Narendra Modi and his government have been consistently losing credibility from the time they took office in 2014. Maybe that is the reason for some of his bombastic statements that are being made from time to time and which are increasing on the magnitude of the claim from one to the other. Like the latest one that India has become cleaner in the last 4 years than in the previous 65 years. If you look around you, you know that this is not true since you still find garbage strewn on the roads, animal poop dot our roads and open spaces, there is litter all around along with construction material. People still go out with their lotas or in the new avatar, plastic bottles in the morning to do their ablutions though it is claimed that the country is moving towards OD – Outdoor Defecation free status. These claims are in the nature of good sloganeering but bad in fact.
Some time back it was claimed that all villages in India or some 90% of them have been provided with electricity. Very soon after newspapers carried news of large swathes of the country not having been provided connections for electricity.
The major credibility issue of Modi and his government is about economic indices and to show among them in an almost obsessive way that the GDP growth is close to 8%. For this since 2014 this BJP government changed the base years so that the GDP figures are given a more rosy hue. But unfortunately in the manner of a stalled engine for no apparent reason the GDP recently has not been able to go just a tad beyond 7%.
It has also been lately said in the public domain the growth in both UPA 1 & 2 had been better than that of the BJP since 2014. This has brought the need to be more raucous about any GDP growth that just crossed 7% like in the April-June 2018 quarter. This celebration was somewhat neutralised by proving the previous year same quarter the figures were not so good for comparison and hence the present year’s quarter tipping the 7% mark.
Even on jobs data, it is the same situation where 1 crore jobs were promised but lately when the issue came up that though this government has been talking about growth and even if it has been there it has not resulted in increase in jobs. The charge has been that it is jobless growth. To counter this charge the government came up with figures saying it has created lakhs of jobs mainly in government.
There was also talk of a 56-inch chest a couple of years back, oft repeated since then, which also needs to be verified. It may not be true since rarely does rhyming reflect the fact of actual physical attributes. There has been also some time that has passed since the first claim which may have changed the 56 inch for better or for worse. Give or take a few inches. That’s life,Modi!
