Modi 'unmade' India: Yashwant Sinha in no-holds-barred book
New Delhi, Dec 22 : GDP numbers are misleading, RBI's autonomy is in extreme danger and demonetisation is the biggest banking scam, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha claims in his new book.
He also says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of self-employment is a "distraction from the more serious issue of unemployment and underemployment".
Sinha, who has been quite vocal about the government's policies since the past couple of years, quit the BJP in April. Party leaders have been dismissing his allegations on several issues with BJP chief Amit Shah once asking if people should believe the ministers or those "who did not get jobs".
According to Sinha, Modi blew a golden opportunity to send the economy soaring to new heights.
"He could have fixed the UPA's legacy issues and fundamentally raised India from a poor country to a middle-income country, but he squandered the chance," he says, adding his book demonstrates how "Modi unmade India".
Though the book "India Unmade: How the Modi Government Broke the Economy" is a critique of the NDA government's economic management, Sinha says he has not always been a critic of Modi.
"Nor do I have a personal vendetta against him for not appointing me minister or giving me some other post, as some people incorrectly speculate In fact, the truth is that I recognised his mettle early on and was one of the first senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to say he should be made the party's prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections," he claims.
He has been severely critical of Modi on demonetisation, jobs, GDP figures and Make in India among others policies and programmes.
"The Modi government's lasting legacy will be the catastrophe that was the demonetisation of high-denomination currency on November 8, 2016," he argues.
"Demonetisation was a whimsical decision that served no purpose of governance. It did, however, provide Modi with a populist campaign plank of having taken tough decisions to nab the corrupt rich. His decision paid a rich electoral dividend in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. But as far as the constantly shifting governance objectives of demonetisation went, it was a big zero," he says.
On the second anniversary of demonetisation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that demonetisation resulted in increasing the tax base and a higher tax collection (both direct and indirect) for the government, thereby improving its fiscal health. He had also clarified that the real purpose of demonetisation was not the confiscation of cash but to bring it to the formal economy and make the holders pay tax.
On Make in India, Sinha writes, "The malaise of Indian industry during Modi's tenure is typified by his most famous flagship scheme, Make in India. It is his biggest failure; it is also an unoriginal idea. It is nothing more than a revival of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council that the UPA set up in 2004, whose first chairman was V Krishnamurthy."
He also says that the growth rates were seemed to have been recalibrated to make the government's economic management look good, with an average rate of 7.35 per cent over its first four years.
The jobs Modi mentioned like 'pakoda' sellers, autorickshaw drivers, tea-stall boys and newspaper deliverers are all in the informal sector and are nobody's idea of an aspirational job, he says.
He terms GDP figures as way below India's potential. "But then India is the only country in the world that grows at 7.35 per cent, without investment, without industrial growth, without agricultural growth. Just like magic," he writes in a sarcastic vein.
The GST concept, he says, is good because it is simple and will lead to lower prices because there won't be any tax on tax; there'll be tax set-offs at every stage; and it will widen the tax net for transactions.
"It is a better tax, but Modi-Jaitley botched it up at its very beginning. That GST has been tweaked 200 times already and over 400 notifications and 100 circulars and FAQs have been issued since its launch is standing testimony to the folly of the Modi-Jaitley team."
Sinha says that UPA's management of the economy was also flawed.
"When the global financial crisis hit us, the (UPA) government decided to focus on increasing consumption demand, and it began reducing or even eliminating some excise duties.
"This, along with the debt waiver and MNREGA, was meant to put money in people's pockets to encourage consumption demand. Yet all these welfare measures hardly encouraged productive activity and did not increase investment," he writes.
The Modi government, according to him, had everything going for it on all fronts; it had the kind of opportunity few governments have had in independent India's history, yet it squandered its mandate.
"In summation, the Modi government is just about event management. He is the best in creating false impressions. In the process, Modi has given India its 'lost half-decade'. Elect him again and by 2024 it will be a lost decade," he warns.
The book, published by Juggernaut, is co-authored by journalist Aditya Sinha.
So, why is the need for the book?
" Over the last fifty-five months, the Modi government has dished out a stunning continuum of untruths and boasts about its economic management, performance and accomplishments. It thus becomes essential to speak truth to power, and so it is my job that this book be a statement of fact."
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'Engineered narratives': West Bengal guv on alleged molestation charges against him
Kolkata, May 2: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday said he will not be cowed down by “engineered narratives” and the "truth shall triumph” after TMC leaders claimed that a woman working at Raj Bhavan levelled allegations of molestation against him.
In a statement, the Governor said, “Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,”
To the Raj Bhavan staff "who expressed solidarity with him following some derogatory narratives that were circulated by two disgruntled employees as agents of political parties," a communication by Raj Bhawan said.
The Governor’s statement came after senior TMC leaders claimed this evening in a series of social media posts that the woman, who had levelled the allegations, has been taken to a police station to complain against Bose.
Though police sources said they received a verbal complaint, there was no official word on whether a formal complaint had been registered.
“BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose was accused of molesting a woman. How utterly appalling and Horrifying. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan today. The complainant has been taken to the Hare Street police station for filing a complaint. The woman has accused the Governor of molesting her. Shocking and disgraceful,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said in a post on X.
Fellow TMC MP Saket Gokhale also posted on his X account regarding the issue.
West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said it is “shameful” that the Governor has maligned his post and has used it to “torture a woman”.
“It is appalling and shocking to see such an incident. This is the same Governor who had reached out to Sandeshkhali to talk about women’s rights and Nari Shakti. This is shameful that the Governor sought undue advantages in the pretext of giving her a permanent job. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be addressing rallies in Bengal tomorrow to react on this issue,” she said.
According to sources in the Governor's House, the "woman employee with the help of her alleged boyfriend who is also an employee of the Raj Bhavan was blocking complaints (from people) being sent to the Election Commission of India.
"When she was reprimanded for that, she went outside and alleged molestation. She is in the habit of throwing tantrums against her colleagues because of some disease," a Raj Bhavan official said.
The West Bengal Governor and the TMC government have shared an acrimonious relationship since he assumed office in November 2022 and had several run-ins on various issues.
The BJP said it has to be seen whether this a “conspiracy by the TMC” or has an “iota of truth in it”.
“We all know that the TMC is politically cornered on the issue of SSC scam and is looking for a breathing space. So this needs to be seen whether this is a conspiracy by the TMC or it has any iota of truth in it,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose accused of molesting a woman. How utterly APPALLING and HORRIFYING. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj…
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) May 2, 2024
Shameful that a constitutional office holder should try to prejudice an impartial investigation by attacking the motive of the complainant. We have seen this happen in that infamous Saturday Hearing of the Supreme Court. Respect women! https://t.co/E6eJLQvFXO
— sanjoy ghose (@advsanjoy) May 2, 2024
