle class was said to be unhappy with Modi government in recent years, particularly since demonetization and GST. With the announcement of ‘no income tax’ for those earning upto Rs 5 lakh a year, it will definitely come as a big relief. Workers in the unorganized sector were mostly ignored by previous governments, and the launching of Rs 3000 monthly pension for them will come as a relief to this section.

If we analyze the manner in which Modi government has handled the economy in the last five years, we can say that on a bigger level, corruption has been eliminated to a large extent in business, officials’ discretion in handing out licences, contracts and routine permissions has been curbed significantly, and at the lower level, leakage in government schemes has been plugged substantially through direct bank transfer. Inflation has been kept under control in the last four and a half years.

Questions were raised regarding slowdown of economy due to demonetization and GST, but even international economists admit that the Indian economy is now the fastest growing economy in the world. Rail, road and aviation infrastructure have got a big fillip.

The only question that remains to be answered is why Modi government failed to create jobs for millions of unemployed youths. The jury is still out on this issue. But if one looks at the overall picture, the banking sector has been strengthened, Mudra loans are being given to small entrepreneurs, new businesses are being set up,  the infrastructure sector has become strong, big time corruption has been more or less eliminated. These, in a nutshell, are the major economic achievements of Modi rule. The credit for laying the foundation of fiscal management that made these pre-election sops possible surely goes to Arun Jaitley, who steered the Finance Ministry for four and a half years, and did much of the spadework for the current interim budget, before he had to leave for the US for surgery.  He has recovered and wll return next week.

The BJP in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Thursday got a shot in the arm when the party for the first time in the state’s history won the Jind assembly seat in a three-cornered  battle, relegating the Congress candidate Randeep Surjewala to third position.  

Though the results are out, there is a question lurking in the minds of most of the people as to why Surjewala, who was part of the core team of party president Rahul Gandhi, was made the scapegoat by fielding him in an assembly byelection, at a time when there are hardly nine months left for the Haryana assembly elections. Surjewala is already the Congress MLA from Kaithal, and yet he was fielded in Jind bypoll.  

Surjewala heads the media department of Congress in Delhi and he has carefully cultivated his image on the national level by forcefully presenting the party’s views on major issues. He is supposed to be close to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, and at a crucial time, when the nation is at the crossroads, waiting for the general elections, he was suddenly fielded in a byelection in Haryana.  

After his defeat in Jind, the former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hoods reacted by saying that normally ruling party win byelections. The question is: then why was Surjewala fielded in Jind bypoll? 

Several Congress leaders attribute this to the internal strife going on in the Haryana unit of the party. They say that the BJP is well entrenched in power, with all the 10 Lok Sabha seats and majority of the seats of the state assembly in its kitty, and Hooda was hardly being noticed at the Centre. On the other hand, the rise of graph in Surjewala’s career was becoming an eyesore for Hooda, who is trying to groom his son Deepender Hooda.  

It was Hooda who gave Rahul Gandhi the idea to contest the Jind byelection by fielding a heavyweight like Surjewala, who had a track record of defeating former CM Om Prakash Chautala (now in jail after being convicted in a scam) twice in the past. Surjewala, being a loyal soldier of the party high command, could not refuse and he was thus made a scapegoat. This begs another question: why couldn’t Rahul Gandhi understand the apparent gameplan behind this idea?

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On Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, without any prior appointment, called on the ailing Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar to enquire about his health, stayed for five minutes and left for Kochi, where, hours later, he told a gathering of party workers that Parrikar has clearly stated that he had no knowledge and he had nothing to do with the new Rafale aircraft deal.

An angry Parrikar then shot off a letter to Rahul Gandhi stating that Rafale deal was not at all discussed with him during his brief meeting. He wrote “paying a courtesy visit and then stooping so low as to make a false statement for petty political gain has raised in my mind questions about the sincerity and purpose of your visit itself”. Late Wednesday evening, Rahul Gandhi sent a letter to Manohar Parrikar clarifying that his references were drawn “from political domain and not from their meeting”.

Rahul may have thought that Parrikar, undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, would not react, but the Goa chief minister immediately wrote the letter and released it to the media, in order to put the record straight. Parrikar also wrote that he would continue to work for the people of Goa and India till his last breath. The Goa CM surely deserves praise for his forthrightness. We should all pray for his early recovery, but what Rahul did was unpardonable.

This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi has made misleading statements. One should remember how Rahul stood in Lok Sabha and claimed that he had met the French President and the latter had clarified that there was no secrecy clause relating to pricing in the Rafale contract, but the very next day, the French President refuted his statement as incorrect.

Similarly, Rahul Gandhi had secretly met the Chinese ambassador in Delhi at a time when Indian army was in an eyeball-to-eyeball standoff against Chinese troops in Dokalam. His party spokespersons initially claimed that there was no such meeting, but when pictures of the meeting appeared in the media, the lie was exposed.

Rahul Gandhi had gone on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash near Mansarovar in Tibet, and he had then claimed that he had no meeting with any Chinese minister. A few days ago, Rahul himself admitted in a meeting in Odisha that he did meet Chinese ministers during his Mansarovar trip.

Such misleading statements can be accepted and ignored in the rough and tumble of day-to-day politics, but what Rahul said after meeting Manohar Parrikar was unpardonable, to say the least. To seek political gain out of a courtesy call on an ailing politician goes against the principles of morality and civility.

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By filing a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking to return undisputed land in Ayodhya to their rightful owners, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a significant political card to address his core constituency. There have been growing pressures on his government, particularly from RSS and affiliates, that the Ram temple be built in Ayodhya on a war footing.

With the hearing in Supreme Court on the original dispute dragging, the Centre has sought to initiate the path for building Ram temple by filing this petition. Most of the followers of Lord Ram, particularly sadhus and Vishwa Hindu Parishad supporters, are happy with the Centre’s step. Almost the entire opposition, including the Congress, SP and BSP are silent on this issue, as they are wary of facing the wrath of Ram devotees.

In a single stroke, Prime Minister Modi has effectively replied to his detractors, who were making strident demands for early construction of Ram temple. Nearly 42 acres out of the 67 acres of land sought to be returned, belongs to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, which can easily start the construction of Ram temple. This will fulfill centuries-old demands and aspirations of Hindus, who had been seeking the return of the birthplace of Lord Ram.

The construction of Ram temple will open up an era of brotherhood and social harmony, and if a favourable SC verdict comes, the centuries-old Ayodhya dispute will be consigned to the pages of history. The famous architect from Gujarat, Chandrakant Sompura, has been working on the model of Ram temple for the last 30 years, and his son Nikhil Sompura, as architect, had been overseeing the cutting and polishing of stones required for the temple.

Work on the outer perimeter of Ram temple can begin with the construction of Lakshman temple, Hanuman temple and Ganesh temple, as provided for in the plan. According to the Centre’s petition, only 0.313 acres of land that constituted the three domes of Babri mosque, is disputed and the apex court’s verdict is awaited.

The beginning of the construction of Ram temple will be a landmark in Indian history. Never had been the enthusiasm at its zenith, since the opening of Somnath temple in Gujarat after Independence by the then President of India Dr Rajendra Prasad and the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It will be a triumph of faith over disharmony, of restoration of justice over centuries of injustice, and of the primacy of the sovereign will of the Indian people over the naysayers.

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In a significant step ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Centre on Tuesday filed a writ petition in Supreme Court seeking its permission to return the excess or superfluous land around the disputed site in Ayodhya to its rightful owners.  

In its plea, the Centre has said it had acquired 67 acres of land including 2.77 acres of disputed land in 1991. The petition says, Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas has sought return of excess land acquired in 1991 to its original owners. 

The Centre, in its petition, also said that the Constitution Bench of the apex court had, in 2003 in Ismail Faruqui case, had held that the superfluous area, other than the 0.313 acres of disputed site, can be reverted or restored to its original owners. In its plea, the Centre has now said that it has no objection to returning this excess land to its rightful owners, including Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas. 

The Supreme Court is presently hearing 14 appeals filed against 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement which had ordered trifurcation of 2.77 acre disputed land among three parties – Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. 

Today’s move by the Centre comes in the wake of religious gatherings being held at the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, by different camps of sadhus, where strident demands are being made for early construction of Ram Temple.  

Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati, a pro-Congress saint, held a Dharma Sansad on Monday where demands were made for early construction of Ram Temple. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad will also be holding its Dharma Sansad in Prayagraj on January 31. In the Supreme Court on Monday, the hearing on Ayodhya dispute could not take place due to the absence of a judge on the Constitution Bench.

The common man now feels that the court hearing on Ayodhya dispute may drag for a long time. Only a month is left for announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedule and the Ram Temple issue is gaining prominence. The faith of millions of Hindus is linked to this issue, and hence, pressures are being mounted by different camps on the government to speed up the construction of the temple. 

The last budget session of Parliament is going to begin, and political watchers believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may play his trump card by bringing a bill to pave the process of building the Ram temple. The dice is loaded and the question now is: when? 

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Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was the guest at our show Aap Ki Adalat in India TV studios on Friday, and I had asked him a point-blank question: when will the Ram temple be built in Ayodhya? His reply was emphatic.

Yogi said, the Supreme Court should not delay the hearing on Ayodhya dispute, and if it is unable to resolve, let the court hand over the issue to him, and he would solve the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute within 24 hours. “It won’t take 25 hours”, he added for more emphasis.

While most of the senior BJP leaders normally refrain from speaking out on this sensitive issue, Yogi put his point of view in a straight forward manner. The question is why Yogi made this point-blank remark on the longest festering dispute of this subcontinent? To me, it seems there is clarity in Yogi’s mind over this vexed issue.

In his reply, he first appealed to the apex court to deliver its verdict soon, since it was a matter of faith for millions of Indians who worship Lord Rama. But in the same vein, Yogi added, if the Supreme Court finds itself unable to deliver a verdict soon, it should hand over the dispute to his government, and he would resolve it “within 24 hours”. I asked him whether his government would resort to negotiations or use the stick, he smiled and replied, ‘first let the court give us the responsibility, we will resolve the dispute forever within 24 hours.’

Since the Lok Sabha elections are looming on the horizon, I asked Yogi questions relating to his party’s performance in UP, the entry of Priyanka Gandhi in politics, the SP-BSP alliance forged by the ‘bua-babua’ duo, the issue of lakhs of stray cattle in his state, the question of fear in the minds of Muslims, and he replied to each of the questions candidly. You can watch Aap Ki Adalat show with Yogi Adityanath tonight (Saturday Jan 26) at 10 pm on India TV.

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Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has suggested that voting rights and state-funded benefits should be taken away from couples having more than two children. Speaking at an event in Aligarh on Wednesday, Swami Ramdev said, “in order to put a brake on the fast spiralling population, voting rights, admission to government-funded educational institutions, government jobs and treatment facilities in government hospitals, should be withdrawn from people having more than two children irrespective of religion, caste or economic status.”

His remark has caused a controversy with some leaders from minority community questioning his motives. Population growth is undoubtedly at the root of most of our problems. No matter how many schools, colleges, hospitals and roads we build, they seem to be drops in the vast ocean of our nearly 130 crore population. Most of the political parties and their leaders realize this, but they do not dare to speak about curbing voting and welfare rights of couples who do not adhere to family planning norms. They clearly lack the political will and determination to arrest the growth of population.

One main reason could be the ghost of 1975 from the past. When the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi clamped Emergency, her son Sanjay Gandhi embarked on a massive sterilization drive to curb population growth. There were reports of coercion and forcible sterilization, and the Congress party had to face a rout in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. No government at the Centre since then had the courage to implement a sterilization drive on that scale.

One should appreciate Swami Ramdev’s concern over population explosion. It is the duty of all Indians to ensure that population growth stays strictly within limits, so that the fruits of growth can be shared equitably by all. If we fail to do this, we would be bequeathing to our future generations a country bursting at its seams. Let all of us put our heads together and ensure that the unmanageable growth in population be curbed.

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On Wednesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi sprung a surprise by announcing the induction of his sister Priyanka into politics. He appointed her as the party general secretary in-charge of eastern UP.

The announcement was underplayed by the part by mentioning it in the third para of its press release. Nevertheless, the announcement caused jubilation among party ranks who celebrated this decision in different parts of the country.

I consider Priyanka’s entry into politics a mere formality because she had already been working for the party behind the scenes for the last several years. She used to run the ‘war room’ for Congress during UP assembly polls and she used to micro-manage the AICC meetings, deciding who would sit with brother Rahul on the dais.

It was Priyanka who was instrumental in deciding when Rahul should take over as party chief. Priyanka played an important role recently in deciding the names of three chief ministers in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Congress leaders say, Rahul wanted Sachin Pilot to become Rajasthan chief minister, but it was Priyanka who insisted on giving the mantle to Ashok Gehlot.

Priyanka was, and continues to be, much influential in the party behind the scenes. Senior party leaders knew about this development and it was an open secret.

Priyanka is no doubt politically aggressive – but in a different sense. Few people understand her brand of politics and strategizing. She has good knowledge of local politics, and knows the issues that relate to common people. She knows what to say and how to connect with voters. She also knows how to snap back at the opposition. On most of these points, she is ahead of her brother Rahul.

Many senior Congress leaders I spoke to, admitted that Priyanka is the party’s trump card. She has the potential to invigorate the party workers. But I am still surprised, why Rahul Gandhi made the announcement in this manner, and sought to underplay it.

Priyanka’s entry into politics should be seen from a larger point of view. I have information that she has written a book ‘Against Outrage’, in which she has narrated events following her father Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the changes that came in her and her brother’s life, and in her mother’s life. The challenges and difficulties that her family had to face.

The book is due to be released by Penguin in March this year, and this could create ripples in political circles. The book is being translated from English into several Indian languages in order to get the maximum impact. I personally feel, Priyanka’s entry into politics and her book release during the thick of the election campaign will work to a large extent in energizing the party rank and file.

Round-the-clock work has begun on a war footing to build Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘dream project’ of constructing Kashi Vishwanath corridor, right from river Ganga to the holy shrine.

The corridor, 400 metres long and 50 feet wide, will cover roughly 25,000 sq. metre of land, for which 270 old buildings are being demolished. An open auditorium will be built between Manikarnika Ghat and Lalita Ghat. A rest house for pilgrims, hospital, visual library, Vedic study centre, toilets, help desk, shops, etc. will also be built. A two-lane pathway will be built from the Ganga river ghat to Kashi Vishwanath temple. Prime Minister Modi has personally checked the model for the entire project.

Those who have visited Varanasi will know how this project will change the face of Varanasi and its river ghats. Till last year, the Kashi Vishwanath temple was not even visible to pilgrims from the ghats. Pilgrims, after taking a holy dip in the Ganga, had to pass through narrow alleys filled with mud and dirt. There were alleys where two persons could barely cross each other. The alleys were full of stray cattle and bulls. Pilgrims used to have a tough time walking through these alleys in order to reach the shrine.

Last week, I had asked the famous Ram Katha preacher Morari Bapu why he conducted his discourse at a crematorium ground in Varanasi instead of the holy Kashi Vishwanath temple. Bapu put a counter question: “Is there any space around Kashi Vishwanath temple to accomodate my audience?” I had no answer.

With the work going on the corridor at break neck speed, we should hope that PM Modi’s dream project will materialize at the earliest. Pilgrims can watch the holy shrine while taking a dip in Ganga, and they would not have to walk through dirty alleys. And there will be enough space near the Kashi Vishwanath temple to organize a Ram Katha, too.

On Monday, a press conference was held in London by Indian Journalists Association (Europe) and Foreign Press Association, at which a person who called himself Syed Shuja, based in the US, alleged via Skype, that electronic voting machines used during 2014 Lok Sabha elections and during the assembly polls in Maharashtra, Delhi and UP were tampered with.

The hacker, partly covering his face and using a fake name, claimed he had worked for five years in Electronics Corporation of India Ltd, that manufactures EVMs. He also alleged that former Union Minister Gopinath Munde was murdered soon after 2014 LS polls, because he knew about EVM hacking. The man also claimed that EVMs, though not connected to internet, can be hacked using a military grade modulator on low frequency. He however refused to display the process live, citing security concerns.

Some Congress leaders may find substance in Syed Shuja’s allegations, but I believe the hacker’s claims are fraudulent. He failed to hack a single electronic voting machine before the media. He named two persons who, he said, got the EVMs hacked, but they are no more alive. Nobody can crosscheck the veracity of this man’s allegations.

The man went to the extent of claiming that BJP won several elections by tampering with the EVMs, but in elections where the Congress and other parties won, he claimed that he and his associates intervened to “stop” EVM tampering. This is totally untenable. Moreover, the presence of a senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal at the press conference in London raises more questions.

I fully trust our Election Commission of India, which had been using the EVMs manufactured by two public sector companies, ECIL and Bharat Electronics Ltd for the last several decades. These EVMs were used in many elections before 2014. The EVMs are not connected to internet, nor can they be intercepted during polling or counting in any manner. The best thing would be to ignore this man’s allegations altogether. His charges do not hold water.

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The renowned Ram Katha preacher Morari Bapu was my guest in Aap Ki Adalat show (will be telecast on India TV this weekend) and I asked him several questions relating to some controversies. On the Ayodhya dispute, Morari Bapu was emphatic. He wanted a temple to be built at the Ram Janmabhoomi, and appealed to the Supreme Court to deliver its verdict at the earliest.

The RSS, of late, has been creating pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to bring an ordinance to acquire the disputed land in order to start building of the Ram temple. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has clearly said that the government must bring an ordinance soon, since the hearing in the apex court was dragging on and there seems to be no sign of an early verdict. The RSS chief is clearly not happy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the government would wait for the final SC verdict before taking any action.

For the government, there is no easy way out. BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy, while mentioning a cabinet resolution taken by former PM P V Narasimha Rao’s government, has suggested that the Centre can legally acquire the disputed land without waiting for the SC verdict, and compensation can be given at a later date if the verdict is to the contrary. This, he argues, will pave the way for early building of the Ram temple.

At a time when the issue is pending before the Supreme Court, any big decision on part of the government could anger the apex court. It would be better for the Centre to wait till January 29 when the hearing is expected to resume in the Supreme Court.

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The pre-poll alliance between the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh is going to pose a serious challenge to the ruling BJP. The combination of caste factors between Yadavs, Muslims and Dalits is going to make the alliance a formidable change, though BJP president Amit Shah said on Friday that in politics, chemistry matters more than mathematics.

SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav knows that his party on its own cannot achieve electoral success without the help of BSP. He is therefore ready to accept all the demands made by BSP leader Mayawati. It was on the insistence of the latter that Akhilesh Yadav agreed to keep the Congress out of the alliance.

Mayawati’s BSP had not won a single seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and yet Akhilesh has agreed to give 37 seats to the BSP. You can call it a strategy mixed with politics. If he had not done that, the forging of the alliance would not have been possible.

The BJP leadership understands the enormity of this challenge in UP, but in order to keep the morale of its workers high, its leaders have been saying that the alliance would turn out to be as hollow as the one Akhilesh had forged with Rahul Gandhi during the assembly elections. Time will tell.

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