One year of Modi Government 2.0 : A Betrayal of Development
‘Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikas, Sab ka Vishwas.’ The Narendra Modi government which rode to power for the second term with these three slogans has completed one year in office. Looking back on the year gone by, these slogans seem to have been thrown to the wind with the country now standing steeply divided on economic lines and the government’s focus nowhere on the development agenda. The ‘Sab ka Vikas’ development juggernaut has simply trampled and run over the lives of migrant laborers. Minorities and Dalits are stunned at the betrayal of this government as the Modi government has dumped its ‘Sab ka Vishwas’ agenda.
The discordance between the Centre and the States has grown huge. Hopes and aspirations that Modi would use his second term in office to take the country on the path of development now seem a pipe dream. ‘Coronavirus’ seems to be the only weapon before the Modi government to retain any form of self-respect. The government has already dropped enough hints that it is going to use Corona crisis as a shield to explain its multiple failures
During his first term in office, people suffered because of his controversial decision to demonetize high-value currencies. The Prime Minister had then openly declared that a few officials had misled him and had also expressed helplessness that a five-year term was not adequate to put the country back on the rails of development. In this background, the people were hopeful that the second term would be used to put the country firmly on the path of development.
With the first five years’ experience to back, he was also expected to show more political maturity. His promise of achieving development by taking everybody into confidence further fueled the expectations of people. But the past year has seen only the betrayal of that promise.
Within a few months of coming to power for the second term, Modi slowly took a back seat while his trusted lieutenant and Home Minister Amit Shah was seen setting the agenda in which ‘development’ was abandoned. Instead, emotional issues such as Kashmir, Ram Mandir, National Register of Citizenship (NRC) that are against the spirit of ‘Sab Ka Saath’ were given priority. Realizing that people were quickly losing confidence in this four-month new government and the country staring at a severe economic crisis, the government chose to play up these emotionally charged issues to divert the people’s attention and make sure that they don’t see its failures.
The government’s unilateral decision over Kashmir has created a situation that is difficult to comprehend. The government claims that it has now fully integrated Kashmir into the Indian Union by withdrawing the special status of the State but the people’s representatives of Kashmir are still under house arrest and the state still witnessing a huge presence of the army. If the government’s claim that it is now closer to the people of Kashmir than ever before is true, then why is Kashmir still under siege? Why are the Opposition leaders not able to roam around freely in Kashmir? The country is in lockdown due to Corona over the last few months but Kashmir has been locked down for the last eight months with people’s lives in jeopardy.
The government ignored the sentiments of the people of Kashmir and showed that it is only interested in the land of Kashmir. This hasty decision of the government has not only impacted our country adversely but also our neighboring countries. China is flagging the embers by inciting Nepal. Pakistan is also trying to use this opportunity arising in Kashmir in its favor. We then have to question the government’s decision on Kashmir that was taken when the country was facing its worse ever economic crisis. Kashmir has fallen silent with absolutely no activity in the tourism sector, its mainstay. The state finds itself within layers and layers of confinement, first with the army and now with the Coronavirus. The Modi government might claim that it has taken over Kashmir but it’s important for Kashmiris to proclaim openly that they belong to India.
The other issue for which the Centre is taking credit is the smooth resolution of the contentious issue of the construction of Ram Mandir, as though the judgment was not given by the Supreme Court but by the government. The construction of Ram Mandir can in no way contribute to the development of the country. It is like opium to keep the people emotionally sedated.
Almost at the same time, the government destroyed the lives of thousands of laborers of Assam by implementing NRC. It is pertinent to question the decision of the government to implement NRC as it involves an expenditure of hundreds of crores and whose aim is only to divide the people. The government has failed to respond to any of these questions before the country. Amit Shah’s announcement that NRC would be implemented all over the country, seems to have been given a burial at least for the time being but the seeds of hatred that he sowed have wreaked havoc.
The objective of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was to divide the country but the Coronavirus quickly brought together people who were being divided on the basis of religious lines. People who erupted in protests over the CAA had to come together to fight the Coronavirus. The threat of implementing CAA that already had a bearing on the country’s economy was also used to unleash police brutalities in which many people lost their lives. In the process of implementing these hasty decisions, the government betrayed the agenda of development yet again. Amit Shah who has contributed extensively to divide the country now seems to have faded away and Modi has again occupied the center stage.
The spread of Coronavirus in the country has destroyed the livelihoods of people who were already facing acute economic distress. The rate of deaths caused by Corona in other countries should have alerted the government to immediately swing into action and keep a track on people who entered our country.
According to experts, if the government had taken proactive steps, the Coronavirus would not have spread so much. The ‘Namaste Trump’ roadshow event was responsible for the spread of Coronavirus that led to the lockdown being imposed on the whole country instead of being imposed only on foreign travelers. Even when the lockdown was imposed, Modi’s ‘Sab Ka Vishwas’ agenda bit the dust, and the lockdown led to the humanitarian crisis of migrant laborers many of whom have died on the roadside.
The greatest achievement of Narendra Modi’s one year in office is betraying the ‘Sab Ka Vikas’ development agenda that is now in tatters and exemplified by the visuals of people dying on railway tracks. The Modi government which was trying to ride on the shoulders of Amit Shah is now facing a situation similar to the blind man leading the lame.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
