PM Modi loses his mojo, misses abusing Congress & family

Since he rolled the dice for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a rally in Shimla in April 2017 ahead of last year’s Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, the tone and tenor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has undergone a sea change at successive public appearances in the hill state.

He once again addressed a public rally on Thursday in Dharamshala to mark BJP’s one year in office in the state under Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. But what was missing was the hallmark aggression and barbs at the opposition.

The PM tried to hard sell what BJP governments at the centre and state have done for the hill state. His speech was like that made by any routine politician ahead of the polls, this time the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

One thing was clear that he has gauged the unrest among the masses across the country and has started taking a defensive stance.

In his Shimla rally in April 2017 PM Modi had harped on how demonetisation had spelt trouble for the affluent class that had lost its sleep and how the masses would gain from it.

Barely six months later he was seen launching personal attacks on the Congress leaders. While calling the Virbhadra Singh led government a ‘Jamanati Sarkar’ (a government whose leaders are out on bail), he had also attacked the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the vice president Rahul Gandhi. But today he did not utter a word on any of the Congress leaders at the Dharamshala rally.

In the run up to the Himachal assembly polls last year, he had also been playing up the ‘Surgical strikes’ against the Pakistani forces. The reference was again missing at Dharamshala.

Nor did he bother to speak on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) whose shoddy implementation along with demonetisation has wreaked havoc on the common man including those in Himachal where a large number of small traders are in hot soup with floundering business while the youth continues to stare at massive unemployment that has resulted from the demonetisation.

He did try to reach out to the families of those in the military forces claiming that it is his government that has delivered on the issue of One Rank One Pension (OROP) disbursing ₹12000 crore to the personnel in the defence forces.

Referring to the farm loan waiver given by the UPA in 2008, he said, “What was required to be given was ₹6 lakh crore. They announced ₹60,000 crore and gave only ₹52,000 crore. Among the beneficiaries were 35 lakh people who had nothing to do with farming. There was no mention of this in the media. The facts were brought out by the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) in its report.”

He said that the Congress governments in Punjab and Karnataka where the party is an ally of the Janata Dal Secular have failed to deliver what they had promised to the farmers.

In his Dharamshala address, Modi tried to sell honesty to the masses. He referred to the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme of his government and said that 6 crore fake beneficiaries have been identified whose money was being usurped by others. “Ten Himachal Pradesh would make six crore. Then they call Modi a liar. I will not stay quiet. They are scared that the Chowkidar does not sleep,” he claimed.

Once again, Modi tried to sell dreams to the people painting a rosy picture of the days to come and the development that has taken place in the last four years. “Under the previous regime the state used to get ₹21000 crore from the centre every year. The amount has gone up to ₹72,000 crore now. The money is being utilised judiciously by the state government.”

People were expecting some sort of announcement regarding a fresh incentive or an economic package for the state from Modi but this did not come.

Congress charge sheet

While Modi applauded the performance of Jai Ram Thakur led BJP government in the state in the last one year of assuming office, the opposition Congress submitted a charge sheet against the government to the Governor Acharya Devvrat.

The Congress leadership said, “The one year BJP rule in Himachal can best be described as a year of failed promises, poor governance, deteriorating law and order situation and extravagance by the state government despite poor financial health of the government.”

The Congress claims the debt trap of the state is touching ₹50,000 crores and the government has raised loans of ₹3,000 crore within one year. The entire thrust and focus of the government has been to give benefit to the BJP workers and supporters.”