SETTING THE AGENDA
In an interview to Swarajya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of several issues -- the Maoist insurgency, Kashmir, allegations that he has centralised all power in the PMO and that his administration doesn’t have adequate talent, and his approach to foreign policy. The interview clearly set out the political platforms the BJP intends to leverage in next year’s parliamentary elections. LEFT WING EXTREMISM
“..recurrent terror attacks that were common under the UPA are now history… Maoist violence has declined by 20 per cent in the affected states. The unparalleled development focus is reaping rich dividends… 44 out of 126 districts have been removed from the list of Left Wing Extremism-affected areas.”
KASHMIR
“Our goal in Kashmir is good governance, development, responsibility and accountability. We have appointed an interlocutor, and he is in touch with many people.”
TALENT DEFICIT
“Just because only a few ministers and ministries make it to the front pages or prime-time debates, they are deemed as talented and others are deemed the opposite.”
“…the UPA, in their last four years, from 2010 to 2014, built 25 lakh houses. This is one-fourth of what the NDA government has built.” “I would like to give you another example – of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. This year, the budget allocation for the welfare of SC and ST communities stood at ~95,000 crore. It was under this ‘non-talented minister’ that our government had the honour of bringing the strongest amendments in the SC/ST Act.”
FOREIGN POLICY
“The foreign policy of the NDA government has been about unprecedented outreach with unparalleled outcomes. In 2017, for the first time ever, India registered over 10 million foreign tourist arrivals. This is about 33 per cent higher than 2014…The cumulative FDI equity inflows into India stood at about $ 222 billion in May 2014.”
“India has become a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement”.
“I attended two informal summits, in China and Russia. These gave me an opportunity to talk at length about regional and global issues with President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin. These summits are adding great strength to our friendship with China and Russia.”
NORTH-EAST
“Tripura and Mizoram are virtually free from insurgency. In Meghalaya, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been removed from all areas from 31 March 2018 and in Arunachal Pradesh it is remaining only in eight police stations. A system is in place which ensures that every 15 days a minister or a senior official visits the North East. I have made about 30 trips to the region myself”.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
”I find such a discourse about damage to institutions under the BJP absurd and incorrect.… it is the Indian National Congress that has subverted our democracy, judiciary and media, time and again”. “Earlier, while only a handful of self-appointed experts were seen speaking about issues, now all it takes is a tweet or Facebook post by a common citizen of India to express himself or herself. This is the power of social media.”
CONCENTRATION OF POWER IN PMO
“If the benchmark of comparison of the present PMO is with the previous PMO, then I don’t think anyone will be surprised to find it more decisive and powerful. “
“In this PMO, the 125 crore people (of India) are our ‘high command’.”