Point of View: V.V.S. Manian
Prime Minister Modi was occupying the highest pedestal both in Indian politics and the international arena. He started the ‘guarantee culture,” which has too many followers, especially the opposition parties. Modi’s image is now sliding down. Today, everyone in power offers a guarantee, which has become more of a joke. There is confusion between the guarantee and the renewed guarantee.
The renewed guarantee is from Modi at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh. He said that all the black money will be brought out and the corrupt will be punished. “Ye Modi ke gurantee hai.” This is a rejuvenated pledge. In his WhatsApp message in March 2019, Modiji had said,” One of the biggest evils plaguing our nation was the curse of corruption. Winning on the plank of eradicating corruption from the very roots, the Modi government has provided an incorruptible administration at the helm. It has taken stringent steps to arrest the generation of black money as well as ensures that financial offenders are brought to book.” Modi also said, ““If, even once, the money was hoarded by these crooks in banks abroad, even if we only brought that back, every poor Indian would get Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakhs, just like that. There’s so much money.” The money was never recovered, and the poor Indian is still waiting.
Congress always had a special love for the poor, since Indira Gandhi’s time. The Gandhi family wanted to help the poor but made too many millionaires on their bandwagon through various schemes. They even bought toilet rolls and closets at the price of gold in the Common wealth game. Rahul Gandhi, following in the footsteps of his ancestors’ wish, has now plunged to ensure “poverty is erased in one full swoop”. He promised that the Congress government would ensure that women belonging to poor households would get Rs 1 lakh per year in their bank accounts. The number of females in poverty today is around 45 million plus. We don’t have to be a mathematic genius to understand that this is a tough and near impossible promise. We can go on and on with exploratory research on the guarantees and counter grantees because of tectonic shifts in Indian politics which are grappling with uncertainties about the future. Whichever way we may look at it – Indian politics is dirty to the core and the voters are the victims in this guarantee game.
