The Lutyens media latched on to industrialist Rahul Bajaj's comments that an atmosphere of fear, people are afraid to criticize the government and do not have the confidence that the government will appreciate.
"During UPA-II, we could abuse anyone. You are doing good work, but if we want to openly criticize you, there is no confidence you will appreciate that. I may be wrong but everyone feels that," he said at an Economic Times award function in Mumbai on November 30.
The media, however, missed on the industrialist praising the good work of Narendra Modi government.
Leave it at that.
This is not the first time Rahul Bajaj has spoken his mind against the policies of the central government in the past as well. But, there is a stark difference between what he had said during UPA government and now when NDA is at the helm of affairs.
During UPA II, many industrialists, including Rahul Bajaj, had been vocal against Manmohan Singh led UPA government over policy paralysis.
They criticized the government for soft-peddling on reforms and putting key policy issues on the buckburner.
They also alleged that the political logjam over the issue of corruption led to legislative backlog and key bills have been pending in parliament, adding frustration of investors. They said lack of reforms would hurt growth and emerge as an obstacle to India's ambitions to emerge as a global power.
They also gave detailed suggestions to tackle the problem of policy paralysis.
Rahul Bajaj, amidst the heavy dose of Lutyens media crap, is well within his rights to raise the ghost of fear among people, should have listed at least ten points, indicating the wrongs in the policies of Modi government, and also suggested solutions to the problems, if any.
The fact that he did not list out the problems and suggestions, his remarks could well be taken as his own impressions and perception of Modi government, which on gaining traction, could hurt national interest.
Amit Shah's Reply
IF one has the courtesy to hear the pros and cons of Rahul Bajaj's remarks, one should equally sanctify Amit Shah's reply. He said since Rahul Bajaj frankly put his views before him, it in itself indicates that the fear factor is a mere perception created by the media.
"About fear," Amit Shah said, "I can say that nobody needs to be afraid. A lot of newspapers have written a lot of things about Narendra Modi ji and our government. They are still writing. If someone has been written about (and criticized) the most, that's us.
"But I would like to say that there is no need for anybody to fear … No one wants to scare … and we have done nothing to be concerned about any criticism … The government has been run in the most transparent way and we have no fear of any kind of opposition, and if anyone does criticise, we will look at the merit of the same and make efforts to improve ourselves," he added.
People, including other industrialists gathered there including Mukesh Ambani, would have appreciated Rahul Bajaj if he could have elaborated on the good work done Modi government, that he mentioned in his comments.
He could have mentioned about the reason for the current situation, which is due to the regressive tax measures like the minimum alternate tax and dividend distribution tax taken during the UPA tenure.
He could have talked about the current crisis in bank, which is because of UPA's policy paralysis, and also mentioned about demonetization and GST, which formalized the economy.
Job-wise, more than seven million jobs were formalized between 2015 and 2018. Cumulatively over 28 per cent of 7.06 million jobs were formalized in between these four years due to these two reforms.
Also, a mention about comparative economy numbers during UPA with NDA rules, could have been appreciated. The former had registered 6.4 per cent real GDP growth at the end of 2014 and it averaged 7.5 per cent between 2014-2019.
The headline inflation had gone from 10.3 per cent in 2013-14 to 4.5 per cent in 2018-19, besides core inflation and food inflation has come down from 9.4 per cent and 11.2 per cent from UPA 2 to 5.11 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively in NDA 1.
FDI inflow also had increased, up USD 283.9 billion in 2019 from USD 189.5 billion in 2014. Moreover, the foreign exchange reserves went up from USD 304.2 billion at end of 2009-14 to USD 412.9 billion at end of 2014-2019.
Slowdown
OF COURSE, there is a slowdown, and it needs to be addressed to reach the target of five trillion dollar economy by 2024 set by Modi government. Amit Shah is confident of meeting the target just as his government did in turning a weak economy during UPA rule into one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
However, the roadmap to achieve this goal is not devoid of its share of challenges. Experts say the size of 2024 economy could exceed USD 4.7 trillion, if real GDP grows at 7.6 per cent per year, but the currency exchange rate in 2024 stays at the levels of Rs 75 per USD.
The key to achieving 5 trillion dollars target is to increase exports, reduce the cost of capital and bring flexible labour laws. The government has taken some measures in this regard, more action on economic reforms is still required, experts say.
Instead of giving some such suggestions, hasn't Rahul Bajaj invoked failed narrative of Rahul Gandhi - the lines of intolerance and fear factor?
If someone denies, may be he is hooked on to Lutyens media dot com. Period ...
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