Narendra Modi pitches for 'vibrant India', positions himself for 2014 polls

February 7, 2013

vibrant_India

New Delhi, Feb 7: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi made a powerful entry on the national centrestage by aggressively hawking his Gujarat model of development and governance as an alternative to the ruling coalition at the Centre, claiming his way would lift the despair enveloping the country and help it realize its potential.

Modi's forceful performance at the country's top commerce college — Shri Ram College of Commerce — and the response it got from his youthful audience is likely to add to the momentum already building up within the BJP for his formal projection as the party's prime ministerial candidate even at the cost of losing Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as an ally.

It was Modi's first public appearance in Delhi since his third straight victory in Gujarat and it came amid steadily growing indications about the larger Sangh Parivar tilting towards showcasing him as the BJP's counter to Rahul Gandhi for the 2014 match up.

Modi made full use of the opportunity as he flaunted the impressive growth Gujarat has clocked under his watch. He did not attack the UPA directly, but projected a forward-looking vision to connect with what is loosely referred to as aspirational India — the constituency of youth which is perceived to be up for grabs because of disillusionment with Congress.

He appeared to have pitched it right, with the speech — telecast live by all the networks — receiving repeated applause from the college stadium packed to the rafters. The BJP leader was greeted with cheers when he reached the venue. Outside, though, there was a large group protesting against him and a strong police contingent used lathi charges and water cannon to keep it at bay.

For many, the demonstration was evidence of Modi being a polarizing presence because of the 2002 Gujarat riots: something which is cited by his rivals within the BJP as well as allies like Nitish Kumar to argue that he does not have prime ministerial credentials.

But the cheers that Modi evoked from SRCC students, a group with a predisposition for entrepreneurship and economic growth, reinforced the argument of the faction which feels that only he can bring in the additional votes that BJP needs to overtake Congress decisively. This faction now appears to have gained an upper hand in the leadership debate.

The actual leadership drill is set to start next month when BJP holds meetings of its national executive and national council. The twin exercises will clear the way for Modi's return to the central parliamentary board as a possible prelude to his appointment as the chairman of the party's campaign committee. The decision on whether to project him or not will take longer to resolve but there is no mistaking the trajectory.

His foray into the Capital on Wednesday showed that Modi was game for the challenge. Coming after his visit to Rajasthan for a wedding and his plan to visit Allahabad for the Maha Kumbh on March 12, the outing at SRCC showed that speculation about a national role may have encouraged the chief minister, so far comfortably ensconced in Gujarat, to venture farther afield.

Modi certainly did not seem fazed by the protesters as he reached out to his audience. "Minimum government, maximum governance is my creed," he said: an apt formulation for a college which has been the recruiting ground for corporate India and where a government with heavy footprint has always been frowned upon.

There was more on similar lines. Modi bandied his 3 'S' — skill, scale and speed - as the means to break out of stagnant growth India is currently experiencing. The extempore speech was peppered with managerial formulations — value addition, skill development, lab-to-land (agriculture), farm-to-fiber-to-factory-to-fashion (textile), and P2G2 (pro-people good governance).

The criticism of vote-bank politics appeared tailor-made for the throng that routinely despairs at the premium placed on identity politics a short shrift to "merit". If the focus on development brought out the eagerness of the man to leave 2002 behind and to be judged on the secular parameters of growth, investment and development, Modi's attempt to tap into the aspiration-driven youth was quite evident. "There are those who consider you the new age voter, but for me, you are the new age power who can help India realize the glory Vivekananda had envisioned," he said.

Modi started off by painting himself as an unrepentant optimist. "For me, the glass is always full," he declared, waving the tumbler kept for him at the lectern. The "we-can-do-it" theme ran through the nearly hour-long speech, with Modi asserting that the 21st century would be India's and declaring that the country can overtake China in manufacturing.

The effort to showcase his pro-growth credentials had him dipping into the nitty-gritty of packaging and benefits of brand building. Modi said 121 countries and business houses accounting for the 50% of India's GDP had gathered under one roof for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and that too, at just 11 days' notice.

In the same vein, he asserted that it took him just 162 days to build the country's largest convention centre and that takes just 19 months for a company from the drawing board to start manufacturing coaches for the Delhi Metro in Gujarat.

But did not lose sight of his larger message: an optimistic and hopeful future for a youthful country which deserved better than the all-pervasive despair. "India was a land of snake charmers but now it is known for its mouse charmers (referring to India's expertise in software). And this would not have been possible without the young hands that we have. That shows that Swami Vivekanand was right when he declared that India will be the world leader once again. This is the era of knowledge economy and the opportunity for India to take its rightful place at the top," he concluded to a generous applause.

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Congress expels Scindia for anti-party activities after he meets Modi, Shah

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March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Minutes after Jyotiraditya Scindia submitted his resignation to the party membership to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress expelled him for anti-party activities after reports emerged that he had met PM Modi and Amit Shah.

Disgruntled Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday amid indications that he might join hands with the BJP to topple the Madhya Pradesh government.

Sources said Scindia first met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and then the two leaders met Modi at the prime minister's residence.

Legislators loyal to Scindia, who has been upset with the Congress leadership with his marginalisation in the affairs of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, are likely to quit the party to reduce the Kamal Nath-led government to a minority.

It is likely to be followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party staking claim to form the government in the state.

The Congress President has approved the expulsion of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Indian National Congress with immediate effect for "anti-party activities," said KC Venugopal, General Secretary Congress.

No person is, nor will be greater than the party: Congress youth wing chief

Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief Srinivas B V on Tuesday slammed Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has announced his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress, and thanked party chief Sonia Gandhi for expelling the former Guna MP "who was promoting anti-party activities and factionalism".

"The history of 1857 and 1967 was once again repeated," Srinivas B V said, referring to the 1857 Revolt against East India Company and the role of the Scindia royals back then as well as Vijayaraje Scindia's switch from the Congress to the Jana Sangh in 1967.

"I would like to thank Congress president Sonia Gandhiji for taking the strong steps to expel the leader who was promoting anti-party activities and factionalism," the IYC chief said.

"No person is, nor will be greater than the party," he added.

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'Go wherever you want': Nitish Kumar to party men fighting over CAA

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January 23,2020

Patna, Jan 23: "They should go wherever they want," Bihar Chief Minister and JDU supremo Nitish Kumar said on Thursday when asked of Prashant Kishor and Pavan Verma's repeated questions about the party's stand's on the newly enacted Citizenship Act.

"It is their personal decision. They should go wherever they want. We don't have an objection. Don't look at JDU in the context of statements by some people. JDU works with determination. We have a clear stand and don't have any confusion," the Chief Minister told reporters here.

"If they have something to tell, they should come and discuss it within the party. They should go wherever they want. They have my good wishes," he said.

JDU spokesperson and national general secretary Pavan Verma has questioned his party's alliance with the BJP in Delhi Assembly polls while Kishor has more than once made his differences with the party known on the issue of the amended Citizenship Act, and National Register of Citizens.

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System cleaning done by BJP govt after 2014 unbelievable, says Nirmala Sitharaman

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January 20,2020

New Delhi, Jan 20: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the kind of cleaning in the system that the BJP-led government had to carry out after coming to power in 2014 was "unbelievable" and it undertook the exercise without any grudge or worry.

Between 2014-16, there were a lot of questions as to why reforms did not come fast and there were comments that the government was incapable of bringing them, she said delivering the Nani Palkhivala Memorial lecture on "Road Map to $5 Trillion Economy" here.

Pointing out that there were allegations and criticism that the government wants to do something but it did not, Sitharaman said, "I am fully willing to buy that." She recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi often said he did not believe in incremental changes and the country needed good transformational change. The stage in which India is today, it cannot have little marginal increments, but good transformational change.

"But still one might say in the last five years the government never did. That can be a critical analysis and I am fully willing to buy that. Because post-2014 the kind of cleaning up the government had to do was unbelievable and we undertook that exercise without a grudge without a worry.. we had to do it and it is part of the game," she said. Elaborating, Sitharaman said states have their own views on Land Acquisition Bill and the government could not have done anything because land, after all, is with them.

Commenting on the topic 'Road Map to $5 trillion economy,' she said quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments, the government would take the route "Sarkar ka abhaav nahi hona chahiye, prabhaav hona chahiye aur dabaav nahi hona chahiye."

"Abhaav and dabaav both of which are not desirable, abhaav is the inadequacy or lack of adequate presence or shortfall. You do not need a shortfall. You need a government where it should be present, where it is expected to function.", she said.

"So there should not be abhaav. Dabaav (meaning pressure) is not something you want from the government. So, you want Prabhaav. It is broadly an influence, facilitation, broadly the philosophy with which it is mandated, she said.

Noting that the government has got the mandate through the election, she said, "The mandate was spelt out in so many different ways in its manifesto. So the route towards $5 trillion is this."

"We have to be there to facilitate. We have to be there to make it easy. We have to be where you need us, where there is no policy (reforms from the government)," she said.

On the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) implemented by the government, the union minister said the approach of the IBC was not to shut business. "IBC takes on the approach in having some kind of resolution where all people who exploited the company do not come back through the "back door," she said.

IBC was done through better management so that the institution is alive and kicking. It is something which she wanted to carry forward from Modi 1.0 to 2.0. "The point I am trying to make on this road to $5 trillion economy is that it is not just an abstraction, this is not how I want India to be. But in micro-level too, we are coming in response to every stakeholder," she said.

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LOL. Do not say anything, else she will get angry.