Every government does advertise its schemes and achievements. I suppose they must be having budgets set aside for advertising too. However, the fact is that these days, the political parties are not willing to spare ambulances and public toilets as a publicity tool for their candidate and respective political parties. We all know that neither covering an ambulance van nor the walls of the public toilets is possible. These political parties, during their tenure, invest in such crucial pockets to make the best use of them during the election protocol. It does seem that the money could have been put to better use but then, the fact is that everything is important in some way and a lot of seemingly frivolous government expenditure actually helps in keeping the economy going. Government expenditure has to be spread out across the sectors. The money spent on advertisements and publicity helps in providing liquidity to the media sectors as well as allows the government to reach out to the voters. Any government expenditure in India is money being put back into the economy, which generates employment and also further income for the government in the form of taxes. It doesn’t seem appropriate to spend public funds with the intention of popularising itself but every government has done it and will keep doing it. The ruling government is always alleged of spending inappropriate funds on its own PM’s and party’s publicity. Let’s have a fair look at some important points and make self-examination of five years of Modi Sarkar.
During these years, the Modi government spent a lot of money on publicising their agendas but had no control over his ministers. From giving illogical, offensive statements to killing witnesses — in all these occurrences, PM Modi was a mute spectator. Big promises of giving a huge chunk of Rs 15 lakhs to every Indian (indirect benefits of the same amount), bringing back all the black money, etc. were the main promises given by Narendra Modi to win the position. However, now the party members simply call them as jumlas. Demonetisation should have been the second step. In the first step, the government should catch the known defaulters like Lalu Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Shibu Soren, etc. and others who fled from India. They already knew many politicians, bureaucrats who hold billions of black money. They must be the first targets and if handled properly, then demonetisation can be postponed and implemented with proper planning and correct implementation. However, the government chose to make the common man a sufferer.
They opposed the FDI when implemented by the UPA. It’s impossible for a normal retailer to compete with brands like Amazon, Walmart, etc. It will destroy the traditional markets of our country and bring a monopoly of big brands only.
Allowing Reliance JIO was the biggest favour where the government preferred to be blind. Now, some may argue that Reliance invested a lot on 4G and it’s their initiative. Then, what if tomorrow Microsoft wants to invest the same amount of money for 5G and snatch all the customers of telecom from JIO?
Being a mute spectator in the education field appointments — from the Notorious BHU Chancellor to an incompetent Education Minister — all were only for returning favours. Even when Gajendra Chauhan was appointed and opposed, minister like Subramanian Swamy said to students, “You can leave the institute”. Wasn’t it a height of arrogance and that too when the same Swamy acts as a lawyer for rapist Asaram. Apart from all of these, the Unnecessary expenditure to please people of particular state/caste: Building Statue of Unity, Bullet Trains (it’s a loan and even with low percentage we have to pay it back) were neither necessary nor an hour of need. Anyone can take the law in their own hand whether they are Jats, Gujars, Rajputs, farmers, Babas or SC/STs. State wise and Caste wise politics are a license to people to create chaos. Changing Supreme Court decisions, appointing President on the basis of caste, etc. are some points where PM Modi not only failed big time but also contributed in bringing country backward. Many fake pages are running on social media by promoting lies (both supporting and against the government). It can be tamed down with an agreement with social media barons but BJP IT cell was aggressive than anyone in spreading fake news and PM rather felt comfortable with it. He himself distorted the facts and blatantly spread lies through his election speeches.
Earlier BJP had many commanding leaders in the party, who can uphold the position fearlessly, were brave enough, competent, and intellectual. Now, the entire power is limited to Amit Shah. No one in the party has the courage to go against him, talk anything against him, or oppose him. He is the one who brings more bad practices in politics. He can go to any extent for the power. PM remains either a mute spectator or found supporting him, but he never reinforced a healthy democracy.
Lastly, at times, the PM has always cursed the opposition for his failures too. The Mantra that “they had not done anything in 60 years, we are at least doing something” is again a bad practice. We know that they were failed at points and that’s why BJP has got the chance. So, work instead of wasting time and resources on the comparison. Advertisement, publicity, money spending, propaganda and far more is credited to the Modi government, but still, if we look at the larger picture, we have no political alternative. At least, we have to accept that we don’t see any suitable leader as our PM to counter Narendra Modi. In such circumstances, we remain with no choice. Still, do not get carried away with the adverts, just give your thought why you want to choose a leader that you have already wanted to vote. Vote for the deserving candidate.
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