BJP samples Gandhi spectacles, "world class" Mahatma Mandir to say, Modi is best follower of Gandhi thought

By Our Representative
In an unusual defence of the Khadi Village and Industries Commission (KVIC) – better known as Khadi Gramodyog – “deleting” Mahatma Gandhi on the KVIC's 2017 calender, printing instead the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has said that Modi alone has “followed” the Mahatma as no one else, “whether it is Gandhi's spectacles or thoughts.”
Issued by the Gujarat BJP, known to be more “Modi”-fied than any state unit of India, a statement signed by its spokesperson Bharat Pandya, said, BJP under Modi has been a “bigger follower" of the Mahatma than Congress, adding, this can be seen from what Modi as chief minister did in Gujarat.
Rolling out one example after another of Modi "following" Gandhian ideology, BJP said, “When Modi was Gujarat chief minister, he would inspire party cadres and people to buy khadi clothes on October 2."
Referring to the high-profile convention hall, being mainly used for the Vibrant Gujarat world business summits, as yet another sample of Modi following Gandhian ideology, BJP said, "It is under him along that the world-class Mahatma Mandir was constructed in Gandhinagar.”
Modi's defence comes amidst KVIC employees have protested, reportedly demanded reprinting the calendar, with critics throwing open questions like: Is Gandhi old and irrelevant? Is Modi the new father of the nation? And, how could the poster boy of the very ideology which killed Gandhi replace Gandhi?
While the Congress and other parties have already protested against the KVIC replacing Gandhi with Modi on calender, a top site run by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has called the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) Modi the theme of Government of India’s official calendar for 2017 “an unprecedented display of hero worship and sycophancy”.
It insists, “As if that was not enough, Modi has also thrown the Gandhi out of the khadi, with KVIC replacing Modi “in the iconic charkha photo that had represented the values and ideals behind brand khadi, one of the largest rural arts, crafts and textile industry in India for over seven decades.”
Rolling out more samples of the Prime Minister following Gandhi's thoughts, BJP said, “Modi alone put in motion 'live' demonstration of Gandhiji's historic saga of life. Further: “Modi got a massive Gandhi charkha on display both at the Delhi airport and at the Vibrant seminars.”
The party further said, “After he became Prime Minister, Modi used Gandhian ideology for his Swacch Bharat (Clean India) campaign, even as providing a symbolic significance to the Mahatma's spectacles. To spread Gandhian ideology, Modi intensively propagated Gandhi charkha and spectacles.”
Saying that things would not have turned “so controversial” if the calender had the photograph of Prime Minister or President of some other country, or of film actor or some other VVIP, BJP said, “The controversy has been created by the Congress only because it was Modi's photograph on the KVIC calender.”
The BJP's justification has come following the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) being anonymously quoted that the controversy is "baseless and unnecessary". Quoting “PMO sources”, a report said, “In 1996,2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 Mahatma Gandhi photograph was not there on calendar"
The PMO was further quoted as saying that “there is no rule in that only Mahatma Gandhi's photo must be printed on the calendar," even as justifying the Modi photograph saying, "Modi is a youth icon and he is the reason behind the increasing popularity of khadi products among the youths."

Comments

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Modi wants Pak govt be held responsible for JeM terror strike: World doesn't agree

By Sandeep Pandey*
I went to participate in a candle light homage paying event at Dr BR Ambedkar's statue organised by about 200 Dalit students on Hazratganj main crossing in Lucknow on February 16, 2019 evening, two days after the dastardly terrorist act in Pulwana, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), in which 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was killed.

Women, business, law: India scores worst among all BRICS, several African nations

By Rajiv Shah
A new World Bank report ranks India 125th in its Women, Business and the Law (WBL) index among 187 economies it seeks to analyse across the globe. The report's main aim claims to be to "gain new insight into how women’s employment and entrepreneurship choices are affected by legal gender discrimination. On a scale of 100, India's score is 71.25, worse than the global average of 74.71.

Counterview

Search This Blog