AAP finds new alibis to hide its incompetence

Aam Aadmi Party leaders have done it again! To hide their non-performance they are now resorting to mudslinging. The press conference held by some AAP leaders on Feb 3 in Delhi conveyed just one message to the people of Delhi and the country: that their government has failed to deliver, and as a consequence the party is under intense public scrutiny. So much so that one of their legislators was slapped in Sangam Vihar by an ‘aam aurat’. And now to divert the debate from the issue of governance the party is indulging in all sorts of diversionary tactics.

The AAP has failed to deliver on even a single promise. Rather than sorting out the mess created by its alliance partner Congress during its last 15 years’ rule in this city, the AAP’s disastrous policies have only resulted in a deepening of the power crisis in the capital.

The AAP government’s anarchic approach has led to complete chaos in schools, the Delhi Transport Corporation, the Delhi Jal Board and the Law department. With people mounting pressure on the government, the CM went on on a dharna just to get three junior cops suspended! This was actually done to divert the attention of the common people of the city who have now begun asking openly why the AAP is not delivering.

This dharna by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejrival and his colleagues added fuel to the fire of discontent that was already raging. He and his ministerial colleague were slammed by all quarters for substituting work with political antics.

So the AAP decided to take another rabbit out of its hat, believing that this would help divert people’s attention further from its non-performance. Its leaders made wild allegations that the BJP was trying to destabilise its government!

The fact of the matter is that no help is needed to bring down this government go. It is already collapsing under the growing burden of its own contradictions. One legislator has already revolted openly. It is interesting to see how Kejriwal and his colleagues change their colours. I am no fan of Vinod Kumar Binny, but isn’t it amazing that the same Binny was a comrade-in-arms of Kejriwal till the elections (Kejriwal would take Binny’s name in almost every speech glorifying the former’s experiment of ‘mohalla sabha’). Yet he is now the biggest villain for the AAP — and all because he has raised some tough questions.

Similar has been the fate of a former diplomat who was shouted down when she raised some valid objections about the behaviour of Delhi’s Law Minister Somnath Bharti. The latter in fact has become the mascot of Arvind Kejriwal launches Education helplinethe AAP government in Delhi, and rightly so as he personifies the party’s scant regard for the law of the land.

Kejriwal’s tactics are simple and easy to understand, because he has become so repetitive now. When he and his party are under fire he tries to create a controversy and an issue out of non-issue. To do that AAP has a single-point formula — make wild allegations. This time they did this by releasing a list of leaders, charging them with corruption, and even naming some BJP leaders.

But like others in the past this move too has backfired for the AAP, which was roundly condemned for hitting below the belt. It had no evidence and yet it came out with a list of leaders calling them corrupt. Ironically, its government in Delhi has spared the corrupt Congress leaders who looted Delhi for 15 years; and this despite the fact that there is ample evidence in the form of CAG reports, Lokayukta’s decisions and other reports of several committees and investigating agencies to build a solid case against the previous government.

After realising that he has lost the support of people, Kejriwal is now trying to project his government as a sacrificial lamb. At the press conference on February 3 he and his partymen again made wild allegations that their government was being destabilised at the behest of the BJP.

The question is whether they at all need someone from outside to destabilise this tottering non-performing government. In fact this government’s genesis lies in an unholy alliance between two parties whose leaders were contesting against each other prior to the polls. Corruption by the Congress was a key issue in the Delhi assembly polls. While the BJP, despite being the largest party in Delhi Assembly, set up high moral standards by refusing to form the government, the AAP’s top leadership was ready to crawl when it was asked to bend by the Congress.

The allegations that the BJP was trying to destabilise the AAP government at today’s press conference was a last-ditch effort by this completely non-performing alliance of the AAP and the Congress to defend the indefensible. But this too will not cut much ice with the voters who have seen through the AAP’s diversionary tactics. These tactics won’t work. People want this government to stop playing havoc with the institutional framework and start working with seriousness to deliver on the promises which it made. However, I don’t see much happening on that front as the intentions of Kejriwal and his colleagues are very clear. They just want to create and play up controversies till the Lok Sabha polls to serve their larger political interests. But by doing this they are only deceiving themselves, as they stand completely exposed by now.

Blog Link : http://www.newsroompost.com/aap-finds-new-alibis-hide-incompetence/

Who is guilty of diverting the national debate away from real issues ?

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s detailed interview to a television channel preceded by a similar interview to a leading Hindi newspaper few days ago is a clear attempt by the party to salvage his image as well as the image of the party. But no such effort can be successful as Rahul Gandhi did not address the key issues concerning the nation.

What Rahul Gandhi said in his interviews so far clearly show that the Congress is not addressing the fundamental issues of inflation, unemployment, stunted economic growth.

Congress stands on shaky ground when it comes to the issue of riots too though it has been trying to rake up the issue in a bid to divert the debate from many other important issues.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) which worked under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court has completely absolved Narendra Modi of the accusations levelled against him by political rivals of the BJP.

There is ample evidence to show that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi acted swiftly while Congress leaders abetted the 1984 riots in Delhi through their acts of omission as well as commission.

In Gujarat, the 70,000 strong police force was deployed with full strength on 27 February. Along with this all available units of Rapid Action Force were also deployed. Army was called on 28 February and all newspapers reported at that time as that the Army was staging a flag march as early as March 1, 2002.

In 1984, the police was a moot spectator. Army units were available but they were not called for three full days even as mindless violence against Sikhs had engulfed the city.

We must remember here that the real travesty of justice was not betrayed at that time as there were no 24 hour TV news channels unlike the situation in 2002 when the state government was being watched, reported and scrutinised through images beaming across the nation to millions of households.

No one in BJP supported the 2002 Gujarat riots while the statement of then Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi may be recalled – “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.”

However, it would also be pertinent to have a look at this issue in the context of development related issues and a larger nationalistic perspective. There are now enough indications that Congress has realised that it is no match for the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. With Narendra Modi’s impeccable record of development, recognised and appreciated not only within the country but also globally, Congress doesn’t want to contest this issue on the agenda of ‘development and good governance’. So it has been trying to take the political discourse away from the issue of development and good governance.

That is why it has been trying to rake up a debate on the issue of communalism by making wild allegations which are not backed by any evidence. Whether it was the case of Bhagalpur riots in Bihar or anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, Congress’ acts of omissions and commissions are well recorded.

It is time that we also call off the Congress’ bluff of raking up issues which take the national debate away from the issue of development. With at least a quarter of the population living below the poverty line, reduction in employment opportunities, economic growth falling below 5%, food inflation consistently soaring above double digits, any attempt to put these crucial issues on backburner are deplorable. And this is exactly what Rahul Gandhi did in his interview broadcast on Monday!

Blog Link : http://www.newsroompost.com/guilty-diverting-national-debate-away-real-issues/

Major fiscal fiasco of the UPA govt

Despite tall claims made by the UPA government, it is going to slip on the fiscal deficit front. In the first 8 months of the current fiscal year, the fiscal deficit has already touched around 94% of the gross budget estimates.

It may be recalled here that the union finance minister P. Chidambaram had set up a target of restricting the ballooning fiscal deficit of India to Rs 5.4 trillion in year 2013-14. This was around 4.8% of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of India.
However it is the same old story here. The government made lot of claims and created lot of hype on the efforts made by it to control the fiscal deficit. But as we approach the need of the fiscal year, it appears that this another area where the UPA government has failed to honour its word.

When we look the reasons of this fiscal fiasco, there are clear indications that this government did not make enough effort. There has been sharp rise in expenses of the government and the tax collection is weak. The government had targeted a 19.1% growth rate in next tax collections. But till November 2013, the trend was quite discouraging with only 44.8% of the target being achieved. It is unlikely, given the state of economy, that this shortfall can be made in the last four months of the fiscal year. According to an estimate by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), “the Net tax collections during 2013-14 is to fall short of its target by around Rs 300 billion. At Rs 8.5 trillion, these would be only 14.7% higher than the collections last year.”

Disinvestment process has again been a non-starter The government had targeted to raise Rs 558 billion through process of disinvestment in the year 2013-14. But so far going by the tardy progress it has made in this area due to policy paralysis and lack of clarity, absence of focus and lack of coordination, it is likely to be able to raise only a fraction of the target.
According to the CMIE estimates, “ The deficit this year will exceed its budgeted amount by around Rs 120 billion and measure at five per cent of the GDP.”

What worries me is the indication that to bridge the fiscal deficit target this government is trying to cut down on plan expenditure. This would straight away affect welfare schemes of the government. This would further affect millions of people who are reeling under the onslaught of inflation and corruption which have become hallmarks of the Congress led UPA government, There is also a serious risk of India’s rating getting further downgraded by the international rating agencies if we miss the fiscal deficit target again. It is appalling to see how UPA government has messed up India’s economic affairs and it continues to brazenly do so. The sooner this sad saga of disastrous UPA regime ends, the better it will be for India.