Criticising Narendra Modi as a Prime Minister, who only “tweets” rather than talking to the people, social activist Aruna Roy on Thursday said there appeared to be “more rhetoric but very little action” on his part.
Rejecting the criticism, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, however, said the Prime Minister speaks his heart out and expressed confidence about his abilities to deliver.
“While Modi has been using social media to communicate with the people, the conversation has gone only in one direction. He is there as a representative of all of us. But he can’t just tweet to us. He can’t just have an email address. He has to talk to us,” Roy said.
Roy, Founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana and formerly a member of National Advisory Council, however, said it was an opaque government and “we don’t know what is happening. He has to speak to us and not just tweet to us”.
“I have great faith in people of India… We need systemic changes. Democracy is working in some states, but people are rethinking… The Indian society is divided and you are living the life like an ostrich,” she added.
Roy said there was “the other India that is unhappy and distressed by a whole spate of promises that have not been fulfilled”.
Expressing concern that “Modi is not moving fast enough”, she said there was “more rhetoric but very little action and, in some cases, they are going backwards”.
“We don’t know what the government is doing. It is an opaque government. We don’t have a roadmap,” she said, while speaking at a session on ‘A New India: Free, Fair and Prosperous’ during India Economic Summit, organised by WEF and CII.
Speaking at the same session, Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, said the Prime Minister talks and “he is not a Prime Minister who only talks”.
“The Prime Minister is aware that the whole world is watching and assessing his performance… He will ensure that there is development for all,” Goyal said further, after Roy raised concerns during the summit here that India under the Modi government remains “divided”.
“He does not want to segregate society. Rather than giving lip service, he is on the ground working for justice for all. After years of deprivation, this is a process that won’t happen in a month,” Goyal said.
