It’s trying to hoodwink the people in BJP style
As per the instructions of the national BJP leadership, the Gujarat chief minister reduced VAT on fuel prices. The Gujarat government has just announced loans up to ‘3 lakhs to farmers at zero per cent interest.
The BJP has always been in the habit of patting itself on the back. Narendra Modi rode his way to South Block by constantly chanting the development mantra. Now it is surprising to see that the BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 22 years but it is still not confident about its chances in the coming Assembly elections. There have been a lot of surprises about Gujarat, and the Election Commission decided to delay the announcement of elections in the state. This meant a delay in the coming into force of the model code of conduct (MCC).
The Prime Minister was in the state a few days back. He sensed traders are unhappy and tried to shift the responsibility of a shoddy GST away from his government. He addressed a gathering of BJP workers, switching to Gujarati, and assured the business community to trust the party and its government’s word on the issue of GST, which, he said, had been approved by all political parties. “We are making efforts to sort out pending bottlenecks, if any, in periodical GST Council meetings.” He also assured that their old records wouldn’t be scrutinised again. It would have been better had these bottlenecks been sorted out before making the grand spectacle of a midnight gong on June 30.
Now with the MCC not in force, reports came in that the BJP-ruled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) extended its standing committee meeting by an hour-and-a-half to clear projects worth `530 crores in just 10 minutes. In Vadodara, the BJP-ruled Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) cleared 59 development projects, of which road projects itself are worth `47.50 crores. Similarly, more media reports are emanating that the Prime Minister will once again go to Gujarat on October 23, two days before Labh Pancham, the auspicious day after the Gujarati New Year when businesses reopen. He will inaugurate development projects worth `780 crores in Vadodara. Once again, surprisingly, in view of PM’s visit, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who was set to inaugurate projects at a mega-event on Sunday, called off his visit to the city on Saturday. As per the instructions of the national BJP leadership, the Gujarat chief minister reduced VAT on fuel prices. The Gujarat government has just announced loans up to `3 lakhs to farmers at zero per cent interest. The seven per cent interest on loan will be paid by the state and Centre.
So this is the action that has taken place in the last one week or so. Just to set the record straight, the Congress supports all decisions to ease the burden of farmers and the common man. Having said that, what was the BJP government in Gujarat doing all this while? Why does it take the impending announcement of Assembly elections for the BJP to come out of the woodwork and go on an inauguration spree? This shows that the BJP has taken the people of Gujarat for granted, and now are trying to mend fences with a volley of “jumlas”.
The economy is in shambles. There are no jobs; unemployment is rising. Consumer confidence is at a three-year low. Festivals are around the corner, but people have no money in their accounts due to the PM’s personal agenda of downgrading the economy. Savings are being drained.
The BJP in its “know-itall” style has made a complete mockery of the entire spirit, direction and purpose of the GST Bill introduced by CongressUPA. Now it is realising its folly and trying to hoodwink the people again in classic BJP style.