Rahul Gandhi must win battle within Congress

Rahul Gandhi is back with a Latin American brush of facial touch. Eyes have sunk deep. Curled hair is swept back and oiled. Skin is more tanned. Trademark beard that boasted of careless grey vegetation is gone. Pitch of the voice is moderated. He now looks reflective, with the brash shadow cast off. Gandhi is experimenting, progressing or swinging on the learning curve, amidst wave of personal onslaughts set off from within his party and the outside. He's an enigma that keeps Indian politics enchanted.    

RAHUL Gandhi, former Congress president and the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad, Kerala, has offered another glimpse into his withdrawn world of thoughts. With YouTube debut, Gandhi has worn the creative attire. He has asked questions. He's seen probing the powerful Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There are subtitles and info-graphics to explain the subject. There is an air of a serious discourse. So, there are maps, backgrounders, anecdotes and contexts to put forth his arguments. And, he stays on China, asking why did Xi Jinping send his soldiers in East Ladakh, for Modi had excessively invested his economic capital in Beijing in past six years at the helms in New Delhi while also as the chief minister of Gujarat.

The three minutes and 38 seconds long video invited rebuttal from the Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar who argued the case of the Modi dispensation with 10 tweets. Besides, there was an avalanche of derision from top functionaries of the BJP. The volume and intensity of the responses demonstrate indubitably that Gandhi's experiment isn't entirely wasteful.

THE intellectual appearance of a political leader is as good as the depth of the script writers. For past one decade, the script for him and his mother Sonia Gandhi has been written by a former Union Minister who is known for putting his foot in the mouth too often. That script writer had faced the wrath of even his mother for making insensitive comments about Hindu symbols when he was a powerful minister in the Manmohan Singh government. It can be conveniently inferred that the comments, including the poor needs escape velocity to escape poverty, must have been authored by such script writers who delight in pulling the verbal strings of their aka. So, derision thrown at Gandhi must also largely account for the disconnect of his script writers.

Flower of India's foremost political dynasty, Gandhi is principally an experimenter, introducing the borrowed concept of primaries in the Indian Youth Congress and afterwards in the candidate selection for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The 15th Lok Sabha and the 2009 winning list of the Congress candidates boasted a number of youngsters who rose from the ranks of the Youth Congress. Meenakshi Natarajan, winning Madhya Pradesh's poorest Parliamentary constituency Mandsaur, hogged the limelight, coming to Parliament on an auto-rickshaw. That was a full three years before a policy lobbyist rode piggyback to Anna Hazare to appear as an Aam Admi politician. Rahul Gandhi lacked manpower in salesmanship to allow Arvind Kejriwal to run away with the Aam Admi plot. A dynast would also otherwise have failed to win the plot.

Politics in India since the formation of the Congress in 1885 has been held hostage by the feudal lords. Post-Independence, they conveniently carved out their principalities under the benign patronage of the legacy of Jawahar Lal Nehru. The folly of Rahul Gandhi was that he paid more interests in the politics of the US than the architecture of his party and the Indian politics. His push with primaries to promote youngsters outside the established political families made him an outsider within the Congress. The entrenched had their interests better protected with Sonia Gandhi. She will not speak a word outside the slip given to her.

People will accept Rahul Gandhi if he wins the battle within the Congress. Changing the course of the status quoist blood running in the veins of the Congress is a herculean task. For a change, he should read the Roman mythology more to first take on the feudal lords within his party. Modi can wait for him to win his battle first within the Congress. 

Citizenship Amendment Act: Flying embers in times of urban unrest

Students are swelling in numbers on the streets. They've braved chill in the air. Showers from water canons haven't doused the fire in the bellies of the protestors. Universities, mostly in metropolitan cities, are squirming with angst. Air smells of feverish emotions. The new decade dawned with loud shrieks from the youth, underlining their hatred for the ruling dispensation in India. That Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are no strangers to hatred is not forgotten by those with eyes and ears for the fast changing Indian democratic flavours.

INDIAN Parliament has been seized of the pressing needs for the amendments in the Citizenship Act for a few decades. The voice for amendments in the Parliament began gaining visible strength from 2003. Politicians cutting across party lies made sympathetic overtures for granting citizenship to thousands of refugees. Such refugees who fled neighbouring Islamic countries due to religious persecutions have been spread out in many cities for past three decades, while they continue to seek ways to come to India on the back of radical Islamist choosing them for their bigotry even in the recent times. The influx will not stop of such people even while the Citizenship Amendment Act draws the curtain of December 31, 2014 for them to gain Indian nationality. 

Deliberations in the Parliamentary standing committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs largely concurred that the refugees belonging to the majority community in Bangladesh cannot be considered for citizenship. Muslim refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan aren't in any significant number to warrant attention. Muslims from Bangladesh, popularly called ghuspaithiya (illegal migrants), have, however, been in numbers to polarise election campaigns, with a few political parties vowing to throw them out of the country. Assam has seen riots in areas inhabited by them since 1980s. Assam was torn apart in the face of the swift demographic changes, posing an existential crisis to the Assamese identity.

Demographic changes, substantially altering linguistic and cultural identities of districts bordering West Bengal and Bihar with Bangladesh in the course of 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium, were swift. Waves of illegal migrants from Bangladesh mingled in Indian habitations unhindered and unquestioned. The military dictatorship in Bangladesh after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had co-opted the radical Islamist. The free flow of Saudi money to further the Wahabi stream of militant Islam found fertile grounds in Bangladesh. That the Parliamentary voices underlined security risk from such unabated flow of illegal Bangladeshi migrants indeed reflected the ground realities.

THE National Register for Citizens (NRC), committed in the Assam Accord and implemented under the watch of the Supreme Court, bared the religious fault lines. The cut off date for the people to make into the list was March 25, 1971. Over 19 lakhs were excluded from the final list for which over 3.31 crore people had applied. The BJP was livid, for the party leaders claimed that 12 lakh Bengali Hindus found their claim rejected. The BJP leaders fumed that over 90 per cent of the alleged Bangladeshi illegal migrants actually made into the final list. Predictably, the BJP government in Assam rejected the NRC held in Assam.

Indian Parliament exhaustively debated the draft legislation on the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The BJP also faced internal dissent in its Assam unit, with some expressing that there would be backlash if the Bengali Hindus are granted citizenship. The Central BJP leaders held firm and went ahead with clear intent that the Hindus in Assam would gain citizenship. The Bill excluded the Muslims from the ambit, while other minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan -- Christians, Buddhists, Parsi, Jains and Sikhs -- made into the beneficiary list. Such refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan are said to be just little over 30,000. The BJP leaders have guessed Bangladesh illegal Muslim migrants in excess of one crore (100 million).

"The Citizenship Amendment Act is meant principally for the Bengali Hindus in Assam," said a senior BJP leader in an informal chat with scribes.

THE BJP chief Amit Shah has rewritten the political script of Indian politics. In Narendra Modi, Shah had a campaigner to allow the BJP to overwhelm inimical political hindrances. Shah rejoices in politics of confrontation. In Parliament, his debates are essentially confined to winning the arguments, with facts and instances from the past, which are uncomfortable to the Opposition. In electoral politics, he demonstrated effortlessly that the age old might of the strategic Muslim voting was just rudderless. He scored the rare triple century for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, leaving opponents gripped with morbid fear of irrelevance.       

Shah was among the first few to occupy the chair in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan when Modi took oath for his second term. The men and women in the council of ministers largely consisted of the aids of Shah. It was apparent that Modi had chosen his second in command and possibly the heir. Shah proved soon that he was in a hurry. In a swift and sudden move, Shah wrote a new script for Jammu and Kashmir. He made it simple to disbelief of even his supporters that the Article 370 could just be wished away with a Parliamentary resolution. Shah endeared to the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) with one bold stroke. To the delight of the RSS, he owned up the moral ownership of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, and grabbed a narrative for the next five years by becoming vocal on the NRC.    

In a matter of six months, it's not Modi but Shah who is being talked about in the country. With his alter ego Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India, accounting for one-sixth population of the country, the BJP-RSS brass know that the Hindutva would stay at the center stage of the popular discourse in the coming years.

Lok Sabha had passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill in 2018. The CPI (M) MP Mohammed Salim and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi made the obvious noise. There were hardly any noteworthy protests on the streets of New Delhi. The Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The 17th Lok Sabha inaugurated with the BJP led government going in a tearing hurry to gain Parliamentary approvals to host of legislative bills, with government not shying away from pushing the contentious legislation. The NDA being in minority in Rajya Sabha proved no hindrance to Shah. From legislation against the practice of triple talaq (instant divorce) within the Muslim community to the dilution of Article 370, besides the Citizenship Amendment Act, flew with the Parliamentary favours with ease. The BJP under the watch of Shah in the government was seen possessed with the might to rewrite the Constitution o India by the opponents.    

The battle lost in Parliament and elections for long have been waged on the streets.

Lok Sabha elections 2019: One who beats boredom may win.

India is, arguably, a most lucrative market for tools addressing boredom. A large chunk of population essentially looks bored. Technological advancement added with increased mobility appears to have made the populace more prone to boredom. Irony of the day is the pervasive boredom amongst children; they seem bored even of their parents, teachers and friends. The political space in no way can remain immune to such an all embracing boredom.

SPARKS continue to fly in the last leg of five and a half weeks long elections for the 17th Lok Sabha. Longevity of electioneering has sapped principal generals of political outfits eying seat of power in New Delhi. Boredom has struck poll watchers too. Cues of trends from any source command premiums. With few fence sitters, polarized populace has only scales to climb. That May 23 isn't far away is a relief. Yet, an imminent verdict on perceptions -- held and formed -- could well be pounding millions of hearts.

History at times appears repeating. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections were held five years ago. But it has more immediacy than five years of the BJP led NDA governance. A little attempt to refresh memory of last general elections could well just demonstrate the stark similarities. 

A bus driver flips through phone to catch news.

Principal theme of 2014 polls was Narendra Modi bashing. Principal theme of 2019 elections remains Narendra Modi bashing. Intensity of Modi bashing was electrifying in 2014. In 2019, it's no less intense. The theme, indeed, shaped political vision and philosophy of BJP baiters of a multitude of political outfits. The Congress, principal foe of the BJP, wore the blanket of Modi hatred before the people. The cloak remains unchanged. 

The BJP yearned to fight elections around Modi. The Opposition obliged. So, the central narrative of 2019 Lok Sabha elections is the choice before the people -- Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi or someone from amongst regional satraps. Size of an opponent does make one grander. Modi, thus, delights in rivalry with the Congress. 

RAHUL Gandhi has given a full account of his world views in past one and a half decades. From a reluctant politician, Gandhi has graduated to a combative politician, clutching onto an issue and sticking with it to fan out noise. He appears more confident than earlier. That he's interacting with media more often is a sign worth noting. 

That politics is an art, however, hasn't struck Gandhi in last 15 years. He's largely a boring politician. That he would appeal to an audience, which is already in a firm grip of boredom, is a hope, which leans heavily on the wall of improbable. His father, Rajiv Gandhi, was an equally boring person thrust onto the political upheaval board by chance. He could win popular endorsement once was for an overwhelming sympathy vote for her mother who had fallen to bullets of terrorists. 

Modi in a stark contrast is an entertainer. He's an artist. He entertains. He can force subjects of entertainments by the drop of hat. His entertainment bouquet is deep and rich. And, he has perfected the art of political entertainments in a state where it's daunting to engage people in public meetings. People in Gujarat largely don't have contempt for time. 

Entertainment demands full scripts. Story in parts don't appeal to the mass. Issues in elections are indeed multi-layered scripts. Largely, they're academic, and they gain popular acceptance when people have immediacy with them. Also, people in India are largely fearful -- of fate. They would shudder at smallest signs of fear. That political outfits continue to rile them by stoking bogey of "reservation in danger" is a case worth noting. Rumour mongering by the WhatsApp factory too scares people easily.

But people do connect with issues when presented in their entireties. Agrarian distress, specter of unemployment and social discords are indeed issues of grave nature. A layman too can decipher major issues affecting the masses. A few who hammer out solutions are hailed as leaders. Gandhi hasn't yet crossed that bridge. 

All that Gandhi could think of was another dole -- Rs 72,000 annual to about five crore poorest of the poor. His prescription to issues of serious discourses betrayed bankruptcy of ideas. This robs him off desired credibility to occupy the high office.

Rahul Gandhi doesn't yet have scripts to win elections. He can't entertain either. His sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, however, has shown hints that she could be an entertainer, while requiring a rigorous training in coming years. But she has the potential to take the stage. 

India is also much changed from times of 1990s. Demographic

Mohan Balmiki in Rampur said, he'll vote for Modi

changes coupled with mitigated electoral thuggery have largely turned regional caste and identity satraps into political pygmies in national elections. People since 1998 have gradually been converging for a coherent mandate to back stable government at the Centre. For about 21 years, people of India have pushed likes of HD Deve Gowdas to the margins of national politics. 

Entertaining tribe amongst regional satraps is also fast becoming extinct. They have been robbed off entertainers like -- M Karunanidhi, J Jayalalitha, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bal Thackerey and Devi Lal. Their successors are plastic imitations. Mamata Banerjee is an exception.    

There's only one entertainer. He's Narendra Modi. On May 23, people would deliver verdict whether he could go on with his show for another five years. The showman has script and measure of doses to release on times to help people battle their boredom.  

Minimum Income Guarantee: Plot to handcuff India

A fortnight ahead of first ballots to be cast, Congress president Rahul Gandhi unveiled script to thrust his party at the centerstage of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With promise of Rs 12,000 a month for five crore poor, 20 per cent of the total poverty stricken households, Gandhi ushered in a Rs 3.60 lakh crore annual package to blunt the march of BJP's mascot Narendra Modi. In the absence of repackaging of subsidy programmes, currently implemented worth  Rs 7 lakh crore, Gandhi is arguably calling for freezing nearly 40 per cent of India's total annual Budget to stay politically relevant. 

ONLY a few days ago, Congress' poll wizardry in unleashing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrapped up her Ganga yatra. Ensconced in a customized boat with necessary comforts, she sought to rekindle the old touch of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. But crowd hungry television crews struggled to find thronging mass of people during the course of yatra. The political voyage was scratchy and revealing. The verdict within the Congress was evident, that the magical touch of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is suspect. 

The Opposition grand alliances in parts of the country have shown contempt for the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, holding the turf of Uttar Pradesh, found no merit in giving lease of life to the Congress in the state where the grand old party is in prolonged vegetative state. Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) would not yield an inch to the Congress, which is gasping for breath in the state. The Congress remains a baggage on the back of Lalu Prasad's heirs in Bihar. Regional satraps' shunning Congress robbed the main Opposition party of the political depth to claim the status of a challenger of the ruling BJP.

Former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian in the 'Economic Survey (2016-17)' floated the idea of universal basic income. Early this year, he followed his idea with a book -- Of Counsel: The challenges of the Modi-Jaitely economy -- publicly lobbied for political acceptance of the idea of universal basic income (UBI). 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemingly has no appetite for doles of universal nature. His statecraft is embedded in targeted welfarism. That he shunned the proposal for a universal farmer income support for small and marginal farmers with an annual cost of Rs 75000 crore is a definitive illustration. So, Modi didn't fall for Subramanian's welfarism prescription, which in some forms are being implemented in China, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom and elsewhere. 

THE Congress has principally been slammed by party sympathisers for failure to come out with a narrative to counter Modi. The Congress stayed the course of Modi the person bashing all five years. Sympathisers were rightly alarmed, for knowing well that Modi thrives on negativism. And, consequently, Rahul Gandhi clutched on the Subramanian straw to stay relevant in the elections.

Union Minister Arun Jaitely has said that the NDA government currently is running subsidy programmes worth Rs 7 lakh crores. The annual Budget size of India is about Rs 24 lakh crore. So, Rahul Gandhi's dole could take the subsidy burden to about Rs 11 lakh crore, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the national resources. That the question on how would additional Rs 3.60 lakh crore be mobilized was left unanswered by Gandhi on expected line. That the inflationary impact and the consequent mortal blows to economy weren't worth shedding light by the Congress leadership was also on predictable line. Answers to details would rob the magic of Congress' political art of revisiting 'Garibi Hatao' slogan.

Former vice chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagaria, the only economist worth mentioning in the Modi dispensation for first three years, has reasoned that universal basic income or its any variant would only mean that there would be no incentive for work. All those earning less than Rs 12,000 a month would find incentivized to stay home. The government will pay for their leisure. Agriculture could be denied farm labour. The informal sector's labour cost could go up punitively. That the Congress is brewing a recipe to make India more lazy arguably isn't an outlandish claim.         

One doesn't need to be an economist to know that there's no scope for India to expand its resources by additional Rs 3.60 lakh crore imminently. That makes it incumbent that the resources being earmarked for infrastructure upgrade -- rail, road and port -- would face the axe. The spiral effect of mortally wounding developmental resources would unleash wave of employment for the educated youth. 

INDIA evidently can ill afford the political expediency of a political outfit scrounging for survival tricks. Economists must come out of their closets to unequivocally condemn Congress' recipe for economic disaster.    

           

Lok Sabha elections: Wilting caste factor

BETWEEN cheerleaders and naysayers of Indian airstrike against Pakistani terror bases following Pulwama attack lies firming up of electoral narrative, that nationalism is pushing casteism to the margins. With two surgical strikes in BJP's arsenals, the Opposition undeniably has an uphill task to steer public discourse back to issues affecting the masses. Lok Sabha elections, beginning 40 days from now, is pregnant with possibilities to change the future course of Indian politics.

CASTE swept through the political narrative in 1990s. Social justice juggernaut, with firm grip by 1980s, succumbed to mutation within a decade. Personal aspirations of regional political satraps took higher flights on deepening of caste faultlines. The Congress, indeed, commanded caste rainbows in its belt for long, but with a pan-India appeal. The Congress yielded space in state after state to caste leaders soon after the VP Singh led Janata Dal imploded with the might of inner contradictions. Narendra Modi led BJP delivered first mortal blows to caste satraps in 2014 by riding on aspirational plank. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections promises to show if the caste satraps could clutch on to prevailing arithmetic to live another day in Indian politics.

Demography is fast changing. A vast chunk of Indian youth have few recollections of contemporary political history. Growing expanse of education and access to climb social and economic ladders deny alibi to lament lack of opportunity. Nearly 25 crore of Indian electorate are said to be in age group of 18-25. This chunk rubs shoulders in educational and professional institutions with peers of a cross-section of castes. That may be blunting caste consciousness as well. Besides, shrinking of employment opportunities along with a largescale expansion of access to educational institutions are taking the shine out of charm of reservation bogey. The principal anchor of caste satraps could possibly be adrift on high sea. Additionally, family proprietorship of caste based political outfits also ensured that they remained stuck in the narrative of 1990s. 

THREE decades are too long a period to milk the same plank. Satraps aged and passed batons to their offspring. Original proponents toiled hard amidst the masses. Their offspring grew up in comforts. Satraps were grounded. Offspring show up at stages. Satraps lorded over a large base of peers. Offspring have few.

Messrs Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Om Prakash Choutala, Kansi Ram, Ram Vilas Paswan, and others have faded. They indeed passed batons to their respective heirs. Likes of Akhilesh Yadav, Tejaswi Yadav, Ajay Choutala, Mayawati have reaped gains of last gust of legacies of satraps. They stuck to old plank, and refused to evolve with times. Consequently, they were struck with full might of fast changing demographic profile. Paswan, indeed, survived, but only for reason that he he read the changing weather well to clutch onto season's flavor.       

A few other remnants of 1990s, which include the likes of H D Kumaraswamy, stay alive with the power of arithmetic in Indian politics.

Yet, a few of social justice campaigners who branched out of caste satraps remain potent till days by perfecting social welfarism. Navin Patnaik and Nitish Kumar aren't caste satraps, but couched in all pervasive welfarism suited to their turfs abundant with poverty.  

Electoral rise of the BJP and Congress would undeniably shrink spaces for casteist political outfits. Not that the BJP and Congress aren't embedded in caste arithmetic, but they stitch broader equations with national narratives. People haven't also shunned casteism in their preferences. Socially caste is arguably more explicit. But political import of caste identities in electoral politics is evidently wilting with emergence of strong leadership at the national level.

That a few of the chief ministers -- Kamal Nath, Devendra Fadanvis, Manohar Lal Khattar, Raghubar Das, Arvind Kejriwal, Vijay Rupani -- come from electorally insignificant caste groups demonstrate that the fast changing demography and their aspirations are guiding Indian politics to an altogether new territory.    

Emergence of nationalism on the back of popular fatigue and angst against terror strikes in the country could possibly deliver the knock out punch to already weakened caste politics. The youth, particularly, has explicit aversion to status quoism. What passed on as fatalistic sense of resignation is not popularly accepted. That India struck against sources of terrorism is an undercurrent sweeping through the youth yearning for a collective catharsis from mortal blows of status quoism. 

RISK takers, indeed, are rewarded. A Modi led BJP has a rare opportunity to push electoral caste into oblivion. Rahul Gandhi led Congress could also draw a sense of relief, that the lost turf to caste satrap is up for grabs sooner. 

Pulwama: India must redeem

Pulwama attack, snuffing out 40 lives of paramilitary personnel, marks two decades of Pakistan's unequivocal and consistent state policy to bleed India with thousand cuts. India in contrast has been equivocal and willing to fall for guiles of her western neighbor, largely under the influence of Pakistan apologists, who command disproportionate influence over national narrative. And, thus, India sees episodic furore followed by long spell of collective amnesia.

ON Thursday afternoon, India was reminded that the country has a ticking time bomb right at the top of her political map, Jammu and Kashmir. That a local militant in the ranks of Jaish e Mohammed (JeM) slipped away from the watch of hawk's eyes of intelligence sleuths only to blow away a crammed bus carrying the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel is a deafening slap on the policy of status quoism.

India is mourning brutal killing of 40 of her brave sons in the line of duty. Hundreds of them have laid down their lives bravely in the recent times. The nation is breathing air of revenge. People are on the street. Politicians will flock to the people. And, consequently, political spectrum concurs to back government for any action against the terror attack.

India has withdrawn the most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. Certainly not the most favoured nation, Pakistan got the status in 1996 for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligation. It was never reciprocated, because Pakistan unlike India has clarity of purpose on her relations with the eastern neighbor. That what war couldn't achieve must be gained from Jihadists pushed into India from across the border is cast in the stone for the masters of the theocratic nation.    

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi wasn't stricken by New Delhi political bug when he checked in the seven, race course road abode of the most powerful person of the country. But he didn't remain immune for long. Soon, he began day-dreaming to emulate his icon and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and yearned to finish his unfinished business -- to make friends with Pakistan and trade peace for Kashmir valley. 

Recurring Pakistani betrayals didn't affect Vajpayee to cease his yearning for peace with the rogue neighbor. The poet in him made Vajpayee draw the Insaniyat contour for his Kashmir outreach. Both proved mirage. People rejected his dovish outlook. New Delhi's peacenik tribe shoved Vajpayee on to the path of staus quoism. 

Vajpayee hadn't politically groomed Modi. The honours would remain with the BJP patriarch L K Advani. Yet, Modi's decisive mandate left Jammu and Kashmir untouched. The foolhardy experiment to share power with PDP (People's Democratic Front) in J&K proved an avoidable political disaster. Neither development nor the iron muscle flexed might in the northern state. Modi only watched from far distance the unabated alienation of the youth in the valley fast accepting pathological Jihadi indoctrination with great help from the social media. The BJP strategist Ram Madhav arguably blunted the Modi mandate for any decisive impact on J&K.

Worse, Modi allowed his business friends like Sajjan Jindal to further loosen screws on Pakistan after the surgical strike in the wake of 2016 Uri terror attack. The opening of Kartarpur Sahib corridor is another example of the willingness of New Delhi to fall for the guiles of Islamabad and her friends across the border. If the pressure cooker steam had boiled uninterruptedly since 2016 Pakistan would have been squirming for breath. 

Two years would have been enough time to steam-roast Pakistan -- strategically, militarily, and diplomatically. But the course was allowed to become an event, which is now celebrated in a film.

No punitive action would be enough for Pakistan. The world will not shed a drop of tear if Pakistan is struck off the map. The existence of this nation is a crime against humanity. Afghanistan is bleeding for over a decade due to Pakistan. 

Let Pakistan pay for her crimes. Let India perform another surgery on Pakistan. 

Narendra Modi: Saving 'Sultanate' in uncertain times

In another 70 days, Narendra Modi will seek a fresh mandate. Unlike 2013-14, he wouldn't be swimming with anti-Congress tide. That he has kept the people immensely busy with his talks in recent past may make electorate unwilling to look at Congress years before casting votes. And, so, the BJP appears in full grip of doubts at crucial times. 

THE Narendra Modi government would be signing off the final financial year 2018-19 with a total allocation of Rs 61,084 crores for rural employment flagship programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The inaugural financial year of the Modi government had seen an allocation of Rs 32,977 crores. 

Modi's inaugural speech in Lok Sabha in 2014 had seemingly set the agenda of the government that it wouldn't be like the Congress led UPA which even after 70 years of India's Independence had nothing but to make people dig soil for livelihoods in a veiled mocking of MGNREGS. 

Financial allocation for MGNREGS in the last financial year of the UPA government was Rs 33,000 crores. Indeed, wage payouts under MGNREGS were marred with long delays, which are no more the norms in the Modi government on account of the expansion of Jan Dhan coverage (Banking coverage and direct benefit transfer). 

Modi had laid siege to "Delhi Sultanate" from Ahmedabad with contrasting governance template. Not digging soil, but the people would be working in big factories, that India would become if not China than at least Gujarat. 

But last quarter allocation of about Rs 6,000 crores to MGNREGS in the revised Budget for 2018-19 taking the full allocation to the flagship scheme to the whopping Rs 61,084 crores demonstrated that labour is moving to rural areas in search for unskilled works on account of shrinking base of skilled work demands in urban areas. 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may soon have to cut the policy rates. That inflation continues to ebb isn't something to cheer about. Possible collapse of buying appetite of consumers should worry the policy shenanigans. The December inflation at 2.19 per cent is an 18 months' low. 

The record high MGNREGS allocation and ebbing inflation together tell the story of Indian economy -- panting for breath. Reverse migration of labour is evident. Declining rural income is indeed the story of India in recent years, which in turn gives no incentive for the private investment to chase business expansion.

Indian economy's journey on jobless growth path surely isn't a phenomenon of the times of Modi. That India embarked on jobless growth is a 2008 story. Yet, the journey only gained more steam in Modi's times is well illustrated with official statistics on specter of unemployment in the country, which remains at 27 months' high, besides logging 11 million jobless in 2018.

IN the bylanes of suburbs around Agra, Jatav youth had bolted the electoral stereotype in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Much to the anger of their elders, they would openly argue that Behenji (Mayawati, the BSP supremo) wouldn't be becoming Prime Minister, but Modi could create jobs for them. The youth cutting across caste lines believed Modi's words. 

BJP president Amit Shah during a roadshow.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there would be roughly 250 million youth votes in the age group of 18-25. This segment's immediate worry is employment. They may even be worried of the scale of reverse migration of labour to the rural areas. The urban centres aren't vibrant enough to pull the rural youth with gainful employments. In 2014, such youth had defied the caste pulls. Do they have enough reasons to do same in 2019?  

MODI'S exuberance for his Gujarat model of development had dulled mid-way during the NDA tenure. In the latter half of 2016, Modi was seemingly convinced that his programmes like 'Make in India', "Skill India', etc., were slogans for seminars and Babus to keep them busy in the four walls of New Delhi babudom. He, consequently, had borrowed from Indira Gandhi's electoral book to focus his governance on welfarism. The BJP on purpose, thus, had unveiled the 'Garib kalyan agenda' in 2016. 

After wards, Modi government and the BJP worked in tandem to enlist beneficiaries for a host of welfare schemes. The BJP now has a basket of 22 crore beneficiaries of various welfare schemes to count on for votes in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. That the 2014 mandate wasn't for doles and welfarism is well forgotten within the saffron outfit.   

Indian jobless growth journey by all accounts is for the reason that the private investment remains elusive in the country. The UPA-II failed to revive the private investment. By the time Modi assumed power, Indian private sector was largely in the bad books of the banks. The public sector banks (PSUs), principal carrier of the private investment fuel, are faced with existential crisis. Modi inherited the economic template with missing private investment.

Not an economist and not even blessed with ears for those with expertise, Modi took a flight for flamboyance. Demonetisation of high value currencies along with unleashing of 'tax terrorism' of greater proportions never seen in the history of Indian economy put the engine of India's economy in deep coma. The windfall gains out of low crude oil helped Modi to enhance public investment in infrastructure. But infrastructure development by nature is of long gestation, yielding benefits in the long run. 

Modi may possibly not inspire the youth who seek income opportunities. Those who have gained from welfare schemes aren't sworn either to loyalty of benefactors, for they know that others too would offer doles, which may even be better. Modi has an uphill task in a few weeks to retain his 'Sultanate'. 

Gujarat elections: Hopes in saffron angst land

In 2014, India voted for Gujarat model of development. Three years later, BJP mascot Narendra Modi invented Pakistan's prowess to influence outcome of Gujarat elections. That the Gujarat dream, which swayed India in 2014, seemed dimming in the land of origin was evident in length and breadth of the state. Indeed, the verdict is more than the sum total of issues, and is more subservient to organisational might and pull and pressure of foot soldiers may well be on display again.  

CHINTU Patel is an angry man. Two years ago, he was chased by the police. His wife ran for safety. His daughter was awe struck. He bore the blows of sticks. Scars on his body have still remained. Patel has vowed to vote against the BJP.

Agravat Raj is a diploma holder in computer engineering. In Ahmedabad, he couldn't find a job of more than Rs 6000 pacy check a month. So, he became a driver. Hailing from Rajkot, he had to shift base since his wife is pursuing Masters in computer engineering. It was a love marriage, he firmly states. He knows for sure that the BJP would win, and he too would vote for Modi.     

Villagers benefited with Narmada waters near Bhuj

The British premier Harold Wilson is credited to have said that a week is a long time in politics. Fifteen years certainly should be quite a long time. The 2002 post-Godhra riots gave Gujarat the defining identity of a saffron laboratory. The state politics has been seen through the Hindu-Muslim prism. The communal polarisation has stayed a constant in the state politics for one and a half decades. Ghosts of Godhra weren't given decisive burials. Past suited the politics. The BJP harvested rich electoral  crop.

But Modi moved to New Delhi from Ahmedabad in 2014 to take up a larger responsibilities. Demography too changed. About 52 per cent of the total electorate in Gujarat is stated to be youth. That the youth lives less in the past being more embedded in future is arguably a least contested fact. So, Modi uttered Pakistan word on penultimate day of electioneering. That Kapil Sibal sought Supreme Court adjudication of the Ayodhya Ramjanmbhoomi case's postponement till after 2019 Lok Sabha elections seemingly failed to flare up Gujarati tempers. That a lesser known Congress man demanded an apology from Modi at Babri mosque for Gujarat riots also came as whimper. Demography indeed was dictating the electioneering. And, hence, Modi had to assertively claim that his development credentials had beneficiaries in the poor of the state and not the Ambanis and Tatas.

Chintu Patel was a curious onlooker at a jamboree of Patidars in 2015 in support of reservations for the land owning Patel caste. He empathized with Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel. His daughter had secured 85 per cent marks. yet, she didn't get admission in an MBBS course in a medical college. "Her friend had 75 per cent marks, but she got into an MBBS course," Patel rued, saying he favoured scrapping of reservation policy in the country. If Modi is so decisive, why doesn't he scrap this quota, he asked. He's a Kadawa Patel.

"My forefathers were workers in mills in Ahmedabad. They all were shut long back. They resided inside Ahmedabad. Afterwards, they had to move out of Ahmedabad and live on the margins of the city. Lakhs of Kadawa Patels now are out of the city. Many of them are still fighting to claim their providend funds and gratuity," Patel stated.

Unlike Leva Patels, who have emigrated in a great number to the US and other countries, Kadavas are apparently finding in Hardik's campaign for reservation. Patel says, he would vote against the BJP to teach a lesson to Modi and Amit Shah.

AGRAVAT Raj is in his 20s. I had to come to Ahmedabad because my wife is pursuing masters in computer science, he said, while adding in same breath that it was a love marriage for him. "I was working in Rajkot at a salary of Rs 12000. On Facebook, my wife sent a friend's request. In a span of a few months, we were in love. Her father didn't agree. But mother of his muse was alarmed that any violence against him could harm her son and daughter pursuing MBBS courses," Raj Said. He added that her mother-in-law advised him to elope with her daughter. Thus, they got married.

In Ahmedabad, Raj found that there was no job of more than Rs 6,000 a month salary. "It was

Tobacco cultivation in Anand district

worthless to do such a job," he said. Raj, thus, become an Ola cab driver.  After working for more than 14 hours a day, he has Rs 1100 net earnings. "No job can give me Rs 35000 a month. So, I'm now an Ola driver," Raj added.

The young driver said that he would vote for Modi. "You see this Sabarmati riverfront. It was a nullah full of garbage. There used to be long hours of traffic jams. No, we can zip through within minutes. We can earn more. Modi made this happen. I've to work hard to buy more cars which I can give to other drivers. There is no alternative than to work hard," Raj quipped. He hails from an OBC, and is an avowed Modi admirer. 

In between Chintu Patel and Agravat Raj, Gujarat has seemingly moved beyond the simmering embers of Godhra. 

Yet, the electoral verdict is incumbent upon a well oiled organisational machinery. The BJP may well just be far ahead of its rivals. 

Narendra Modi: Messiah mirage

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is piqued that his government is not yet hailed as messiah of the poor. That the poor have availed benefits of Rs 1400 crores so far from just two schemes of accidental and life insurance should have led to any other government hailed as a messiah, but not his, lamented Modi recently. Exuberant tone and tenor of Modi of the past is indeed betraying whining signs with 2019 date with people approaching quick enough.

INDIAN economy in the last quarter clocked a 6.3 per cent growth. It was on the back of 5.7 per cent shocker of the first quarter of the current fiscal. Within minutes of flash of the number, the Modi Cabinet dawned in full force to force awaken people about the dream run of the economy under the leadership of the Prime Minister.  There is no break from the pattern. 

National gloom arguably in the last years of the Manmohan Singh led government had been also on account of the economy ebbing, with last growth number registering 4.7 per cent. A few months in power, a prescient Modi government had revised the GDP calculation method in the fag end of 2014. That helped the last UPA growth number swell from 4.7 per cent to 6.5 per cent. If we just forget the prescient revision of norms, the last GDP growth number would come to about 4.5 per cent, which would be lower than the worst of the UPA's. About four and a half years ago, the reason for national gloom is now indeed a cause for national celebrations if the spin doctors of the Modi dispensation are to be believed.

"More than 15 crore poor have benefited from just two schemes of the government, which insure life and accident for 90 paisa a day and Rs 1 a month contributions. The poor have benefited with Rs 1400 crores so far. If any other government had done so much, it would have been hailed as a messiah," Modi gushed at the HT Leadership summit recently.

The media certainly seems at fault to have missed out from hailing Modi as a messiah ! This is the way the BJP looks at the media, that it should blow trumpet and sing paean. But that will be too much for asking, as contemporary history bears an undeniable proof.

Modi had cashed in on the aspirational dreams of the poor to break free from their existing conditions. He sought to pursue Make in India and Skill India with vigour. Both have gone adrift on a high sea now. If dream jobs were not created by the industrialists following the command of Modi, he sought to smoke out the rats sitting on mounds of black money. Demonetisation was unveiled. The Modi managers argue that demonetisation helped informal economy become formal. And, thus, all talks of job loss are hogwash.

"I have a report of the CMIE (Centre for monitoring Indian economy). I can bet you on your claims of job loss," PM's Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) chairman Bibek Debroy had blurted out when asked after the first meeting of the panel on concerns of employment loss in the country due to demonetisation. The CMIE within a month came up with its latest data, stating that 15 lakh people lost jobs in immediate months after demonetisation. The NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) data would come in after a long time to give an actual picture of employment. Since then the PM-EAC has held two more meetings, but Debroy has not yet come out to face the media. He obviously lost the bet hands down.

FORMER Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who is wrecker-in-chief of dream world of Modi

government, argues that the only way to find the extent of damage done to the economy on account of demonetisation is to look at anecdotal data in the absence of NSSO statistics. "Post-demonetisation, the small and medium enterprises in the unorganised sector bore the brunt of demonetisation. Those who lost jobs went back to their villages. That becomes evident from the Modi government making additional provision of Rs 11,000 crore under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Since the MGNREGS is an employment avenue of the last resort, it 's evident that there had been extensive job loss," Sinha told this blogger.

By all accounts, the Modi government in its tenure will not be touching eight per cent GDP growth. Economists agree that India needs to grow at eight per cent growth for 21 years in a row to lift its people out of poverty. By forcing India to a six-seven per cent growth path, Modi has arguably condemned the poor to remain poorer for far long time.   

There's, indeed, reason for Modi not yet been declared a messiah.

Rahul Gandhi makeover: Shine in Rahul's shadow

Bhukh hai to sabra kar, roti nahi to kya hua,

Aajkal Dilli mein hai zere bahas e mudda -- Dushyant Kumar.

CONGRESS vice president Rahul Gandhi suddenly discovered Dushyant Kumar. This claim may be in the realm of suspicion. More apt would be to say that Rahul began dishing out couplets of Dushyant Kumar from his book of Ghazal Saaye mein Dhoop. Rahul, who had been struggling to find a coherent narrative, began hitting headlines by borrowing from the pathos in couplets of Dushyant Kumar.

Dushyant Kumar is hailed as Mirza Ghalib of Hindi. He himself had been a self proclaimed admirer of Ghalib. He admits that he did not have even the hundredth of the talent of Ghalib. Yet, he notes that his pains are no less than that of Ghalib, which made the Urdu poet an immortal for those who feel their hearts beating.

"I don't believe that my pain is less than Ghalib's, or I felt them with lesser passion. It may be possible that each may have such false notion concerning his or her feelings. But history is testimony to all my pains," Dushyant Kumar writes in the introduction to "Saaye mein Dhoop". 

Dushyant Kumar had been a favourite for speakers in 80's and 90's, who sought to make an impact with their audiences. Sometimes, it did not matter whether the couplets of Dushyant Kumar related to the topic at hand. But, it had been fashionable to recall a few couplets with flair to convince the audiences of speaker's depth in literature. 

Kahan to tay tha chiragan harek ghar ke liye,

kahan chirag mayassar nahi shahar ke liye;

yahan darakhton ke saaye me dhoop lagati hai,

chalo yahan se chalen aur umra bhar ke liye.

Above couplets came out in all flair from a senior IPS officer in 90's, while speaking at an annual function of a local club. Dushyant Kumar's yearnings to run away from the pathos had no relevance with the topic of the evening. Yet, the couplets gave depth to his speech, with all clapping and admiration coming in plenty.

Rahul has dished out many other couplets from "Saaye mein Dhoop" with high stake Gujarat

Assembly elections playing out at a time when he's set on the path to take the baton from his mother Sonia Gandhi for the leadership of the party.  Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the source of pathos for the couplets dished out by the Gandhi scion.

Within the BJP, Modi detractors have seemingly refreshed their memories of the lines of "Saaye mein Dhoop". Ab kisi ko bhi nazar aati nahi darar, ghar ki har deewar par chipke haen itne ishthaar came handy for Shatrughan Sinha when he sought to lash out at Modi and his "council of sycophants" while speaking in the company of Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav, Ali Anwar, D Raja and others.  

THIS blogger, while mapping the political journey of Rahul, had previously termed him a submarine politician. That adrenaline shoots in his veins in the times of elections followed by long phase of hibernation in cooler chimes had indeed been Rahul's imprints on Indian politics. His arguably incoherent articulation of issues critical to a large number of people had been well documented. He once believed that escape velocity would be required for the people to break off from poverty; or, that power had been poison; or, the Indo-US nuclear deal had been critical to light the bulbs in the huts of Kalawati to ensure her daughters went to schools. His intellectual imprints on India's socio-political canvas have surely left fodder for analysis. 

Now that Rahul is diving into the Dushyant Kumar's treasure, it would indeed be key to find if he has begun connecting with the people. Himachal Pradesh is currently one of the few states being ruled by the Congress. Barring Karnataka and Punjab, the Congress could hardly count any other big states in its kitty. Thus, it must have been incumbent upon Rahul to defend Himachal Pradesh fiercely from the BJP chief Amit Shah, who is seeking a literal translation of Congress mukt Bharat.      

But the Gandhi scion could spare just one day to address three rallies in the hilly state where the octogenarian Veerbhadra Singh was left to fend with himself against the combined might of Modi-Shah, besides open rebellion from within the party ranks. 

Women in Kangra advising Rahul to work on his communication skills

On the campaign trail, this blogger sought out from the locals in the state if they missed Rahul at a time when they had to make the crucial decision to choose party/candidate to vote for. From Kangra to Palampur, from Hamirpur to Dharamshala, the common refrain was that the locals did not miss Rahul in their states. Some had suggestions for Rahul, that he should cease to be in a hurry to explain an issue. He should connect with the people; he seems to be in a great hurry; he's angry most of the times without explaining hos source of anger, opined a section of voters in Himachal Pradesh, which also included a few who hailed from the local Congress units.

"Rahul seems angry all the times. But we don't understand reasons for his anger. He should explain with little more leisure. He needs to improve his communication skills," Ritu Dadhwal (In pix) told this blogger in Jwalamukhi in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, 

Dushyant Kumar is a literary delight. His pathos survives. But Rahul may need to go beyond quoting from  "Saaye mein Dhoop".

Bullet train: Leap of faith

That the 508-km long Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed train, which is loosely called a bullet train,  will give a negative political dividend to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a certainty. Yet, this may be the only saving grace for the listless Modi administration on economic fronts in over three years in the office. The cost at Rs 1.10 lakh crore is jaw-dropping, but the spin-offs in a few decades will offset all the financial pain.

THE French Rail Corporation (SNC) in the business viability report had unequivocally stated that a

Shinkansen bullet train

standalone Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail corridor with speed in access of 350 kmph will have to be funded by the government. That it will not make profits for years is certain, which will keep the private investment away, the report submitted to the Ministry of Railways noted, while adding that the world over such endevour has been publicly funded.

Not that the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail could ever be profitable, the report had stated, and for such a scenario to emerge the Railways would need to spread a garland of inter-connected semi-high speed rail lines to help flow strong traffic. Such garland will surely take a few decades more to become a reality.  The SNC report had set the chill in the Ministry of Railways. The enthusiasm for the ambitious project had been dulled.

Japan is battling deflation. The population is aging. The manufacturing capacity there is in access of local and offshore demands. The capital is equally in access. The Japanese industries have to set up shops abroad to stay afloat. The idle Japanese capital needs avenues to sink in and make money. That China has cheap labour with population still younger along with manufacturing base at a scale which still awes the world long put Japan in quandary. 

But India and Japan are bound by historical bond of culture, besides absence of even an iota of animosity. Indeed, the high speed rail corridor project had been lying idle since the time of the UPA headed by Manmohan Singh. The first definitive agreement between the two nations had also been inked during the times of Singh. Yet, the Congress which swore by Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to win polls and trumpet its brand of politics could never believe in the capital intensive high speed rail corridor. The Congress knew well, the bullet train will hit with bullet speed in damaging the vote base. 

In contrast, Modi believes that the bullet train will help him get votes. And, he's not wrong either. 

THE state of economy since 2011 had slipped into a self-limiting warp. The appetite for private investment had been doused. The sword of fiscal deficit launched P Chidambaram and Arun Jaitely

afterwards into obsession for expenditure squeeze. The economy cried for a spark. This is vintage Modi, the Narendra Modi of Gujarat, that has been unveiled by the ground breaking ceremony of the high speed rail corridor project. Modi, the man who could execute expansion of Sardar Sarovar Project which lifts the flow of Narmada river by not less than 25 floor high building in a course of a few Kilometers, is promising to rediscover himself at a time when his government has to bat out the last few over in which he has to score unbelievably large runs.

Undeniably, the faith of rail travellers in the railways has been left shaken due to spare of mishaps in the last two years. Every train journey now looks suspect. Suresh Prabhu, who had been Minister for Railways for almost three years, though of taking up new projects -- new lines, capacity augmentation and fresh products. He forgot that the Kakodkar Committee in its report long back had cried for immediate modernization of at least 19,000 kms of rail tracks. No surprise, that derailments of trains constitute more than 50 per cent of the rail mishaps, which in turn most likely take place due to poor conditions of tracks. Prabhu forgot his basic mandate and lost the job.

In speed, the Railways has traveled least in the last four and a half decades. Premier trains of today -- Rajdhanis -- were launched in 1969. The inaugural Mumbai-Thane had run at a speed of 30 kmph. The average speed of the passenger trains now is just 60 kmph. The goods trains travel at much slower speed. Thus, the Railways could never gain the confidence, capacity and capability (3Cs) to break free from the status quo.   

THE Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail corridor will give the Indian railways the 3Cs to give the mobility solution to more than one billion people of the country. That hundreds of high ranking railway officials have already gone leadership training is already part of the India-Japan story. The upcoming high speed rail institute in Gandhinagar should be giving India not one but hundreds of E Sreedharan. The 3Cs will help Indian Railways to compete with China for rail projects in South-east Asia and Africa is another in-built sub-text of the story. That IRCON has already executed a few of the long route rail projects in South-east Asia is well known. 

Indian economy in the short term will gain from the pump-priming effect, as Rs 80,000 crores of the total project cost would be spent within the country on civil and associated works, which will generate demands for steel, cement, labour. Unlike the Dadri-JNPT dedicated freight corridor, Indian companies could also be the lead partner for bidding the civil works. Besides, the strong mandate for Make in India will hasten technology transfer in running high speed trains which over the years will have its own spill over effect.

Japan is sinking in Rs 88,000 crores in the Ahmedabad-Mumbail high speed rail corridor. This money is going into a standalone project and it was not available for the existing demands of the Indian Railways. The Ministry of railways will roughly contribute about Rs 20,000 crores in the course of next six years. 

That the money in parts will be returned to Japan beginning 15 years later at an interest of 0.1 per cent was the most low-lying fruit that Modi had to pluck to give the spark to the economy with just about 16 months to go for him to seek votes again.

Rising spate of unemployment in India: Is Modi riding a tiger

BJP top guns are sweating hard to talk gains of demonetization. Hard-selling his book "I do what I do", Raghuram Rajan has  emerged within a few days a nemesis of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Desperation on the back of mainstream media not believing numbers thrown by government to talk achievements is sinking in fast. In three years, Modi seems high on the steroid administered by achievements on borders with China and Pakistan, but quite fragile on domestic front, with unemployment at its peak.

Anand Mahindra is arguably a straight-talking India Inc man. He is also one of a few Indian industrialists who has been expanding his businesses. But he too is not an industrialist who invests in employment intensive sector. He prefers businesses with light manpower. And, so does most of the Indian industrialists, with vision of just immediate future. Expansion of the industry and the consequent job growth happens when industrialists think long into the future with certainty of growth. 

India undeniably is caught in a time when vision is short -- ultra short.       

"In the special economic zones (SEZs) of Gujarat, most liberal labour laws are in practice backed by

world class infrastructure. yet, I've not seen industrialists taking advantage of facilities to invest in employment intensive industries," first vice-chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya told Mahindra in a discussion with an intention to genuinely know why Indian industrialists have aversions about businesses which could trigger employment generation.

Before Mahindra could shed light of his wisdom, a senior officer, betraying a sense of resignation, stated that the ministry of labour had engaged the industry captains and sought to know from them what all changes they wanted so that they could take up businesses with employment generation. She rued that no concrete suggestion came. "We talk of labour regulations impeding on industrial growth. Yet, when asked what all regulations should go, there are no answers from the industry," the officer told Mahindra.

At last Mahindra replied, with an admission that Indian industrialists are only attempting to imitate the outsiders setting up shops in the country. "We are best following others. The foreigners are coming and setting up units in the country. We may be watching them out and follow them in the coming years," Mahindra quipped.

The Economic Survey of 2015-16 pegged unemployment at five per cent, a notch higher than previous year. Subsequently, situations have only worsened. The informal sector accounts for bulk of employment in the country. The construction sector has been the bellwether of employment. They lay battered following demonetization. The result was reflected well in the numbers, as the first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) of 2017-18 slumped to 5.7 per cent. Rating agencies rushed to scale down growth projection to 7 per cent. Growing at 8 or more per cent GDP growth rate is a distant dream for at least a couple of years by all accounts.

So, what happens to employments in a country where 68 per cent of population is in working age group. Number of the working population is on an ascent only. Millions of youth are passing out from schools, colleges and institutes with prospects of job market further squeezing. That they would become employer is looking a crude joke after all the talks of Start Up India, Stand Up India turning out to be all about App and portal makers bottled in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

"We've given 80,000 jobs in various government departments in the last one year. But they youth don't remove their names from the employment exchange till they get the jobs of their choices. That explains why there is not much of change in the job data," the Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani reasoned at unemployment rising to quite high level.

The organizational secretary of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) Kashmiri Lal claims that the Chinese goods coming in the country account for 50 per cent of the Indian manufacturing outputs. "Chinese firms are making a clean profit of Rs 65,000 crore ($9 billion) annually, besides having a Rs 7 lakh crore trade value. If only we can replace them with our domestic manufacturing capacities, the impact on employment could be evident," Lal opined. 

But Lal will not admit that the Indian industrialists long back turned into traders of Chinese goods.

So, what happens to the promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Agra in 2013 that if the BJP was to be voted to power 10 million jobs would be created. The BJP chief answers that

historical riddle with number-crunching from Mudra scheme. A month back, he had quipped that 7.28 crore Mudra beneficiaries have gained from the loans, which now has surpassed 8.25 crores. They're employers also, the BJP leaders would make others believe. But the Mudra beneficiaries are mostly in the semi-urban and rural areas, yet the economy hasn't got any evident shot of adrenaline for demands.

Yes, the stock market is at a record high. With banking instruments offering only an inflation neutral returns and the property option flattened, surplus money is pouring in strong stream to the Dalal Street.

With employments on freeze, Modi may well be riding a tiger.