Rahul Gandhi was touted to ‘spearhead’ the Congress attack during the budget session but this is what we got instead

 

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

On February 6th, Rahul Gandhi tweeted a table with weird statistics (You may wonder what’s new!). Stating that “Cowardice runs deep in GOI”, he attached the following image.

It is natural for you to wonder why India’s budget speech would have a mention of China. However, by now we are used to such juvenile interpretations from the former and future President of the mighty Indian National Congress. There are other not-so-juvenile and baffling conclusions to be drawn from that table.

Here is a pdf link to the 2021 Budget speech. You can open it and search (Ctrl+F) for the word “Corporates”. A net total of 0 results turn up. Zero. The word “corporate” comes up 17 times though – 7 times as part of the word “incorporate”! Search for “Companies” – 15 results come up. Given Rahul Gandhi’s penchant for Ambani and Adani, you would think he is referring to them. The speech talks about Insurance companies, Power distribution companies, Companies Act, Public sector companies etc!

Is it Rahul Gandhi’s contention that India’s Budget speech should not talk about companies at all? Let’s leave the logical questions aside for a while. Don’t you feel sorry as to how the former and future President of the might Congress party does not have a team that can even get basic searches right in an electronic document?

His obsession with Prime Minister Modi is scary. Budgets presented during UPA time also had the “word” “Prime Minister” in the them. Budget speeches, even from the 1950s always referred to the Prime Minister. He/she is the captain of the ship, so why would the “word” Prime Minister not be used in the budget speech Rahul Gandhi?!

His reference to the absence of the word “defence” in the speech is further embarrassing. The annexure documents clearly mention the allocations to the defence sector. In another tweet on Feb 1st, immediately after the budget, he asked the Prime Minister “Why hasn’t he increased the Defence Budget for them?”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given an awesome reply highlighting the increases in the budget of the Defence ministry over the years. Defense minister Rajnath Singh had already tweeted about the “highest ever increase in capital outlay”.

The Budget document, available to all MPs, clearly shows the increase in defence allocations and spending (Page 47, “Allocations for Major Ministries/Departments” here). Why doesn’t the former and future President of the might Congress party read before writing such juvenile stuff? In addition, I cannot help but wonder how does he feel when he sees the increase in budget of pensions from 40,000 crores in 2013 to nearly 1 lakh crores in 2020?

Another tweet reads “Forget putting cash in the hands of people…”. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned about nearly 1.15 lakh crore rupees has been transferred to nearly 10 crore families of farmers in the country in the past 3 years! In her reply, she also mentions about how MNREGS will be spending nearly 1.1 lakh crore in this year alone. Lakhs of crores directly being transferred to people actually amounts to “putting cash in the hands of people” but how does this simple logic elude the former and future President of the mighty Congress party?

Let’s move away from his tweets and move on to this participation in the Budget debate. The build-up to his participation was unreal. “Rahul Gandhi to spearhead Congress’ attack during Budget debate in Lok Sabha”, we were told.

We were told so by Financial Express,  Business World, NDTV (ofcourse!), Times Now etc. Now, you would assume that Rahul Gandhi will have notes ready from the Budget document. You would assume that Rahul Gandhi will hold the Budget document in his hands, sift through various sections and make specific points. Because that’s what 76 of the remaining MPs who spoke on the budget did.

Defying all expectations, Rahul Gandhi refused to speak about the Budget. He pointedly said that he is protesting the farm laws and therefore he will not speak about the Budget but speak about the farm laws. There was a nearly ~15-hour debate on the Farm laws just 2-3 days back in the Lok Sabha.

The Lok Sabha sat till midnight to debate the same. Rahul Gandhi was absent during this time. And because he thinks he is the King of the universe; he chose to speak about Farm laws during a debate on the Budget!

MPs vie for an opportunity to speak about the Budget and put forth their specific points. Instead of resorting to such a colossal waste of time, Rahul Gandhi should have given opportunity to any one of the other 50 MPs from his party to speak some sense instead of the juvenile blabber he did. How can the former and future President of the mighty Congress party end up wasting such precious legislative time of the Lok Sabha?

However, none of these are as disturbing as the fact that the leaders of Congress party took strong objection to Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman taking Rahul Gandhi’s name in his absence (56:22 to 56:56 here). This astonishing sense of princely entitlement is simply baffling.

It is common practice for ministers to take members names to clarify on points raised during debates, whether they are present in the house or not. What special privilege does the former and future President of the Congress party have, that his name should not be taken when he isn’t present in the house?

Rahul Gandhi’s impatience in sitting through the budget speech, intolerance towards hearing the opposing argument, and impairment to comprehend basic documents is now beyond embarrassing. One can understand Congress party placing some faith in him pre-2019. Why the mighty Congress party wants to stick with him is beyond any reasoning now.

Nirmala Sitharaman’s underappreciated legendary endeavors in Indian economy’s rebound in a Pandemic Year

 

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

In a country as vast and diverse as ours, even on a sunny day, it is not easy being the Finance minister. Perhaps the toughest job after the Prime Minister of India is being the Finance minister of India. Every Finance minister of India therefore deserves a special place in India’s history (including P. Chidambaram!).

People often term the years 1990-1991 as the most challenging year for India’s finances. The 1991 budget is often referred to as the budget that changed the course of India. Be that as it may, I am now of the strong belief that the worst year so far for India’s economy has been the year 2020. A full lockdown for nearly a month, followed by a partial lifting of the lockdown over the course of the next 3-5 months only meant that the economy will dip to levels not seen before. Revenue of course will come down but more importantly the sentiment that guides the economy also takes a big hit.

Imagine being the Finance minister of the country in times like this! Imagine the pressure she has been subjected to, day in and day out, to announce something or the other to “revive” the economy. Imagine the ridicule she had to put up with (“India’s worst Finance minister” screamed even the supporters, after the 2020 budget). Imagine people slicing and dicing your speeches and twisting them out of context (Remember the twisting of the “I don’t eat onion” comment?). Imagine being constantly accused and heckled that the country is in doldrums because of you. Imagine being Nirmala Sitharaman in times like this!

People like Rahul Gandhi wanted the country to burn. The English media waited for food riots to break out in the country because of the lockdown. The media pounced on any report from anywhere in the world that predicted a long recovery for India and any Tom, Dick and Harry who forecasted low growth numbers for many years to come was given prime time space to amplify those views.

Come 2021, India had rebounded and how! These same analysts are baffled as to how we rebounded so well. For you to get an answer to that question, you must listen to Finance minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman’s reply to the 2021 budget (in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha). While some statistics will blow your mind, it is the attitude of the government that needs to be discussed here.

From ~30 min in the video here, Nirmala Sitharaman explains how they had instructed banks to either call or SMS and keep in touch with every single MSME entrepreneur and inform them that they are more than welcome to take a security free loan to start reviving their unit (pay pending bills, pay salaries, buy/repair equipment). And when feedback came that there is confusion if such an offer is only for MSME’s, clarifications were issued that this scheme was not just for MSME’s but even for other small businesses. The option to reject the loan was given to the customer and not to the bank. A new PM SVANIDHI scheme was announced for street vendors and nearly 50 lakhs of them availed this scheme.

While replying on MNREGA, Nirmala Sitharaman revealed some very interesting statistics. She told us how the UPA government didn’t even spend what was allotted to the scheme in the years that they were in power (Watch from ~26th minute here, for some astounding truths). Of course, Sonia Gandhi was never questioned about this low utilization. She was only deified for bringing in such a scheme in the first place. Most importantly, Nirmala Sitharaman explained, at ~29th minute here, how the spending on this scheme for this pandemic year is at an all time high of ~1 lakh crore! On MyInd Makers, we had earlier analysed how Sonia Gandhi (Congress) and Brinda Karat (Communist) were in full praise of the MNREGA version being implemented by this government.

Another extremely important argument that Nirmala Sitharaman made was how the entire Atmanirbhar package was designed to tailor the needs of the Indian who needs it. It was not a copy-paste effort of other countries. It was not announced as a knee-jerk reaction to grab meaningless headlines. A total of INR 29 lakh crore worth of package was announced during the course of the year (notice how she also clarifies, at ~47th minute here, on a member’s question on whether the number is 27 lakh crore or 29 lakh crore). She explains how feedback was gathered right from the level of the Prime Minister and then tailored to meet the needs of Indians. She explained how changes were made when certain shortcomings were bought to their notice.

So, it turned out that the Finance Ministry of the Modi government ensured unprecedented availability of funds to provide rural employment to a tune never seen before; provided the best possible structural support for revival of MSMEs and street vendors; ensured that direct cash transfers continue to happen for farmers – and we have to witness the spectacle of alleged experts wondering how come the Indian economy is reviving so fast! If we have such a dynamic leadership, why would we not rebound like how we did? Who would not like to have leadership that looks for avenues to ease the lives of Indians like this?

India’s revival is a revival that has been engineered by the joint stupendous efforts of both the government of India and citizens of India. The role of the Finance Ministry and the leadership of Nirmala Sitharaman during the year 2020 will go down into the history books as legendary. I reiterate – 2020 was the toughest year Indian economy faced, even worse than 1991. We are indeed lucky to have Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman be at the helm in these challenging times. “India’s worst finance minister” may actually end up becoming India’s best Finance minister. Without exaggeration!

What’s cooking between AP CM and the State Election Commissioner?

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

At the beginning of March 2020, the state of Andhra Pradesh was gearing up to have the elections for rural local bodies. The State Election Commission announced dates starting from March 21 for polls to MPTC, ZPTC, gram panchayats etc. By mid-March, opposition parties were beginning to demand that these elections be put on hold because of the onset of COVID. The ruling party folks took strong exception to this demand and wanted the polls to be held at any cost.

The State Election Commissioner (SEC), Mr. Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, decided to postpone the polls keeping in mind the onset of COVIID. This was before there was even talk of a lockdown or Janata Curfew. The ruling party folks went verbally berserk. They questioned the intention of the SEC in siding with Chandrababu Naidu. They bought in the caste angle of the SEC and attributed his decision to him being from the same caste as Chandrababu Naidu. They said COVID doesn’t exist and therefore this move by SEC is nothing but political in nature.

While these verbal attacks were happening, the lockdown was announced. This put a full stop to all plans surrounding these elections. But this did not put a full stop to the machinations of the Chief Minister, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy. In April 2020, he brought in a Government Order that changed the term of the SEC, through which he was able to replace N. Ramesh Kumar with an SEC of his choice. Both the High Court and the Supreme Court intervened and reinstated Mr. Ramesh Kumar in July 2020, in what was a major blow to the Chief Minister.

With the number of COVID cases decreasing and also elections being held to state assemblies, the State Election Commissioner got ready to conduct the Gram Panchayat elections. He started seeking opinions of various parties in October 2020. The ruling party’s verbal attackers were activated again. The same people who argued that COVID is not a big deal in March went on and on about how COVID hasn’t subsided fully and the elections must be postponed.

January 2021 has been an eventful month. Sensing that this logic was not flying through, they came up with the logic that the government has to focus its energies on vaccine deployment and therefore cannot help in conduct of the polls. With the SEC being adamant, the employees then came out and said that they are not ready to participate in this exercise until they all get vaccinated. Employee unions started drafting and releasing statements against the SEC, Mr. N. Ramesh Kumar too! With employee unions refusing to participate and the SEC releasing the notification for the polls, the matter went to the High Court.

The Chief Minister received two major setbacks in the courts. First, the High Court ruled in favour of the SEC. The state government immediately filed a case in SC and till SC heard the case, everyone starting from the Chief Secretary and the DGP to the VRO refused to participate in any meeting the SEC conducted. In yet another slap to the Chief Minister, the Supreme Court also ruled in favour of the SEC.

It is routine for our Delhi based English media to cover every small skirmish Arvind Kejriwal has. It is routine for our South based English media to hype every small statement that can bolster “Kerala model”. Therefore, it is but natural that they did not want to cover the constitutional crisis brewing up in AP in the past one month. The crisis was precipitating only because the egotistical Chief Minister did not want the SEC to gain an upper hand. In hindsight, there was no way the polls would have been conducted in the third and fourth weeks of March 2020. The irresponsible and reckless statements of ministers in March 2020 haven’t yet been forgotten by the people of the state.

Is Jagan Reddy’s ego so much more important than winning the elections? Clearly, he is well poised to win majority seats in this election so what exactly is this noise about? Shouldn’t our media be more robust in questioning these undemocratic actions of an elected Chief Minister? Shouldn’t his arrogance and contempt towards a person holding the post of SEC be called out? Shouldn’t multiple judgments by the High Court and Supreme Court not instill a sense of responsibility in him? Is Jagan Mohan Reddy getting blindsided by the massive mandate he has received?

All these questions would have been debated if such a thing happened in a BJP ruled state. Or if Arvind Kejriwal did the same thing. Sadly, the machinations of the Chief Minsiter of AP haven’t received the due coverage they deserve.

KTR's Coronation on Cards in Telangana?

 

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

Ever since KCR appointed his son KTR as the working president of the party in 2018, rumours were strong that it is just a matter of time before KTR becomes the Chief Minister too. KCR began speaking about a Federal Front before the 2019 elections and was envisioning a national role for himself. As is his wont, he made strong statements against the BJP and the Congress at that time. Many people viewed his utterances and desire for a larger national role as the stage setting for making his son the CM.

The mandate of the people in 2019 though bought all these plans to a grinding halt. KCR had to refocus on Telangana and the governance here. The rumour mills were again abuzz a few months after the 2019 elections. They were so strong then that KCR himself had to clarify in the Assembly that he will remain the Chief Minister and has no plans to make KTR the CM!

An unprecedented crisis in the form of COVID then attacked the country, so every other thing was put on the side burner. The exclusive focus was on combating this crisis. As the crisis went on month after month, KCR became less visible and KTR more. Infact, KTR even conducted the cabinet meeting one day (Apparently, that meeting went on for 8 hours!). When criticism was mounting, KTR had to clarify that this meeting was conducted by him because all topics up for discussion were coming under the ambit of the ministerial portfolios he holds (He is IT, Municipal Administration, Urban Development and Industries minister – that’s a pretty rich profile!)

When BJP won the Dubbaka by-poll, the reason for TRS loss was sought to be pinned onto Harish Rao (Finance Minister, nephew of KCR and a very powerful TRS leader). Rumour mills again began circulating that KTR would be made CM after TRS wins the GHMC polls - KTR was in charge of these polls and a victory here meant he is better than Harish Rao! KTR was asked this question in the runup to the polls and he emphatically replied that there is no plan to replace KCR as the Chief Minister. The mandate of the people again put a stop to the rumour mills because TRS suffered a significant defeat in the GHMC elections.

But this time, the rumour mills were silent only for a few days. And when they became active again, certain sections were even getting bored of the same thing surfacing again and again. However, this time the rumours were circulated by senior ministers of the government. We were told that KTR would be made CM and the party would have two working Presidents – Harish Rao and Eetala Rajender (current Health minister, floor leader of TRS from 2004 to 2014, Finance minister from 2014 to 2018) so that all sections of the party are happy with the new responsibilities.

Senior minister after senior minister kept leaking this information to various media outlets. As of today, we even have dates being circulated – this change can happen as soon as February it seems! Taking up the cue, party leaders have even started introducing KTR as future CM, in various programs that he is Chief Guest of! And this time KTR isn’t even trying to squash these rumours. Neither has he made attempts to tell his leaders not to introduce him as the future CM!

All this also begs the question – what would KCR do? As of now, no one knows! Maybe his health isn’t permitting to bear the stress and burden of this post. Maybe he actually will start talking to other state parties and try to build a Federal Front. Or maybe he will just retire!

KTR as CM would definitely not have the same standing that his father has. Failures at recent electoral outings (after he became Working President of the party) would definitely be seen as him not yet having a complete grip. Harish Rao’s seniority and also a mass base within the party would definitely be a problem that KTR will continue to face, if more electoral setbacks happen under KTR’s leadership.

We now have to wait for the day these rumours become the reality, because with senior ministers now joining the bandwagon, this event doesn’t look unlikely anymore. It’s just a matter of time indeed!

When media advisor to former PM Dr Manmohan Singh expresses disdain for ‘strong leadership’ in a democracy

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

“Time to resurrect a popular front”, thundered the headline in The Hindu’s Op-Ed page. The author Harish Khare is no ordinary “senior journalist” as the article claims. He was once the media advisor to the Prime Minister of India when Dr. Manmohan Singh was holding that post. Which means that he was in a position of considerable power to shape the discourse of the country. So, when such a once powerful person writes that something needs to be “resurrected”, you would imagine that it existed before.  

Harish Khare’s definition of “popular front” is “command the majority of popular vote”.  In his infinite wisdom, he reminds us of the oft-repeated, beaten-to-death argument - “the NDA, as per the 2019 results, still does not command the majority of popular vote; its combined vote share was nearly 45%, of which the BJP’s contribution was 37.4%;”

Now, you would think that this is an amazing argument and that it indeed time to “resurrect” a “popular front” that existed before. Instead of belabouring this point further, let’s simply take a look at the table below to know how many seats a pre-poll arrangement of parties won in each election and their voting percentages.

Gosh, it turns out that India never had a “popular front”. Not a single leader ever won more than 50% votes in any election in India since 1952. Leave voting percentages, did you notice how Sonia Gandhi did not even win the requisite 272 seats, both in 2004 and 2009? Did we ever see articles and seminars and debates and discussions around the voting percentages when Sonia Gandhi was in power from 2004 to 2014? Did Harish Khare ever reflect as to why he agreed to work under a Prime Minister, who didn’t even contest elections, leave alone getting a “popular vote”?

So, what does Harish Khare propose to “resurrect” something that never existed in the first place? In his own lofty words – “restoring a balance between the Centre and the States — the Centre has made a mockery of the federal spirit and arrangement;”

Now, if you are using strong words like “mockery”, readers would expect that you give some serious examples to prove your point. Harish Khare gives exactly zero examples. You are now left wondering – is it because of the fact that there are no examples to give? For example, why is it a mockery if each one of the 43 GST Council meetings, members of which belong to many political parties, have ended up taking significant decisions unanimously? For example, why is it a mockery if the Prime Minister invites the Karnataka Chief Minister (who is from the Congress and has declined the invitation) to accompany him on a foreign tour so that he can attract more investments? For example, why is it a mockery if the darling of the English media and the famed Kerala Chief Minister from the Communist party acknowledges the tremendous help received from the central government for the devastating Kerala floods? Why is it a mockery when Captain Amarinder Singh says– “I have no problems. I am getting full co-operation” and even cites examples to bolster his statement?

The lofty arguments continue with us now being told that there is a need of “restoring a sense of partnership and participation to the minorities—it is entirely unhealthy that a ruling party of 303 MPs cannot boast of a single Muslim member”

I never understand this argument. Has there ever been a single instance in the past 70 years when Muslims MPs, cutting across party lines, have formed a lobby group and got something specifically done for the welfare of Muslims? The answer is an emphatic NO. So, if the Muslims MPs themselves are divided by their party lines, what is this obsession with a meaningless symbolism? Why don’t the likes of Harish Khare question about the other minorities too? For example, how many Christian MPs? How many Jain MPs? There will never be an end to this argument. Or better yet, has Harish Khare been able to cite a single instance of minorities losing a “sense of partnership and participation”? Why couldn’t Harsh Khare cite some examples of blatant discrimination in policies by the Modi government? Lazy to do research or because those examples don’t exist?

Harish Khare goes on to talk about “restoring the constitutional institutions to their original vitality”, meaning that institutions should listen to what their ilk says and not act independently. So, how and who does Harish Khare propose to be part of a “popular front” that will restore “a semblance to sensitivity and civility to our political life”?

According to his infinite wisdom, the “popular front” should “also accommodate and tame an Asaduddin Owaisi”. The choice of words is an example of the haughty arrogance these people proudly possess! Harish Khare actually wants to “tame” Owaisi? Has he really not heard and seen Owaisi? And who does he think can “tame” Owaisi? Naveen Patnaik and Nitish Kumar!

The only thing Harish Khare is clear in his entire article is that the Congress is worthless and should not be anywhere close to this “popular front”. Otherwise the entire article is simply another attempt to showcase the English language skills of Harish Khare without providing a single example to make his point. Harish Khare’s disdain for democracy is very evident in his concluding paragraph – “Too much of strong leadership has robbed India of its democratic exuberance and constitutional dynamism.” Ours is perhaps the only place in the world where having a “strong leadership” is seen as a disadvantage and where the English media yearns for the return of a weak leadership that can “tame” Owaisi (am still LOL’ing!).

The sooner Harish Khare realises that lofty rhetoric is not a substitute for ground realities, the better understanding he will have as to why Prime Minister Modi is so popular in the country. He has won the mandate of the people a whopping 5 times in the past 18 years. He must have done something right for that to happen, no?

KCRs 3 U-Turns in one week

 

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

The Telangana CM, KCR seems to have taken the electoral reverses he has suffered very seriously. Over the course of this week, he has done multiple U-turns that is currently baffling the crores of people in the state!

The first big U-turn was on Sunday, December 27th.

In a series of tweets released by the Telangana CM’s office, we were told that the government is “not a business entity”. It is “not government’s responsibility to buy and sell”. The tweet thread also told us that the government has incurred a total loss of nearly INR 7500 crores because the government purchased crops at MSP and sold at lower rates. And then we are told that the farmer now has the freedom to sell anywhere he/she wants! We are told that the new central government laws have anyway enabled this option and therefore there is no point in the government continuing to go to their homes and purchasing the same.

KCR and his party leaders have used very acerbic language to describe the new farm laws. KCR supported the alleged Bharat Bandh on December 8th and had his entire cadre participate in the bandh to disrupt normal life of the people. It was important to note that no farmers took part in those protests! Today, farmers are questioning him as to why he so vehemently opposed the laws; why he was so adamant on what crops should be cultivated by them and has now made this big U-turn. We are yet to hear from the CM himself on why his thought process has changed now.

The second big U-turn was on Monday, December 28th.

KCR bought in a very controversial Land Regularization Scheme (LRS) in September. He has also stopped registrations across the entire state of any non-agricultural property for more than three months. He ignored the criticism from many citizens who simply couldn’t register any property despite having all proper documentation. The state government garnered tens of crores of money just from the application fee of Rs.1000/- for the LRS.

On Monday, KCR’s government announced that registrations of “re-sale” plots is now allowed without having to wait for the outcome of the LRS. This basically means that previously registered land plots can now be sold and registered without any further delay. This helped clear a major confusion in the minds of lakhs of people, simply because many were questioning why the government should register the properties in the first place if those properties didn’t have requisite permission!

The second big U-Turn has bought a big relief to the lakhs of citizens across the state. Coupled with the High Court direction to resume registrations for the other non-agricultural properties, the uncertainty that KCR subjected the people for 3 months is finally gone. The LRS still hasn’t been finalized for new plots of non-agricultural lands though.

The third big U-turn was on Wednesday, December 30th.

KCR was very vehement in his criticism of the Ayushman Bharat program. He called it very inferior to the Arogyasree program that was already being implemented in the state. In his characteristic style, he used acerbic language to deride the program and asked anyone with guts to come to a debate with his minister at a local chourasta! Nearly two years after deriding the program, his government announced yesterday that they will now participate in the Ayushman Bharat program too!

Why these U-Turns?

Immediately after the loss in the GHMC elections, KCR scheduled a visit to Delhi and met the Prime Minister and many other Union ministers. There is a section of analysts who believe that some of these U-turns are a result of those interactions.

Another section of analysts believes that KCR has understood from the recent electoral reverses that some of his policies are hurting people more than benefitting them. The resentment in public was very strong for the hardships they had to undergo for reasons not known to them. Therefore, all these U-turns are seen as an attempt to course correct the mistakes of the past.

There is another section that is wondering whether KCR will dilute some of the centre’s provisions and then pin the blame on the BJP for any hardships people will face. For example, he has announced that he will remove procurement centres from the villages and farmers will now have to go to the APMCs with their produce. This section of analysts is wondering if KCR will tinker with purchasing at MSP and then pin the blame on the BJP.

Whatever the reasons are and however acerbic the criticism of these schemes by KCR was in the past, these U-turns are indeed very welcome and are of immense benefit to the citizens of the state. These will of course cause some strong political debates and perhaps churning also to take place. With these course corrections, KCR will now seek to get back the support of the people. The BJP will claim credit for these U-turns. In case you are wondering how the Congress will react, don’t bother! They are still debating whom to select as it’s state President after the current incumbent resigned after the GHMC elections.

KCR’s Mega U-turn on Farm Laws

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

The new farm laws are equivalent to honey coated knife, thundered Telangana CM KCR. “Farmers, not terrorists” roared his son KTR during the Bharat Bandh protests in which no farmers but only the TRS cadre enthusiastically participated. What was the link to terrorists and farmers is a mystery that only KTR can solve!

Infact in October, KCR was adamant that the new farm laws should not be implemented and even announced that his government will go to the doorstep of the farmer and buy the produce directly from them. KCR’s usage of acerbic language such as “honey coated swords” didn’t find many takers from the farming segment. It did find many takers in the pliant media though!

Now, in December 2020, three months after resorting to acerbic criticism and the charade of Bharat Bandh, KCR did a mega U-Turn! Infact, many are sarcastically commenting that this U-turn is bigger than all the U-turns that exists on the roads of Telangana! In a series of tweets released yesterday by the Telangana CM’s office, we are now told that the government is “not a business entity”. It is “not government’s responsibility to buy and sell”. Keeping the hardship of COVID in mind, the government had decided to setup collection centers in the villages itself but this isn’t a viable option going forward.

The tweet thread also told us that the government has incurred a total loss of nearly INR 7500 crores because the government purchased crops at MSP and sold at lower rates. And then we are told that the farmer now has the freedom to sell anywhere he/she wants! We are told that the new central government laws have anyway enabled this option and therefore there is no point in the government continuing to go to their homes and purchasing the same.

KCR also runs a scheme called “Rythu Bandhu” – a scheme that transfers “INR 4,000/- per acre per farmer each season for purchase of inputs”. That totals to 8000 per year per acre per farmer. For this season, KCR was insistent that this scheme will be applicable to only those farmers who produce the crops that the government tells them to produce! This led to a massive uproar in the state but KCR didn’t budge at that point of time.

In yesterday’s tweet thread, we were also told that the government will now not tell the farmers what crop to produce in order to get benefits. The farmers now have the freedom to produce what they wish to and sell them to whomsoever they wish to! And this is the essence of the 3 farm bills that the Narendra Modi government is already implementing since June. KCR’s acerbic and meaningless outbursts only led to him agreeing that the new farm laws are the way forward for the farming community.

The tweet thread also suggested guidelines to the farmers to streamline how they sell their produce. Various committees at various levels will help achieve this streamlining process. While the BJP will of course see this as a political victory for them, the end goal of having farmers benefit from this choice has been achieved in Telangana.

Every single critic of the farm laws out there has at one point of time or the other suggested the exact reforms that the Modi government has now dared to implement. That the protests are limited to farmers from Punjab and are not prevalent anywhere else in the country is testimony to the basic character of these laws. It looks like the Modi government has scored yet another winner through these farm laws.