The BJP released a 3-minute campaign video for the upcoming Gujarat assembly election. The video shoot in the barber’s shop and in the middle of the castigation of Modi as a dictator, the BJP supporter intervenes and that tell the people in the discussion that India do not deserve the great person like Modi as the PM of the country. He lifts Modi above the citizens of India and castigates people of India. This is indeed a very pathetic way of insulting people of India. Modi did the same thing in his US speech where he claimed that Indians felt ashamed to call themselves Indians.

Prime Minister is the servant of people and he is not the master. The democracy makes the people master of the state and the public servants the servants of the people. The attempts of the BJP/RSS to portray Modi as the saviour of the people and nation are complete eyewash. This is for a number of reasons. No person can be bigger than the country and that they cannot impose any personality on the masses. It is the PM who has to prove his credentials to the people at large whether he deserves to be the PM of all. The RSS/BJP has played only divisive politics in India and India remains a divided nation on caste line and communal lines.

The RSS/BJP Government spends crores of rupees to advertise the programs and if the financial reports are to be believed the fiscal deficit in India is staggeringly high. This means that the Government is spending more than it is receiving in its treasury. The fiscal deficit for the last six months stands at 4,00,000 crores of rupees, which means the Government spent more than it earned. If the fiscal deficit worsens then the government will either resort to printing more notes or to borrow more money. Add to this 2,00,000 crores of rupees that the Government is injecting in the banking sector and one can understand how much distress the economy of India might be facing.

Yesterday, the World Bank increased India’s ranking in “Ease of doing business in India” by 30 spots up. The BJP/RSS Government jumped on this news and started celebrating. Actually, it means nothing in terms of economy as the World Bank studies only a few cities like Mumbai and Delhi and this is often mutually agreed response, it indicates nothing related to the state of the economy.

When the political parties lack gains to show to the electorate, they resort to nationalism and personality cult. This is what is happening in the state of Gujarat. The PM is trying to play the “father of Gujarat” game and this is dangerous as “Gujarat” is not “India”, it is just one of the states. The rise of Gujarati Banias as the richest people in India indicates why Modi is so much concerned to retain Gujarat. It seems that there is a clearcut division of labour among the upper castes in India region-wise: Gujarati Banias will control capital, the Upper Caste Brahmins from Uttrakhand will control the defense and intelligence bureau, and the Brahmins in Maharashtra controlling the entire game through the RSS.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist