[Dr M Chuba Ao]
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 absolute nonsense, and time and again we in the BJP have presented the correct narrative. But the forces inimical to our party have always tried to discard the same.
Till 2021-’22, data says that, out of the 2.31 crore houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 31 per cent were allocated in “25 minority-dominated areas.” There were other yardsticks too. As many as 33 per cent beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (for farmers) were minorities, and out of the nine crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, a staggeringly high 37 per cent were from the minority communities.
This is in the context that minority percentage of population in India is much smaller.
India has an estimated 14.2 per cent Muslim population, only 2.3 per cent Christians, and 1.7 per cent Sikhs. These include us, the people of the 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 that we are winning hands down. But that is not the point.
Please note the manner in which 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. It goes without saying that the Modi government has been working for 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-a-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 & Kashmir and now the ULFA has also come forward for inking a memorandum of settlement. The Northeast is always getting unprecedented attention under the Modi government.
The middleman syndrome is now over. Money reaches labh-hartis bank accounts.
Leading international agencies have noted that, under the leadership of Modi ji, 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.
East and west
Now a subject matter of great importance but rarely understood and debated.
States like Karnataka and Gujarat are growing fast – much faster than the laggard eastern Indian states such as West Bengal and Bihar. The fact that West Bengal has not grown has also left Northeast India 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 the absence of big corporate houses operating in Kolkata has harmed probably nine to 10 states.
Of course we know there have been 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 the new formula for success in the developmental projects, tourism and infrastructure.
Now a vital question – Why has West Bengal remained so unhealthy for investments? People of Bengal, Bihar, and also in the 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 and 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 ought to be encouraged in West Bengal and the ongoing developmental works in Assam should be encouraged further.
It is time that eastern India stopped complaining. It is time we understood that the political language/philosophy in Gujarat and Karnataka (irrespective of whichever party is in power) is development. 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 the Northeast, we may have different issues, but we should be pragmatic and more development-oriented. The world is changing fast; we also must change.
I may sound a little crude and ruthless, but enough glorification of the status quo has often been done in West 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 principle of ‘think big, dream big, and act big’. This is vital for eastern and Northeast India as we embark onto a new year. (Dr M Chuba Ao is the national vice president of the BJP. The views expressed are personal.)
