Dear Mr Modi, the only growth you have achieved is in propaganda

Dear Mr Modi,

It’s been 3 years since you were sworn in to power. 3 years that you have wasted, much to the misfortune of this country. You have taken a majority entrusted by the people of India and squandered it in a quest for absolute power. The power you have, has treated you well.

You’ve spent your time in jet setting across the world and campaigning for municipal elections all across the country. Really great utilisation of your time as the Prime Minister of India. No matter that almost every area of governance and growth is failing, led by corrupt and incompetent ministers. However, one area that saw undisputed growth is your propaganda team.

Fudged numbers

So well, that it seems you have drafted Government of India statisticians on to the propaganda team. GDP growth not as per your tall claims? No problem, lets change the basis the way GDP is measured. Inflation numbers not meeting your poll rhetoric? Let’s tinker with the basket of goods so that you can get the desired result.

The latest of course is the tinkering with the Industrial Production numbers. By the old series, you were struggling, by the new series you are a rock star. Your state governments are not to be left behind in the matter of fudging statistics. Blatant fudging of sex-ratios in Haryana and MP have been widely reported. I’m sure as we move along, we’ll find that actual work done is far smaller than what the statistics suggest.

We still don’t know how much money came back from demonetisation, let alone the black money it was supposed to flush out. Just how long does it take to count? It’s not that the money came in sacks. It was deposited in banks with receipts. Totalling should not take more than a few minutes, let alone a few months.

On the domestic front, Gau rakhsaks are running riot across the country. Spreading death and terror in the minds of innocent citizens. None of your state governments are able or want to keep a check on them. Mainly because those in government subscribe and promote the views held by Gau Rakshaks.

National security mess

Kashmiris are not enemies. They are citizens of India. But your propaganda team keeps portraying them that way. So good is this propaganda that ordinary Kashmiris are being attacked across the country, denied accommodation and jobs. Meanwhile, militancy is at a decade level high. Ten years of peace in Kashmir has been squandered away by ham handed handling.

Even at the height of the Kashmir militancy, we never had a situation where girl students were raining stones on the very people who are there to protect them. All because you handed over the affairs of such a sensitive part of the country to policeman instead of a politician.

While your anti-Muslim bias is clear and explain the above two, it’s not that your governments have left other downtrodden citizens in peace. The ongoing riots in Saharanpur between upper castes and Dalits, shows the true nature of the BJP and the unfitness of any BJP leader to hold power.

Even settled matters like internecine strife in Assam is making a comeback. The red terror in the heartland is becoming uglier by the day and you just sit and twiddle your thumbs.

Internal security is a complex matter. Perhaps beyond your or your Home Ministers skill sets. Even farmers distress is not being addressed by you in a fair and equitable manner. Poll promises to farmers are not being met. The southern states of Andhra/Telangana/Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are reeling from the effects of drought.

You had the time to meet and praise Tamil origin farmers in Sri Lanka, but didn’t have the time to meet farmers in your own country? What sort of incompetent leadership is this?

This is a repeating pattern, you have time to tweet on world events, but are mum on the travails that citizens of India are facing. Are you the Prime Minister of India? Or the head of the United Nations? At least the head of the UN would have tweeted about India.

On foreign policy, instead of using seasoned diplomats, you’ve used a RSS pracharak and a policeman. Both of whom see foreign relations as a nail and think that a hammer can make it go away. As a result, we have Nepal, which has much closer ties with China and will soon have an all-weather road link with China.

We have Russia, an all-weather friend since the 60s, who is now not only selling arms to our neighbour (breaking an exclusive relationship with us), but also running military exercises. While your spin-masters have tried very hard to present it positively, the fact is that in 3 years you’ve squandered decades of goodwill.

Speaking of spin, you had pet journalists talk about how India has stood up to China on OBOR, but the fact is that China has isolated us. We are the only major country who is not party to it. Even Russia which fought a border war with China, has lined up to be part of OBOR. Not a very good start if you want India to be a Vishwa Guru.

Ministers as disasters

I don’t want to belabour every single failing of your government. But, I do want to touch upon the rank incompetence of your prominent ministers. Each of whom was pitched as the best thing to happen since sliced bread. The bungling of the economy by the Finance minister will be written about by future historians for decades to come. Thankfully for you though, he also heads up propaganda for you, which is why most journalists and newspapers are unwilling to write about it today. The future will not be so kind.

The railway minister was so busy tweeting about how he reached milk powder and diapers to forgetful parents, that he has forgotten that his core task was to reach passengers safely, on time at a price they can afford. Now, not a week goes by when we don’t hear about a rail accident. The fares are so lopsided that it is now cheaper to take a last minute flight than to take the train.

While the railway minister is busy trying to make trains unaffordable, your aviation minister oversaw a price cap on privately run airlines. I think this is the perfect case of incoherence and the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

The erstwhile defence minister was pitched as the best Defence Minister ever. Sadly, he was more interested to run home every weekend, because he was missing fresh fish and he found the job too stressful. Thankfully, you sacked him. It was perhaps one your more enlightened decisions.

Minister after minister are making fools of themselves. The latest being the power minister who cited a fake WhatsApp forward at a prominent conference in London.

If these are your most competent ministers, I shudder to think how your mediocre and incompetent ones are faring.

Mr Modi, you inherited a healthy $2 trillion dollar economy. You have wasted 3 years bumbling around like a tin-pot dictator.

If you can’t do any better, have mercy on this country. Resign. 

The writer is the social media in-charge of the Indian National Congress. The opinions expressed are her own.