Archana dalmia Chairperson of Grievance Cell, All India Congress Committee
Sometimes a social media campaign can do what a serious critique cannot. The Vikas Gando Thayo Che (development has gone crazy) handle on Twitter, started by 20-year-old Sagar Savalia, has gone viral, and has spread from Twitter to Facebook and WhatsApp. It has become a phenomenon that is a talking point across age groups. Shortly after the monsoon rains had left Gujarat in a shambles, Savalia shared some footage that exposed the truth about Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas (collective efforts, inclusive growth), a mantra that led Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win the elections. The video clip captured numerous roads ravaged by potholes, decrepit state transport buses trying to ply alongside garbage dumps and flooded streets in Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat—the BJP’s model development state.
This campaign has brought to light what many of us already knew—that the so-called development module of the BJP government is in fact a bunch of empty promises. Modiji has not lived up to a single promise that he made before the elections. Where is the `90 lakh crore black money that he was supposed to bring back to the country from the hands of the corrupt? Where is the `15 lakh promised to each poor family of India? Where are the loan waivers for the farmers to the tune of `1 lakh that was promised?
What do we have instead? Petrol prices are at an all-time high, while the petrol market has come down the world over. The GST adds over `800 to every meal consumed at a restaurant, it adds 28 per cent on the purchase of art, and has no waiver for women on sanitary products. Demonetisation has led to the loss of around four lakh jobs and unemployment among the qualified youths of the country, which has forced many to give up their lives in despair. The old have also fallen in queues outside banks as they waited to deposit their life’s savings. The government’s spending for the education sector has reduced in proportion to the GDP, and the health sector appears neglected with a decrease in 2014-15.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister along with his Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have made a mockery of our farmers by offering them one paisa as a waiver on their life-sapping loans. Farmers are not only in shock, they are insulted by this tokenism that is the worst possible joke that the government could have played on its marginalised section. Even the other ministers in the BJP are admitting shamefacedly that this campaign has shaken up the citizens and given voice to millions of people across the country. The BJP’s apathy towards its people is a ghastly betrayal of those promises, that have turned out to be literal lies. If the Prime Minister were to schedule fewer foreign trips and spend some time in his own country, he would see the abject state of affairs.
Modi supporters are speaking up about the shame and remorse they feel at having elected him as the Prime Minister. Some have even gone as far as to say that they would like to see him “suffer a shameful defeat in the 2019 elections.”It is not just the Congress supporters who feel this way. The nation is outraged that the Prime Minister has not lived up to any of his promises, and this social media campaign puts things in perspective. Vikas is indeed in a shambles and has truly gone crazy. Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan puts the matter in perspective when he says, “Indians should focus on education and technology, not meat.” What someone eats, should not determine the strength of the country. Let us look instead, dispassionately at development.
archanadalmia@gmail.com