Opinion View from the left: Fall in India
Tthe CPI(ML)’s ML Update contends that Modi's slogan should actually be “Minimum Parliament, Maximum Ordinance”.
FAIL IN INDIA
Saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a “clear shift” from the slogan of “Made in India” to “Make in India”, the CPM’s People’s Democracy claims that “both these slogans are bound to fail”. The editorial says these campaigns will fail “because of the continuous shrinking of the purchasing power in the hands of the vast majority of the Indian people and due to the continuing global economic crisis that has depressed both global economic growth and hence volumes of global trade.”
“The only way to kickstart the Indian economy towards a higher growth trajectory is by concentrating attention on expanding the domestic purchasing power of our people. This would expand the domestic demand providing the necessary impetus for manufacturing and industrial growth and, hence, for overall GDP growth accompanied by growing employment,” it adds.
“Under these circumstances, this Modi government, in order to continue to maintain its hype of improving the well-being of the Indian people… continues to spread longer the red carpet for foreign investors and domestic big capital to invest more in India… The capitalist state must orient its policies to suit the interests of private capital at the expense of the people… seems to be the naked motto of this Modi government,” the editorial says.
PRAVASI FARCE
Calling both the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and Vibrant Gujarat meets a “farce”, the CPI’s New Age says that, in both, PM Modi made speeches “without any concrete content”. The editorial argues, “The two events that were given a national colour this time showed the bias of the organisers. Posters and hoardings put up by the Uttar Pradesh government to attract NRIs and other possible foreign investors were damaged and removed in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. Gujarat government’s intolerance was also visible in Vadodara… Vibrant Gujarat platform was used to project Narendra Modi as the foreign invitees, including the UN general secretary [sic], Ban Ki-moon, and US Secretary of State John Kerry showered praise on him…”
It goes on to claim, “From all the announcements of concessions made during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and Vibrant Gujarat jamboree in Gandhinagar, it has become obvious that [the] Narendra Modi government is bent upon pushing through the remaining agenda of neoliberalism that has caused immense harm to our economy”.
ORDINANCE RAJ
Taking on the Modi government’s slogan of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”, the CPI(ML)’s ML Update contends that the slogan is actually “Minimum Parliament, Maximum Ordinance”. The editorial says, “Modi scarcely attends Parliament and his cabinet prefers to take the ordinance route to amend key laws passed by Parliament… Now at the helm of a government in which the BJP enjoys absolute majority on its own, it is brazenly rewriting the laws showing utter contempt for the people’s voice, both within and outside of Parliament”.
“The thrust of the Modi government’s agenda of development has thus become crystal clear — wholesale acquisition of agricultural and tribal land whether in the name of industrial corridors or mining or urbanisation or private universities, engineering colleges, hotels and housing projects. The other pet slogan of Modi — “Make in India” — relies and revolves completely around FDI,” it adds.
Compiled by Ruhi Tewari
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