Mr Prime Minister, the country indeed is asking questions you must answer

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while laying the foundation of a temple in Abu Dhabi, thanked the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. He delivered a long speech on the occasion and he mentioned the achievements of his government one by one. During the speech, the prime minister went on to say what the entire country is saying, “Modi ji, please tell, when will this happen, if at all this has to happen?”

You rightly said this, Mr Prime Minister. more than 125 crores of the citizens of this country have been asking the same question over and over again—when will this happen? Perhaps you have forgotten this question. We will remind you.

When you were contesting for the prime ministership, you had promised the country that if your government is formed in the centre, you will give jobs and employment to about 2 crore people every year. Today, after completion of four years of your government, the country is asking you the same question—up till now about 8 crore people should have got jobs as per your promise. Will you please tell us when will this happen?

Mr Prime Minister, you remain very busy. Every single minute of your time is precious. You have to negotiate deals like Rafale. You have to waste water unnecessarily for winning elections by cheating farmers. You are occupied with giving your MPs lessons in discussion-over-tiffin. You may not be able to find the time amid all this. But Mr Prime Minister, before giving the youth a lesson in ‘pakoda-making’, please let us know when will those those eight crore jobs be created?

Mr Prime Minister, you are good at the art of mocking. But you are the prime minister, you must be preparing for all this. You remember the Ramayana serial even today, that is why, you remember the laughter used in that serial. But please tell us what happened to those 15 lakh rupees you promised in 2014 during your general election’!! That is why the country is asking you, when will this all happen.

Mr Prime Minister, your favourite news channels have started showing weird and baseless things about the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, whom you thanked for allotting a piece of land for a temple. These channels are calling someone else the crown prince. Have you mistakenly expressed your gratitude to someone else? In this context, the country is asking you why the media is so intimidated, and will it change? Will the media be free and, if yes, then when will it be free?

Mr Prime Minister, you know the Indian embassy actually pressured the Indians working there to gather as much crowd as possible for the programme in which you said all this. Can’t it be that the people themselves become so curious to meet you and hear you that the gather there on their own? Will that ever happen? The country is asking the same question- when will that be?

You said in your speech, “building of a temple, that too as a bridge of goodwill. We have been brought up in a tradition where temples are the medium of humanity.” Mr Prime Minister, the country is asking you, why isn’t this goodwill visible within the country? The country is also asking, you are building a temple on the grounds of goodwill in Abu Dhabi, but why is a hostile environment being created within the country in the name of the temple? Will you be able to end this malice in the country? When will this happen?

Honourable Prime Minister, your government is now about to complete four years in power. In these four years, you have definitely changed many things. You yourself said in your speech, “We have seen those days when we felt that we should go somewhere else, nothing will happen here…we have gone through a phase of hopelessness, doubts and dilemma.” But why are you repeating those things after running the government for four years. Has a lot been left to do? If yes, then please let the country know what remains to be done and when will that be done?

You told in your speech that our country’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business has gone up by 42 places. But prime minister, you perhaps have not read the revised report of the World Bank in which it has been mentioned that the ranking has been tweaked with political intentions and this has been rejected by one of the think-tanks of your friend America. The country is asking you if something will ever happen in this country without an ulterior political motive and the data being manipulated?

Mr Prime Minister, it has been more than a year after demonetisation and more than half a year after the implementation of the GST. You are still referring to them. Are there some doubts in your heart too with regards to these decisions of yours? If both these decisions were in the country’s interest, then why does the RBI keep saying that the development of the country went haywire because of these two initiatives? If this is correct, then when will the economy resume normal pace? When will that happen?

Honourable Prime Minister, you yourself said, “ Today the country is not asking whether it will happen or not, or if it is possible or not. Now people ask, Modiji, tell us when will this happen. There is no complaint in this question, but belief that it will happen and it will happen now.”

But you must be knowing that when there is faith, there is belief, questions are not asked. People trust that it will happen. Good that you yourself accepted the fact that the country is asking you questions- if at all, when will all this happen? Jai Hind…

(Translated into English by Pragati Saxena).