Ranjona Banerji: Promises are all we have got

I find myself agreeing with Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal It is only the people of India who can defeat or keep victorious PM Narendra Modi It was the people of India who voted him to power rather than just the BJP to powerMany voted on the promise of coming good days of development for all all together of maximum governance minimum government and no corruption will not eat will not let others eat Apart from the usual BJP voter we are told that millions of neutrals especially young people were enthused by Modis promises Jobs and a booming economy were on the way as Modi waved some proverbial magic wandDeath threats to an unreleased films actor and director have been met with official waffling which almost sounds like justification File picAFPSoon after the first budget Union finance minister Arun Jaitley bluntly told the nation that he had no magic wand But people still believed in Modi The economy sputtered along No jobs were created but maybe they were on their way Meanwhile more promises Indias going to be cleshyan the Ganga was going to be cleaner every city was going to be smart and India was going to get more foreign money than ever beforeNone of that happened but still the people believed Another budget came and went By this time we had communal riots and incidents in UP lives and property ruined The protection of the cow appeared to have become more important than development Muslims and Dalits were killed beaten up humiliated If jobs were created they were for cow protection goons legitimate jobs were not in evidenceThen came last years dramatic demonetisation exercise More than 86 per cent of Indian currency became illegal and we all know what happened then As people stood in queues for their own money the Prime Minister laughed at those who could not pay for weddings because they had no money Meanwhile BJP politicians attended a Rs 500crore weddingDo the people remember how the goalposts shifted How the initial promise of demonetisation to end black money and terrorism suddenly became making India a digital economy Individual suffering apart entire smallscale industries shut down and jobs vanished However all this was justified by various cheerleaders as the BJP won the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh Proof that the people of India were still overjoyedThe people of India in the meantime have seen the shoddy implementation of the Goods and Services Tax An economy that has only moved downwards No clean India in evidence No smart cities in evidence No jobs Regressive ideas and customs getting prominence at universities with women everywhere with Dalits and Muslims and religious minoritiesThe death of Judge Loya as he was presiding over a case in which BJP president Amit Shah was charged and the recent allegations that have emerged has been met with official silence The allegations that Amit Shahs son Jay Shahs company has some questionable financial deashylings has been met with official obfuscation and then silenceA movie not yet released about a fictional character has led to death threats mutilation threats and worse by members of the ruling party and their affiliates towards actors and directors These have been met with official waffling which almost sounds like justification Threats of violence by the right wing are often treated like this much like actual violence by the right wing as with the cow protection hooligansA woman of 25 is questioned by the courts about her marriage choice and given a guardian by the courts as if one is not deemed to be a major by that time in Indian law The judiciary itself is at war with itself and with the governmentWhen a Christian priest asks people to vote for a secular party he and Christianity are excoriated When any number of Hindu priests ask you to vote BJP well thats all perfectAnd now the Prime Minister goes to Gujarat which he ruled for 12 years and tells the electorate that the Congress did not allow him to develop Gujarat When Modi was chief minister of Gujarat he campaigned for prime minister of India by promising he would make India as developed as he had made GujaratSo there you have the truth people of India Gujarat Modi was not allowed to develop And therefore he could not develop India How sad for you that you could not fathom that very basic honestyRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on Twitter ranjona Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom