Congress faced defeat in the 2024 Elections in the only 3 states where they are in power, that too, within 6 to 18 months of forming govt: Details

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

At the time of going to the Lok Sabha elections in April-May of 2024, the Congress party was in power in 3 states – Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana. 

Amongst these three, Telangana was the most recent state they won in 2023 December. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has told us multiple times that he treats the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a referendum on his 6-month governance. It was a bold statement to make, given that he had just taken over. He was confident of winning 12 to 14 seats out of the 17 seats. He was very aggressive in his campaign and he was also used by the Congress for some Delhi-based interviews. 

The result was that the Congress party won 8 Lok Sabha seats out of the 17; the BJP scripted history by winning 8 seats too (MIM won the Hyderabad seat). The BJP won 8 assembly seats out of 119 in the 2023 December assembly elections but revived so miraculously that it won 8 Lok Sabha seats in just 6 months! 

This should have triggered a debate in the media – particularly since the Chief Minister himself claimed this was a referendum on his governance. Very clearly, winning 8 seats out of 17 doesn’t classify as winning a referendum. In just 6 months, the Congress party’s governance gave so much confidence to the people that they decided to teach them a lesson! 

The performance in Karnataka was worse than in Telangana. The downfall in Karnataka deserves a more detailed analysis, but yet again the media has failed us. The Congress party, which has been in power for about a year in Karnataka, was able to win only 9 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats. On social media, we see that the ministers of the Karnataka government are very active in satirical posts; very active in reporting to alleged fact-checkers; very active in creating a North-South divide; and whatnot. At one point in time, the media thought that with such great articulation, these ministers would take over the governance of India one day too. 

None of us can forget the elevations that Deputy Chief Minister, D.K.Shivakumar gets in the English media. The fact remains that his own younger brother had to face a crushing defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. None of us can forget the analysis after analysis of how the pioneering free-scheme guarantees of the Congress party are ushering in a new Karnataka! Where have all these analysts gone now? The Congress party won only 9 out of the 28 seats – if this is not a resounding verdict on their poor performance in the past year, then what else is? 

The worst performance though was from Himachal Pradesh. The Congress party lost all 4 seats in the state in 2024 elections. Losing 100% of seats would have triggered a massive backlash and analysis on why this happened, but we didn’t get to see any meaningful analysis of this drubbing. 

The cold fact remains that the Congress party won very less seats from the states they are in power, as opposed to states where they are part of the opposition. On their own, the Congress won substantial seats only in Punjab where they are in opposition. Everywhere else, the bulk of seats they won were in cooperation with their allies (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala). In contrast, the BJP has swept in states in which they are in power; has won new states; has retained power in states; and with their allies, has retained power at the centre too! Yes, of course, they lost substantial seats in UP, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra, but the scale of the loss of the Congress party should dwarf that of the BJP. 

However, in direct contrast, our English media wants us to believe the exact opposite. In their bid to elevate Rahul Gandhi, the English media certainly wants to cover up the voice of people where Rahul Gandhi’s party is actually in power. 

The Congress party has not retained any state after the 2011 Assam elections. They have lost all assembly polls where they have been in power ever since. And now, they are setting a new record in anti-incumbency (just 6 to 18 months) in the states where they are in power. Serious analysts would pore over these details and ask Congress to buckle up. Congress themselves have put up several committees to study the poor performance in some states. What stops the media from doing their job of studying these results and enlightening the public outside of these states? We all know the answer to what stops them.

The Andhra Pradesh verdict: Understanding why the state was angry with Jagan Mohan Reddy and how TDP and BJP could gain

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

A few months ago, we discussed the shady palace intrigue of Jagan Mohan Reddy in detail. The stories of murder, betrayal, and politics that we witnessed beat any well-written TV show too! One of the characters we discussed in this drama was Jagan’s mother, Y.S.Vijayamma. Then, we mentioned how Jagan tactfully made her resign as the President of his party and she parted ways with him to support her daughter (i.e. Jagan’s sister). The family intrigue went from bad to worse after that. Unable to bear the pressure, Y.S.Vijayamma went to the US for the entire election cycle. 

If your mother doesn’t take your side, why would people want to take your side? Remember, this is not a typical case of multiple people in the same family being in different parties. This was a case of the son actively ensuring the mother is removed; the sister is harassed; and ultimately mother gives up on the son! 

While I believe this whole saga is one of the strongest reasons for the people to get vexed with Jagan, I think the turning point was when he arrested Chandrababu Naidu last year on a corruption case. The president of the Jana Sena Party, Pawan Kalyan, who was already an NDA ally then, immediately announced his support to Chandrababu Naidu. He went along with TDP’s leadership met Chandrababu in jail, and rallied support for him outside the jail. Many neutral folks in the state were also shocked by the manner of arrest of a leader like Chandrababu Naidu. 

The anger against Jagan was brewing much before that though. This was evident from the fact that his party lost an MLC graduate election for 3 seats in 2022. The anger was brewing for multiple reasons. Jagan’s disastrous 3-capital plan basically meant that people were clueless about where the capital of the state was going to be. The disastrous plan, though passed by the Assembly, was rejected in the Legislative Council and more importantly, kept on hold by the High Court. 

Companies that wanted to invest also were clueless about where to invest because of the confusion around the capital. With no investment coming in, the youth were obviously getting restless on the lack of opportunities in the state. They showed their anger in the 2022 elections, but Jagan simply failed to get the message. 

Jagan promised to abolish liquor once he came to power. After coming to power, he encouraged the production of liquor in many local brands! So even while he was transferring 15,000/- per year into accounts of mothers who were sending their daughters to school, he was also instrumental in the rampant increase in the consumption of alcohol in rural households. 

One of the flagship programs of Jagan was to revamp government schools, both from an infrastructure perspective and a teaching perspective. He focussed excessively on the beautification of the school buildings. He suddenly introduced English medium instruction without enough training to the teachers. He even experimented with introducing the IB syllabus! There was massive dissatisfaction within the teacher community. There was no attempt made to hire new teachers, even while vacancies were piling up. 

While there are some more examples that can be cited, without strong opposition, the materialization of the anger would not have happened. And here is where we have to make a special mention of the TDP cadre for holding fort despite facing their worst-ever defeat in 2019. Chandrababu’s son, Lokesh underwent a good transformation during his year-long padayatra across the state. While they were building back their party, came the arrest of the Chandrababu Naidu, which changed the game in AP. 

Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena was already in alliance with the BJP. The BJP and TDP split with very bad blood in 2019. Chandrababu’s arrest changed how Pawan Kalyan functioned too! He mentioned in a public meeting how much he struggled to bring back TDP and BJP together because he was very particular about defeating Jagan. He conducted a very spirited campaign for nearly three months, and the public gave him an outstanding 100% result – Jana Sena won 21 out of the 21 MLA seats they contested; and 2 out of the 2 MP seats they contested, as part of the NDA! 

The TDP won a massive 135 out of the 144 seats it contested. This verdict is not just a slap on the face for Jagan but a huge vote of confidence in Chandrababu Naidu’s leadership too. The resilience of both the cadre and the leader has paid off really well in the 2024 elections. 

BJP, which was literally an untouchable in 2019 also saw a revival – winning 8 MLA seats out of the 10 they contested; and 3 out of the 6 MP seats they contested. One of the MPs was a long-time karyakarta of the party – Bhupati Raju Srinivasa Varma, who won from Narsapuram. He has now been made a MoS in the Modi government. 

The NDA won a whopping 164 out of the 175 seats in the AP Assembly. They also won 21 out of the 25 LS seats. Andhra Pradesh has been a key contributor to the strength of NDA in the 2024 elections and therefore there are higher expectations from Modi that he will give some extra benefits to AP. 

Tactical Silence of Torchbearers of Democracy over Blatant MLA Poaching in Telangana

 The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

In December 2018, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party swept the Assembly elections by winning 88 out of the 119 seats. You would think that the party will be thrilled about this and would not need to worry about having to poach MLAs from other parties. Very mysteriously, TRS started to induct one Congress MLA after the other into their party, almost immediately after winning.

The Congress won 19 seats. From December 2018 to June 2019, 12 Congress MLAs joined the TRS, one after the other. One of the MLAs went on to become an MP, so the strength of Congress in the Assembly was 18. It was then that all the 12 MLAs went to the Speaker and “merged” the Congress Legislature party into the TRS. Why is the number 12 important here?

The anti-defection law prevents elected representatives from switching parties during their active term. The only exception being that if 2/3rds of your MLAs or MPs switch over. The law doesn’t state if all 2/3rds have to switch at the same time or can do one after the another. The law doesn’t define a timeframe for the Speaker or Chairperson of the House to decide. Using this loophole very conveniently, the then TRS party waited for 12 MLAs to join them and then the Speaker took an “expeditious” decision. Till date, it is baffling why KCR had to resort to this poaching when he didn’t need to do it.

In December 2023, the Congress party won the Assembly elections in Telangana. It won 64 out of the 119 seats. Its ally CPI won one seat. So, the Congress also doesn’t need to break the TRS (now BRS) to survive. However, the Congress party is following the exact strategy that the TRS followed back then. So far, 5 BRS MLAs have been inducted into the Congress party. In fact one of the MLAs who jumped back into the Congress party even contested on a Congress ticket for the Secunderabad MP seat.

The CM is openly telling that he will continue to break the BRS. There is active work going on that front. Former ministers and even the ex-Speaker has joined the Congress party after winning from the BRS, just 6 months back. Torchbearers of Democracy are silent on all of this. Upholders of the Constitution have suddenly forgotten that all of this is happening at the behest of Rahul Gandhi’s Congress. Probably under his guidance, who knows!

It is baffling how the Congress announces in its manifesto that it will bring a law to prevent poaching of elected representatives and poach them immediately after losing the elections. Actually, I take it back. It’s not baffling that the Congress is doing this. It is baffling that the loudest voices are stunningly silent on this chicanery of Rahul Gandhi.

Analysts in Telangana though have no love lost for the BRS. There is a unanimous opinion that the BRS is simply getting back their bad karma. The decimation of BRS in the Lok Sabha elections has certainly added to their woes and if their arrogant leadership continues on the same path, the decimation will be complete. However, this article is not about why BRS is faltering so badly.  

It is about Rahul Gandhi’s theatrics of holding a book with a red cover that he claims is the Constitution of India and his reality of violating that very book time and again.  Rahul Gandhi’s theatrics have been time and again rejected by the people of the country silently. The loudest voices though continue to hype his theatrics and ignore his real actions.

In Telangana, to break the BRS, the Congress party will have to poach 25 MLAs from BRS! The CM seems supremely confident that he will achieve this. If he does not, then there is a possibility that the court may intervene and call for elections of those who switched over. While politically, this makes for a good exciting future to look forward to, it also calls for a debate on Rahul Gandhi’s chicanery. 

Video Podcasts/Interviews for 2024 elections

Four podcasts that I was part of, in telugu :). This is on a channel aptly titled Samvadam :).

Part-1 of Why #ModiOnceMore2024: 

A decade of wealth generation -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec20gbS57r4 

Part-2 of Why #ModiOnceMore2024:

A decade of Infrastructure Transformation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8IT3J0V8V0&t=1585s 

Part-3 of Why #ModiOnceMore2024: 

A decade of epic transformations - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJW326Be2Q

India's Semi-Conductor policy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ILBIHxe7fQ&t=14s 

English Interview on NIJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaOPspJIq9Y

In 2024 LS Elections, BJP scripted history in Telangana: How the party has gained momentum after losing steam in run-up to 2023 elections

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it for reference:

When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984, she was a member of Lok Sabha from the Medak constituency in Telangana (then part of Andhra Pradesh state). The BJP won this seat in 1999, when it was in alliance in TDP. The victor, Mr. A. Narendra, went into TRS and won the seat again in 2004. And ever since, this seat has been a TRS stronghold for 20 years. Medak was one of the two seats that TRS won in 2009. Medak was the seat from where KCR himself won in 2014 (and gave it up for the MLA seat because he became the CM). KCR’s MLA constituency is also part of the Medak Lok Sabha constituency. One can thus gauge the importance of this seat in the annals of history.

True to their nature, voters of Medak created new history in 2024 Lok Sabha elections he 2024 And for the first time in history, the BJP won this seat on its own in 2024, thus creating new history! The candidate, Mr. Raghunandan Rao is fairly well known and is the one who won the all important Dubbaka Assembly by-election in 2020 – an election that heralded the downfall of KCR! Mr. Raghunandan Rao is no stranger to Medak. This is his home constituency and he has also been the Medak in charge of TRS, back when he was a member of the TRS. All those grassroot level contacts certainly played a crucial role in his stellar campaign in this constituency. He was up against formidable forces but the pro-Modi wave in Telangana coupled with some anger against incumbent Congress party were used very well by him.

Medak is not the only constituency in Telangana where history was made. India’s biggest Lok Sabha constituency is Malkajigiri constituency in Telangana. Current Telangana Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, won this seat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In a way, this was his sitting seat and with him winning the 2023 Assembly elections, this seat was supposed to be an easy seat for the Congress.

BJP’s candidate, Mr. Eatala Rajendar, won this seat by polling a whopping 53% of the votes! He is also no stranger to the people of Telangana and infact has been a pillar for TRS until KCR unceremoniously decided to sack him. Though he won the assembly by-poll in 2021, he lost his seat in the 2023 elections only to make a great comeback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections!

Mahbubnagar constituency also witnessed another scintillating contest in which the BJP candidate, Mrs. D.K.Aruna won by a slender margin of ~4500 votes! KCR himself won from here in 2009 (in alliance with the TDP and Communists). Current Telangana Chief Minister from Congress, Revanth Reddy’s assembly constituency forms a part of Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha Constituency too! No wonder this was touted as a very tough seat right from the beginning. Nevertheless, one of BJP’s national Vice Presidents, Mrs. D.K.Aruna put up such a spirited fight that the BJP wrested this seat too.

One of the most unique constituencies in Telangana (and perhaps India) is the Chevella constituency. It ranges from the famed Hi-Tech city of Hyderabad to interior villages in Vikarabad – making it a really unique combination of pure Urban and pure Rural populace! BJP’s candidate, Mr. Konda Vishweshwar Reddy is a highly accomplished entrepreneur; comes from a highly respectable family; is married into a highly respectable family; has been an MP in 2014 from TRS; and has now won it for a 2^nd time in 2024, from the BJP.

In addition to these 4 seats, the BJP has also retained 4 seats it won in the 2019 elections – Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Secunderabad. The party was in near doldrums during the 2023 elections. It won only 8 Assembly seats out of the 119 seats. Too many unsavoury happenings in late 2022 resulted in unexpected changes at the helm in the state. There was not enough time to salvage the 2023 result but under the stewardship of Mr. Kishan Reddy, the party was able to bounce back in the 2024 Lok Sabha, producing a stellar result! A combination of very good candidate selection; early announcement of all candidates; and great campaign that added to the Modi-wave in the state enabled BJP to win 8 and come 2^nd in 7 seats!

The Congress party was hopeful of winning 12-14 seats, riding on their victory just 6 months back in the assembly polls. However, a combination of unfulfilled promises and a very strong resurgence of the BJP ensured that they win 8 seats.

The second biggest story though, is the decimation of the BRS. They won 0. From being a ruling party just 6 months back to scoring a nought – the downward spiral was perhaps not surprising, given how the party reacted to the loss in the Assembly elections. Not a single lesson was learnt by the leadership. KCR, injured from a fall at his home, didn’t go to the Assembly at all – leaving it to his son and nephew to do all the firefighting. KCR’s son, KTR, continued to exhibit unparalleled arrogance (the same that led to the loss in the first place) in his speeches and interactions. KCR didn’t even issue a statement when his daughter, Kavitha, was arrested in the Delhi Liquor scam case. He was quick to release a statement when Kejriwal was arrested though. Actions like these didn’t obviously go well with the people. The cadre was very quick to desert the leadership – resulting in a whopping drop of 24% vote share!

BJP, which was primed to rise as the second major party in the run-up to 2023 elections lost steam closer to the elections. It is now again in the same position. The national leadership should not let this current position of strength to slip like last time. The people’s faith in the BJP must be taken forward in Telangana, for a replication of Odisha situation!

 

The Indelible Impact of Ramoji Rao on Telugu Populace

The following article was written for MyInd MakersMyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

On June 8th, 2024 we woke up to the news of the passing away of Ramoji Rao. I was immediately reminded of a tweet I posted in the year 2013 about how Ramoji Rao had a profound daily impact on pretty much every Telugu family for nearly 3 decades through the many companies he ran. 

For many decades, his newspaper, Eenadu, that translates to “Today”, was part of a daily routine of lakhs and lakhs of families. The decent language the paper used; the different sections that the paper introduced so that they can cater to various sections of the audience; the Sunday book (that is still a rage amongst the Telugu audience!) – all have endeared the newspaper very much to households across the state. His open support to the Telugu Desam Party ever since the launch; his support to Chandrababu Naidu during the coup against NTR; his vitriol against YSR – all of these have failed to mark a big dent in the popularity of the newspaper. It is really no wonder that Eenadu has remained the largest circulated Telugu newspaper for decades now. 

Ramoji Rao’s advent into the television industry was also equally game-changing. For decades, ETV has retained a fan base that any other channel would be envious of. ETV has turned news-reading into an art; and their 9pm news continues to remain as popular today as it was when they launched is nearly 30 years back. There are no cacophonous discussions on ETV; there is just simply news delivered in a packed 30 minutes with excellent language (biased, ofcourse, but that isn’t the point of this article). Watching the 9pm news on ETV is still a routine that many families in the Telugu states follow. 

ETV produced and hosted the most popular music reality show – Paaduta Teeyaga – roughly translates to “I will sing sweetly”. Frankly, to lakhs of families, this was not a reality show. It was an emotion. We all know how much drama is unnecessarily added to music reality shows today. Paaduta Teeyaga was the complete opposite of that concept. Hosted by the indominatable S.P.Balasubramaniam, it still continues to evoke the same emotion as it did when they started it. SPB himself has mentioned the role Ramoji Rao played in the formation of this program. On similar lines, Ramoji Rao’s team designed another musical show – Swarabhishekham – where every Sunday evening, a 3-hour musical extravaganza lay in store for the audience. Music legends, directors, producers, heroes etc were invited and their songs were performed on stage and then honoured. Lakhs of families were glued to this program, come Sunday evening, for many years!

Likewise, there are many such programs that ETV not just pioneered but became a part of household viewership and family bondings. Such bondings happened only with Doordarshan before, and perhaps Star TV for a brief while. In contrast, ETV continues to remain a channel that the entire household will happily sit and watch together. 

Years before establishing the newspaper Eenadu, Ramoji Rao established Margadarsi Chit Fund company. It was against this company that the YSR government filed a criminal case against (in his first term), trying to bring the empire down. As an aside, even before social media came into existence, lines from ads of Margadarsi were very popular amongst common folks! 

Ramoji Rao also established Usha Kiran movies and produced some really good movies on this banner. This production house wasn’t producing movies frequently, but has produced award-winning movies. Once ETV came to life, the production house slowly moved into producing serials. 

Ramoji Film City is yet another fantastic feather in his cap.Today, almost every family either visited it or wants to visit it atleast once. Hundreds and hundreds of movies have been produced by various language industries in Ramoji Film City. The contribution of the Film city to film making in India is simply extraordinary. 

A lesser-known aspect of Ramoji Rao’s empire are the Priya pickles! Yet again, lakhs of households have some Priya pickle or the other that forms part of their kitchen. 

While there are ofcourse many big business empires that create products and make life easy, there are a very few empires that become part of your routine in life. Reading and discussing the Eenadu paper was one such routine for lakhs of families. Watching programs on ETV with the entire family gathered around it, was another such routine. A picnic to Ramoji Film City is another memory many families have added to their lives. Ofcourse, Ramoji Rao is not a perfect person. But it would be unwise to reduce his legacy to the happenings of the past few years. He has created something that has impacted generations in the Telugu states. And for that, hope he travels well into a different world now. 

Telangana: How Congress fooled the public, once again, in the name of 6 guarantees they gave during assembly elections

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

In the run-up to the Assembly elections of Telangana, the Congress announced 6 guarantees for the people of Telangana. As elections started nearing, Revanth Reddy repeatedly promised that he will implement ALL guarantees within 100 days of coming to power. The conviction in his tone was believed by the people of Telangana and they voted the Congress to power.

First of all, what are these 6 guarantees? Below is a variant of the info-graphic that Congress used in all newspaper ads and all their official handles.

It is a very well-designed info-graphic that gives you the first impression that there are actually only 6 guarantees in the promise. A second look and you will realise how the Congress scammed you even with something as simple as a number! A closer perusal of the document shows that the actual guarantees being promised are 13 in number, and not 6! Almost every “Guarantee” has sub-guarantees also included in them.

·         Guarantee # 1 is titled Mahalakshmi, and has a total of 3 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 2 is titled Rythu Bharosa, and has a total of 3 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 3 is titled Yuva Vikasam, and has a total of 2 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 4 is titled Indiramma Indlu, and has a total of 2 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 5 is titled Gruha Jyothi and is the only guarantee with no sub-guarantees!

·         Guarantee # 6 is titled Cheyutha, and has a total of 2 sub-guarantees.

It is now very clear that Revanth Reddy wanted to get away with implementing any 6 out of these 13 Guarantees within 100 days and claim that he kept his promise. I must say, it was a very innovative way of doing a scam! Now, let’s take a look if he actually executed this intelligent scam. The Congress government completed 100 days on March 17^th, 2024. The election code kicked in on March 16^th, 2024. In the above info-graphic:

• Guarantee (1) has 3 sub-guarantees.
• The 2500/- per month to every woman scheme, has NOT been started at all.
• Oher 2 Sub-Guarantees are being implemented.
• Guarantees number (2) and (3) have NOT even started.
• Guarantee (4) has 2-sub guarantees.
• The “250 sq.yards plot for all movement fighters” has NOT been initiated at all.
• The “House site and 5 lakh for people not having own house” is only PARTIALLY started now (announced only in the 1^st week of March for a limited set of people)
• Guarantee (5) has been announced and is being implemented from March 1^st.
• Guarantee (6) has 2 sub-guarantees.
• The “4000 rupees monthly pension” has NOT been started at all.
• The increase in health insurance was perhaps the easiest one to implement and is under implementation now

So, that essentially means that only 4 out of the promised 13 guarantees (in 100 days) are currently fully being implemented. If you want to give credit for an additionally partially implemented promise, then Congress is implementing only 4.25 out of the promised 13 guarantees! Let’s for a moment not even delve into this much detail and just go by the slogan “6 Guarantees” that were promised in 100 days. Even amongst those, only 4 are being implemented which is a clear breaking of the vehement promise Revanth Reddy gave before the elections.

Outside of these 6 Guarantees, Revanth Reddy also promised a loan waiver program for the farmers, again within 100 days. Caught openly with this lie, Revanth Reddy now promised a new date for only this promise – August 15^th!

Caught in a quagmire over his unkept promise, Revanth Reddy is using a new strategy. He is openly threatening people that if they don’t vote for the Congress party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, then it will be very difficult for him to provide these “guarantees”. It is a really strange argument but it is also not surprising because this has been the Congress DNA – to threaten voters with dire consequence for trusting them in the first place. The voters trusted Revanth Reddy when he said he will fulfil ALL guarantees within 100 days. Voters are obviously angry that he did NOT keep his promise. Instead of apologising to them, Revanth is threatening them that if they don’t vote for Congress, they will not get the other guarantees too!

Revanth Reddy has been constantly claiming that the Lok Sabha election is a referendum on his 4-month rule. The media also went gaga over him and his working style. Revanth Reddy is also going national, with his appearances on various channels, and is eloquently explaining Rahul Gandhi’s divisive agenda in these interviews! The hard reality is that the Congress has yet again cheated people with false promises and is now threatening the very same people with dire consequence. Afterall, old habits die hard! 

How Modi Hacks EVMs, Part 8: Seminal 10 years with epochal events and decisions – from Ram Mandir to G20, Women’s Reservation Bill, NEP and more

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

As hard as it is to believe, we were actually able to write 9 articles in a series titled How Prime Minister Modi hacks EVMs (all listed at the end of this article) without even touching upon the huge and epochal events that have unfolded in his 10 years as PM. The scale of his trail-blazing decisions is very large. Even after 9 articles on various topics ranging from health to wealth, from law-making to peace-making, we still haven’t touched upon the many other decisions that look seemingly small but are infact big.

For example, that the Modi government changed the eligible age for marriage to 21 years for both men and women? Did you know that nearly 2000 old rules and laws that were obsolete were removed by the Modi government? There are many such more small things that we can spend time on (A twitter thread here talks about 175 unique accomplishments), but we should move on to discuss the events and decisions that no one thought was possible to achieve, but that this government has accomplished!

The opening of the new Parliament building, while a big event in itself, was also a witness to two huge events in Independent India. In 1947, just before the transfer of power from British to India, Jawaharlal Nehru was presented with a Sengol from Tamil Nadu, that will signify the transfer of power. Jawaharlal Nehru sent it to a museum and it was later classified as his walking stick! It took Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to restore the Sengol to its rightful place in the Lok Sabha. This powerful image of India’s Prime Minister walking with the Sengol, accompanied by the chanting of mantras by the pandits, has left a really lasting impression in my mind.

The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in the first session of the new Parliament building. A bill that was first mooted in 1996 could only become law in the year 2023. This was passed with an unbelievable 454-2 majority in the Lok Sabha. The scale of this achievement will be visible (literally!) once we see 33% of our parliamentarians being women, post the delimitation exercise. Both the events are befitting the stature of the event of opening of the new Parliament building.

The National Education Policy has been revised for the first time after 1985. This NEP is even more transformational than the 1985 one. The current 3-tier structure in our schools will be changed to a more meaningful 4-tier structure; there is going to be increased focus on funding of research in our colleges; there are going to be changes in the way degrees are awarded; we now have the choice of making education more flexible (such as breaking up a degree into multiple slots). A single paragraph or a single article cannot do justice to discuss the monumental changes NEP will bring in once it becomes fully operational.

The Presidency of G20 was ridiculed by the opposition saying that this is just a rotating feature and nothing great about Modi. It’s phenomenal how they underestimate Modi when they ridicule him on matters so big! Nearly 200 programs related to the G20 were held in more than 60 cities or towns in entire India. It didn’t matter which party was ruling a particular state – all states got good preference in hosting multiple leaders from the most powerful countries of the world in their cities or towns. Celebrations were seen in the cities and towns that hosted these multiple summits.

The first big pleasant surprise came when we all saw our Prime Minister PM Modi addressed the G20 Summit with ‘Bharat’ nameplate.

The second pleasant surprise was equally very heartening. G20 was made more inclusive when the 55-member African Union joined the grouping – something that no one imagined. Just when they thought there will not be any more surprises, came two more big announcements. One is the establishment of the India-Middle East-European economic corridor. And the other was is the establishment of the Global Biofuels Alliance.

This OpIndia article captures very well the 10 huge accomplishments of the transformative nature of our G-20 Presidency. By involving all states of India, Modi didn’t make G20 the elitist event they thought it was. By getting the African Union to join G20, Modi made sure G20 isn’t an elitist organisation they thought it was. The Presidency may have gone to another country via rotation, but the legacy of what India achieved in its presidency will stay forever!

There came a time when no one took political party manifestos seriously. That was because everyone just thought all political parties lie on their manifestos and nothing really ever comes out of it. All that changed on August 5, 2019. Words fail to describe the emotions one was undergoing while watching the political acumen with which Article 370 was abrogated on that day in the Rajya Sabha and the next day in the Lok Sabha. The ensuing peace and prosperity in Kashmir that followed the abrogation is ample proof of how people have lapped up their new found freedom. It is baffling how people of J&K were deprived of all the opportunities available to the rest of the country and yet their misery was sold to us as a normal occurrence in J&K.

The pran prathista (I cannot find an English translation that will sound as beautiful as this!) of Bhagwan Ram in the magnificent Ram Mandir at his birth place in Ayodhya, is a truly epochal event. The epochal scale is evident from the fact that it took more than 500 years for this to happen.

 

The Prime Minister delivered a brilliant speech that befit this occasion. After most eloquently describing what Prabhu Ram stood for, Prime Minister Modi also reminded us of our duty to now lay the best possible foundation of a Bhavya Bharat for the next 1000 years. He has reminded us of the hope and aspirations that this new era brings to the crores of Indians. And he has guided us on how we must conduct ourselves to fulfil this responsibility of transforming our country. He has himself led by example and made us all his partners in the transformation so far.  The work is far from finished though. We built a Bhavya Mandir. We will now build a Bhavya Bharat!

This brings to end the 10-article series on how Prime Minister Modi hacks EVMs. Part-1 speaks about the focus on small-scale entrepreneurs; Part-2 speaks about the revolutions in the labour/employment sector; Part-3 speaks about the focus on both prevention and cure in health; Part-4 speaks about how the lives of women were made better at home, school and work. Part-5 speaks about the Focus on financial systems, along with Big Bang Reforms and simultaneous benefits to middle-class, economically weaker sections. Part-6 speaks about law-making and peace-making efforts that made India a much safer place to live in. Two articles, not numbered in this series, but count into how he hacks EVMs are – The many highs of the 17^th Lok Sabha; and the implementation of the AP Reorg Act. And of course, this particular article 😊. 

How Modi hacks EVMs, part 7: Going from Congress’ 35% neem-coated Urea to 100%, eliminating pilferage, to soil health cards and more. How Farmers benefitted

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

Urea as a fertilizer is widely used and because of this, it was also one of the highly pilferaged fertilizer in the country. There was a time in our country when farmers had to stand in long lines to buy Urea. The long lines often led to fights and occasionally led to even the police having to get involved. Urea that was supposed to land in the hands of the farmer, often ended up with chemical industries or even rogue elements that used Urea to prepare adulterated milk.

What was the solution for this? Neem coating the Urea. This will increase its yield and also make it unusable for pilferage.  In the year 2002, when NDA was in power, it was recommended that Urea be neem-coated and the same was experimented at one plant. It took about 2 years for us to understand it’s success at a small scale. The decision to expand this to large scale was to be taken in July 2004. Mysteriously, very mysteriously, the then UPA government led by the honest Manmohan Singh decides to only neem-coat 35% of the Urea! It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this was done. After becoming the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi made neem-coated Urea as 100% mandatory! I now don’t need to explain the immense benefits that our farmer got because of this one decision. So, we just have to ask ourselves why the farmer will not press the lotus button on the EVM?

Urea is not the only input needed for a good crop. Farmers will need to spend some money to buy equipment year after year. It took someone like Narendra Modi to come up with a unique scheme called Kisan Samman Nidhi. The scheme will transfer, directly to the farmers account, 6000 rupees per year in three equal instalments. Many state governments have attached themselves to this scheme and add some more amount. Therefore, crores of eligible farmers now get upto 10,000 rupees per year from the government, that they can use as Input credit. Till date, nearly a whopping 2.5 lakh crore rupees has been transferred to over 11 crore accounts as Input credit. Now, ask for yourself, why would they not credit Narendra Modi for their prosperity and press the Lotus button on the EVM?

Speaking about Inputs, one of the biggest inputs that a farmer will need is about the health of the soil. By issuing nearly 23 crore Soil Health Cards (a unique initiative), the Modi government has ensured that farmers are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their soil and will take decisions accordingly!

For most people in the organised sector, having an insurance is a very common thing. For farmers, it was a nightmare to have insurance for their crops. In 2016, with the launch of the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, the Modi government fulfilled yet another long pending demand from the agricultural community. Did schemes not exist before 2016? Ofcourse yes. The premium was high, coverage was low and settlement was a nightmare! After resolving these critical problems in 2016, the Modi government bought in further reforms to their own scheme in 2020. The speed with which feedback is incorporated into schemes is a topic for another article! Today, nearly 30 crore farmers across the country have insured their crops under this scheme. Nearly 95,000 crore rupees have been paid by the government to the farmers on their claims! 95,000 crore rupees!

When Prime Minister Modi announced that his government’s aim is to double the farmer’s income by the year 2022, many mocked him. They mocked him because they wanted statistical proof of doubling of income from every farmer in the country. They were so busy mocking him that they lost sight of the many schemes that were being implemented by him. Today, Milk production in India is nearly 50% more than what it was in 2013! Today, there has been a more 50% increase in the production of pulses compared to 2013 (Infact, notice the stagnation in the production of pulses for a large part of UPA). I can go on and on about the increased production in various agricultural products but you get the picture! There was so much noise around giving MSP a legal status, while all along the Modi government increased MSP on multiple products thereby increasing the income of the farmers. Our farmers are producing more and earning more because of the government’s schemes, then is it any surprise that they will opt to press the lotus button

Agriculture is not just about the food grains. Through the PM Matsya Sampada Scheme, nearly 6 lakh fisher families get livelihood and nutritional support in their lean fishing periods; and heavy investments into fishing-related infrastructure. All these have led to India becoming the 2^nd largest fish-producing country. I think you now understand how these lakhs of families will willingly become part of the project where they will go and press the relevant button on the EVM, come election day!

Today, our farmers produce more than before. Our farmers sell more than before (e-NAM is a brilliant example). And most importantly, our farmers earn more than before. Agriculture, Aquaculture, Diary-culture etc are thriving like never before. Now, ask for yourselves, why would these crores of farmers not come out on election day and press the lotus button on the EVM?

This is the 7th article in the series Decoding How PM Modi hacks EVMs (an allegation the opposition often throws at him). Part-1 speaks about the focus on small-scale entrepreneurs; Part-2 speaks about the revolutions in the labour/employment sector; Part-3 speaks about the focus on both prevention and cure in health; Part-4 speaks about how the lives of women were made better at home, school and work. Part-5 speaks about the Focus on financial systems, along with Big Bang Reforms and simultaneous benefits to middle-class, economically weaker sections. Part-6 speaks about law-making and peace-making efforts that made India a much safer place to live in.

 

Decoding how Modi Hacks EVMs, Part 6: From law-making to peace-making, how Modi has ensured India is a safer place

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

In very eloquent language, editors of the English Print media used to often write on the need to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, known as AFSPA. This act was termed draconian because of the powers it gives to our Armed Forces (Kill anyone, arrest anyone etc) in areas where it is implemented.

The 1958 Act begins by saying “Violence became the way of life in north-eastern States of India”. 

The Act was supposed to be implemented in 2 states. And then the successive Congress governments have increased the scope of this act to all 7 states in the North-East, and then Punjab and then Jammu & Kashmir! Instead of taking the Congress governments to task for worsening law & order, our English media made it sound like we have no other option. Until 2014.

The Narendra Modi government showed unparalleled focus in bringing peace to the North East. A gradual withdrawal of this Act was facilitated with some real hard work behind the scenes to improve the situation in the North East. The net result is that today, only a handful of districts in the entire 7 states still have the AFSPA. Meghalaya and Tripura are completely out of AFSPA.

Many of us grew up reading about the dreaded ULFA from Assam. ULFA was responsible for many deadly militant attacks. It was only in the year 2023 that a final peace settlement was reached. Today, the North East has become a beacon of development. The peace and infrastructure development over the past 10 years has opened up hitherto unknown prosperous opportunities for the people of this region. Violence is no more the “way of life in North-Eastern States of India”. Is it therefore any wonder that the North East will overwhelming press the Lotus button on the EVM?

A term “Red Corridor” was coined to highlight the massive influence the violent Naxalite movement was having in our country. Nearly 180 districts in 10 states were part of this “red corridor”. The dreaded Naxal problem was born because of the Congress rule. The dreaded Naxal problem peaked during the Congress rule. In 2006, Manmohan Singh termed the Naxal problem as the “single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country”.

In addition to the violent attacks on our police forces and fellow citizens, Naxal idealogues also occupied prime space in our print and TV media, making us believe that this violence is totally justified. Despite calling it as the most serious security problem, UPA really didn’t do anything to solve it. Just in the year 2010, we lost 1005 police + civilian people lost their lives . Contrast that to the 98 lives lost in the year 2022 and ask for yourselves, if our country is now a safer place to live or not!

 

We still haven’t forgotten those miserable UPA years when many cities used to get attacked by terrorists. From 2004 to 2014, almost every state of India was attacked by terrorists and nearly 1200 of innocent civilians of our country lost their lives in Ayodhya, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Pune, Malegaon, Dimapur, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal, Srinagar, Patna and more.

Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the number of terrorist attacks outside of the problematic areas of Jammu & Kashmir was near 0. The number of civilian deaths are perhaps in the single digits. During the UPA days, we were made to believe that terror attacks will happen despite good security and the people of this country should just accept this as a way of life. The then Home Minister P. Chidambaram even told us something to the effect that “terrorists only have to succeed once. Police have to succeed always”. In a total reversal of the situation, Narendra Modi government’s exemplary focus on intelligence gathering and prevention of attacks certainly saved 100s of lives in India.

Law and Order is perhaps the most difficult ministry of all. Despite such great focus, we still had to witness Naxal attacks on our police force, unrest in Manipur and violence in J&K. The abrogation of Article 370 has certainly made Kashmir a safer place than before. If statistics are of any indication, then it is clear that it is only the Narendra Modi government that will make this a much safer place in the years to come.

India’s 3 biggest problems – terrorism, insurgency and naxalism – have all seen great decline in just the 10 years of Narendra Modi government. It’s also not just about working on the three biggest problems. A robust approach on areas such as drugs for example - A record 72,00,000 kgs of drugs were destroyed by this government! Is it therefore any wonder that citizens who feel much safer now, will overwhelmingly press the Lotus button on the EVM?

Our movies made IPC section 302 and IPC section 420 very popular. While many movie goers would have been aware that IPC stands for Indian Penal Code, they would not have been aware that IPC was first enacted in the year 1860! That’s right -  up until the year 2023, we just used the law that was drafted 163 years back! Yes ofcourse it was amended from time to time, but the basic structure remained outdated; many laws in the code became obsolete and modern times demanded a modern law in tune with not just the times but with our country too!

In the year 2023, the Narendra Modi government replaced the IPC(1860), with a new act – the Bharitya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. The government also replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872 (!) with the Bharitya Sakshya Adhiniyam and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 1974 (first enacted in 1898!) with the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023!

Many articles have been written about how many outdated provisions were removed and many new crimes got added to the law. The removal of sedition; the de-criminalising of gay sex; the introduction of many safety provisions for women in particular; the abolition of Triple Talaq; the defining of new crimes – these and many more law-making reforms should infact satisfy the woke crowd too!

From law-making to ensuring great peace, the Narendra Modi government has certainly made India a safer place compared to above. Is it therefore any wonder that crores of citizens will press the button on lotus on the EVM, come election day?

 

This is the 6th article in the series Decoding How PM Modi hacks EVMs (an allegation the opposition often throws at him). Part-1 speaks about the focus on small-scale entrepreneurs; Part-2 speaks about the revolutions in the labour/employment sector; Part-3 speaks about the focus on both prevention and cure in health; Part-4 speaks about how the lives of women were made better at home, school and work. Part-5 speaks about the Focus on financial systems, along with Big Bang Reforms and simultaneous benefits to middle-class, economically weaker sections.