Name-changing is not game-changing
“Instead of being a game-changing government, the BJP
has turned out to be a name-changing one,” Shashi Tharoor wrote seven years ago
in his noteworthy book on Modi, The Paradoxical Prime Minister. Here is a page from
Tharoor’s book.
The latest naamkaran [religious ceremony of
naming a child] ritualised by Modi is that of Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act which will now be known as Viksit
Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G). Hey
Ram! You’re dragged into this too!
The Hindu had reported that the
scheme which was meant to guarantee at least some jobs to the rural poor was
going to be renamed as Pujya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Yojana. Pujya Bapu was supposed
to be Mahatma Gandhi’s bitter enemy and murder-conspirator V D Savarkar. How
many deaths must the Mahatma suffer before Modi bids farewell from history
altogether?
As cartoonist Manjul suggests, perhaps Modi needs to
think of changing – not his name – himself.
Back in 2014, when Modi became India’s Prime Minister
for the first time, Tharoor wrote in India Shastra (a volume of essays)
that Modi’s rhetoric about development is diametrically opposed to the communal
politics he wields in order to achieve power. Nothing has changed in this
regard in the last eleven years, except Tharoor’s view of Modi.
Modi goes on appropriating everything that his
predecessors created by renaming them. Of course, he has also created quite a
few things: such as collapsing
bridges and crumbling
highways. Big temples and statues remain, however. Let us hope the gods in
those temples will save us.
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteI just found myself gritting my teeth as I read... and then that picture of the ruined road... sigh... YAM xx
There's a lot of show and propaganda. But the reality is quite something else.
DeleteOhhhhhh... Pujya Bapu isVeer Savarkar.... One who fell prostrate before the Raj... Many times.... to escape Jail..
ReplyDeleteBetrayer... Not reaching the 16th Neighbourhood of the Mahatma... Yes... You are Absolutely right, like our young Madame, who teaches us the practical subject called the Moot Court would shout now and again. Name-changing does not amount to anything... Not a game-changer. I am waiting for the Sagacity of the Indian Voter, to trounce this Mascot of Modi, sooooooner, than later... Remember my Anwar Sadat turn of the gun decimation...
The Indian voter, alas, is still blind. Blinded by what they are convinced to be religion - a religion that is under threat from some nodescript minorities. Blinded by hatred and ignorance. By sheer mass of propaganda.
DeleteOne day they will have to open their eyes.
Since he's making no real contributions to bettering society, he's got to make it look like he's doing something...
ReplyDeleteYes, and he's doing that job of show very well. In fact, he's good at that: histrionics and show-off.
DeleteManjul has nailed it!
ReplyDeleteHe always does.
DeleteThis is the most bizarre of all the name-changing that we have been enduring these years. What is gone really unnoticed is the structural changes in the policy, which I doubt will benefit the rural community out there.
ReplyDeleteToday both my newspapers, The Hindu and the Malayala Manorama, have writted editorials criticising the changes, both name and the regulations. Why is BJP doing this sort of things which are antipeople and pro-corporate? The brute majority they enjoy in Lok Sabha is being misused totally.
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