Prime Minister Narendra Modi paused in the midst of his hectic campaigning to give a comprehensive TV interview to News18. He clarified the BJP/NDA position on a pressing matter of great importance, one that could not be left hanging in the air as it would have given scope to rumours. So the prime minister squashed it, while commenting on many other report card issues.
PM Modi said, without any ifs and buts, that the BJP/NDA would neither consider, nor implement wealth redistribution or an inheritance tax. He said, “I do not think they are solutions by any stretch of the imagination.” He indicated that such misguided moves would push the country away from the growth path.
In another interview given to a national daily, Prime Minister Modi called the idea of redistribution of wealth “a clear example of Maoist thinking and ideology” and a “sinister plan” which was “a recipe for disaster”. He added that the Indian Constitution “protects the property of all minorities”. This means that when the Congress talks of wealth for the poor, “it cannot consider waqf properties… but it will eye the properties of other communities”. This certainly did not conform to any secular principles.
Prime Minister Modi also said that the Congress is “trying to loot” the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and that the Congress manifesto for 2024 has the “stamp of the Muslim League”.
The Congress had classified Muslims as OBCs in Karnataka in the 1990s, the prime minister asserted. In 2004, the Congress tried to give OBC status to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh too, but the matter got stuck in court. In 2009, the Congress manifesto stated it was going to give a share to the Muslims out of the 29 per cent reserved for OBCs. In 2011, the Congress moved a cabinet note on this matter. The party tried to gain mileage from this in the UP elections as well but to no avail. Meanwhile, the Andhra High Court cancelled the Congress-sponsored Muslim quota in 2012. It was taken up to the Supreme Court but did not succeed.
Muslim quotas are referred to in the 2014 Congress manifesto, and again now in 2024, but with further inroads via ideas of wealth redistribution, a so-called X-ray of society, and the inheritance tax proposal.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the UPA decade, famously said that Muslims had the first right to the nation’s resources too. Because of the sharp public reaction to all this, not likely to enthuse the voter in the remaining rounds of the election, and that of the BJP, the Congress subsequently backtracked. It denied that it wanted to redistribute wealth and that it was not in the party’s manifesto. It also claimed it does not want to impose the inheritance tax, spoken of by Sam Pitroda overseas as a mere example of redistribution.
However, in exposing the Congress and its nefarious designs, the prime minister took pains to explain there was no discrimination against Muslims in the NDA government. Muslims were counted equally amongst all Bharat’s citizens under his Sabka Vikas policies. Prime Minister Modi has taken all the Congress pronouncements on board as something serious. He went on to call wealth redistribution based on a socio-economic survey an “urban Naxal” thought.
The rest of the extensive and comprehensive interview, given by the prime minister, largely focused on the achievements of the NDA government over the last decade and contrasted it with that of the UPA.
There is a very good reason why Prime Minister Modi decided to nip this set of dangerous ideas in the bud. This is more so because certain elements are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to put out provocative fake videos and audio bytes purportedly coming from the prime minister and home minister.
The Opposition Congress may be under the impression that the destiny of Bharat is at a crossroads, where its radical intervention can turn the tide, once more, in its favour. To the ruling NDA, this reasoning is bizarre and retrograde, using, as it does, hardline Communist tropes and blatant minority appeasement.
Most polls have indicated a thumping majority for the BJP and NDA with final tallies near the 400-seat mark. Yet, the Congress persists in putting out that the BJP/NDA cannot get more than 200, and that the Opposition alliance will form the new government.
Prime Minister Modi’s clear-cut intervention in the media was to reiterate that the national policy direction is firmly on the path of growth and prosperity for all Indian citizens without discrimination. This is not the time, in the middle of the election, to interfere with the well-earned momentum in the economy. Inflation is controlled, the fiscal deficit is well managed, foreign exchange reserves are robust, farm produce is doing well, the stock market and real estate are booming, and national security is strong. Nor can the country brook disruption of the multifarious government policy initiatives, designed to transform Bharat. The continuity over three terms is a very important part of the success to come.
A case in point is the mighty effort going into defence manufacturing, greenfield electronic chip manufacturing, modernisation, connectivity, digitisation, and health facilities. The period to 2029 will also see India becoming the third-largest major economy in the world, with a GDP approaching $10 trillion. This may be unimaginable to many, and no doubt gives the Congress nightmares.
The Modi vision, which is also BJP’s stated policy as per its 2024 manifesto, indicates a widening and deepening of the welfare and development policies that are mostly already in place. They are collectively designed to lead India to the status of an advanced country by 2047.
Of those nestling in dark shadows, there are some in the West who are jealous and incredulous that a colonial underling of the White world should make such stellar progress. There are, of course, many in China and Pakistan who are against the unity, diversity, survival and prosperity of India. Some more like a Canada-based Khalistani movement, Maoists in the city and jungle, insurgents in the Northeast, Islamic infiltrators, George Soros and fellow travellers, are certainly not happy. Amongst all of them, is the Congress party, which cannot digest its predicament after ruling the country for more than five decades. The grand old party is terrified that if it doesn’t make a dent in this election, it is destined towards political oblivion.
But now, Prime Minister Modi has joined the fight and is determined to ensure that there is no derailment of the process.
The writer is a Delhi-based political commentator. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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