Takeaway from 2023: Eastern & NE India must adopt new narratives
'PM Modi has ushered in a paradigm shift in governance that has led to inclusive & corruption-free governance'
As we bid farewell to 2023, let us talk about the importance of narratives; and the price we often pay due to false narratives. A general view has been circulated widely that the Modi government is anti-minorities and especially against Muslims. This is wrong and time and again the BJP has presented the correct narrative. But the forces inimical to our party have always tried to discard the same.
Till 2021-22, data says out of the 2.31 crore houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 31% were allocated in “25 minority-dominated areas”. There were other yardsticks too. As many as 33% of beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (for farmers) were minorities and out of the 9 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, 37% were from minority communities.
This is in the context that minority percentage of population in India is much smaller.
India has estimated 14.2% of Muslim population and only 2.3% Christians while 1.7% are Sikhs. These include the people in northeast of India.
As we get ready to welcome a new calendar year, I am sure most of our readers are lost in public debate and individual thoughts on what will happen in the 2024 elections. I am confident, we are winning hands down. But that is not the point.
Please note the manner the Prime Minister interacted with prominent Christian leaders in Delhi at his residence on Christmas Day. Our government has focused on inclusive growth and development for all.
That is entirely different from the vote bank politics pursued by the Congress and other parties. The Modi government has been working for the all-round development of the people including tribals, Christians and other minorities without any appeasement or discrimination. We are guided and inspired by the motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’.
In the last nine and half years, PM Modi has ushered in a paradigm shift in governance that has led to inclusive and corruption-free governance. In terms of peace efforts, we have an improved situation in Jammu and Kashmir and now ULFA has also come forward for inking a Memorandum of Settlement. The North East is always getting an unprecedented attention under the Modi government.
Leading international agencies have noted that under the leadership of Modi, India as a nation has been eliminating poverty at record pace. Importantly, India is also home to the world’s largest healthcare programme, Ayushman Bharat covering over 50 crore Indians.
States like Karnataka and Gujarat are growing fast and much faster than the laggard eastern Indian states such as West Bengal and Bihar. The fact that Bengal or Kolkata have not grown have also left the North East backward or underdeveloped on multiple fronts. There are multiple issues for that and foremost of all is the “uncooperative political atmosphere”.
Both West Bengal and Bihar are prone to political violence and especially absence of big corporate houses operating in Kolkata have harmed probably nine to ten states.
Of course, we know there are changes lately. Assam under the BJP is changing fast since 2016. We should appreciate that even Odisha under the Biju Janata Dal has tried to adopt to new formula for success in the developmental projects, tourism and infrastructures.
Now, a vital question is why Kolkata and West Bengal have remained so unhealthy for investments? People of Bengal, Bihar and also in northeast are gradually moving out of their respective home states for greener pastures in north, south and western India. And an overwhelming of them will not come back home.
Here comes the role of intellectuals, social and political leaderships in states such as West Bengal.
In the BJP circle, we take pride in the fact that under the stewardship of Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan — two BIMARU states — Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have delivered miracles.
Such a phenomenon should be encouraged in West Bengal and the ongoing developmental works in Assam should be encouraged further.
It is time Eastern India stops complaining. It is time we understand that the political language/philosophy in Gujarat and Karnataka (irrespective of whichever party is in power) is developing. This ought to be created in West Bengal, Bihar and encouraged more in Odisha and Assam. In Sikkim, we have tasted success with organic farming.
In North East, we may have different issues, but we should be pragmatic and more development-oriented. The world is changing fast, we also must change.
I could sound a little crude and ruthless. Enough of glorification of the status quo as has been often done in Bengal and eastern India for the last six decades. The poverty of aspiration needs to be replaced by the grand vision.
Our Prime Minister has given a clarion call for embracing the ‘Think Big, Dream Big, and Act Big’ principle. This is vital for eastern and northeastern India as we embark on a new year.
(Views are personal)
