A tragic hero called Parrikar
In days when emotions run high and melodrama defines politics, the country has lost a very astute gentleman and a simple leader for a politician. Parrikar was known for his simplicity and uncomplicated personality in political circles. At a time when educational qualification is not a must as far as becoming leaders in BJP is concerned, Parrikar had this rare credit of being the first IIT graduate to become a chief minister of a state.
Though he had RSS background, he never resorted to communally instigating speeches when addressing people. He was aware of the fact that he cannot run a state like Goa that is hugely dependent on tourism based on staunch Hindutva propagandist. Which is why he never gave emotional speeches on beef consumption.
He could manage his administration without banning beef while BJP did politics around beef in all other states. He knew that banning beef would have counter effects on Goa tourism and livelihoods. Parrikar was the main reason behind BJP retaining its identity in Goa. He turned into a national leader with Goa as his base. But his plans to become a national leader didn't bear fruit. Having made Modi's showmanship and loud rhetorics as it's hallmark, this country claimed the life of a simple leader such as Parrikar finally.
When he returned to Goa after a stint in national politics, the stains of allegations of misdoings of Modi's decisions were stuck to him permanently. He finally left the world with those blots on him. A man with clean record without any charges of corruption, he had to carry the blame of Rafael owing to Modi and his friend Anil Ambani on his shoulders. This bothered him a lot and that caused him to shun national politics as defence minister and return to Goa for good.
He could not manage the post of defence minister despite being a statesman . He carried the blame of wrong decisions of Modi Government regarding China and Kashmir. Terrorism increased and our soldiers were attacked repeatedly during his term as defence minister. China started border problems around the same time. Terrorists launched a gruesome attacked on our soldiers in Uri during those days. Parrikar also had to carry the blame of surgical strikes being used for politics for the first time. Army conducts operations often by crossing the border sometimes, and no country will declare it openly to admit it.
Indian army has done this in the past. But this is internal to the army and not related to politics of the country. Army keeps it a secret because it compromises India's position in international arena. But having been humiliated by the terrorist attack in Uri, the government held a press conference addressed by the army officers themselves. This was a shocking interference of politics into country's army. Parrikar went even a step further and attributed the credit of this attack to RSS. He failed to explain the link between Indian army and RSS. The biggest charge of having used the army for politics followed him to the end of his life.
Whether terrorists had died in surgical strike or not, the terrorist attack repeated in Kashmir a little while later. Kashmir began to burn. At the same time, Anil Ambani's illegal involvement in Rafael came to the forefront. Parrikar failed to take the pressure exerted by the situation. Around this time, Congress got highest number of seats in Goa. Having been thinking of leaving the central ministry Parrikar used this as a pretext and returned to Goa. He managed to become the CM of Goa again without allowing Cong to form the government. It raised a question about his commitment to the country at a time when he returned to Goa when the situation in the border was getting complicated with every passing day.
The defence portfolio remained vacant for a long time after he left. One does not know whether he had any direct role to play in Rafale deal, but he possessed a whole lot of inside information about this. He could have spoken the truth considering country's welfare during his last days. But he proved that RSS and BJP were bigger than the country. His decision to stay put in the chair of CM even when cancer had advanced inside his body was massively criticised. Goa government functioned from the ICU mostly. Opposition leaders said Parrikar staying put to his chair has something to do with Rafael. Parrikar is a classic case of how politics can consume a good person even before cancer can. A simple statesman is lost now.
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'Anti-poor' Modi govt bent on 'oppressing' MGNREGA workers: Mallikarjun Kharge
New Delhi (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday alleged that the "anti-poor" Modi government is bent on "oppressing" MGNREGA workers and reiterated the party's demands that their minimum wage per day be fixed at Rs 400 and that they be provided at least 150 days of work in a year.
Kharge shared on X a media report which claimed that the government is unlikely to raise the daily floor wage under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) substantially, on top of the usual annual hike, despite recommendations by two panels.
"It seems that the anti-people Modi government has refused to increase MGNREGA wages. This is like attacking the rights of MGNREGA workers," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
He pointed out that recently, the Joint Parliamentary Committee had recommended increasing the daily wage of MGNREGA workers to Rs 400 per day.
"Amarjeet Sinha's High Level Committee formed in 2023 had also suggested increasing wages and increasing the budget of MGNREGA. But the anti-poor Modi government is bent on oppressing MGNREGA workers," the Congress chief said.
Be it excluding nearly seven crore registered workers from MGNREGA by imposing the condition of Aadhaar-based payment, or allocating the lowest MGNREGA budget in the last 10 years as compared to the total budget, the Modi government has been negatively impacting MGNREGA, he said.
"MGNREGA - Employment guarantee scheme was brought by the Congress Party for the poorest families of our country. We are firm on our two demands — Minimum wage of Rs 400 per day should be fixed for MGNREGA workers and at least 150 days of work in a year be provided to them," Kharge said.
