As the country is in the process of choosing its next government, Bhopal Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh, on May 1, posted a Twitter thread posing ten questions to the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) government in the centre and the saffron party’s government in Madhya Pradesh that ruled for 15 years before a Congress government ousted it at the end of last year.
He also encouraged his Twitter followers to hold the “jumla sarkar” accountable for their actions.
Q1: What was the point of Demonetisation if it led to so much unemployment?
Singh’s first question was about the failure of the demonetisation drive. As per Singh, the national president of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Indian trade union Baijnath Rai had said that four to five crore workers were left jobless due to it.
Referring that, Singh asked, “Is the Sangh lying? Why was such injustice meted to workers?”
Q2: Who is responsible for the 45-year-high unemployment rate in the country?
The Congress leader asked whether it was true that the unemployment rate under the BJP government had exceeded 6.1 per cent, which was the highest in 45 years? He claimed that in 2018, 1.1 crore jobs were lost. Additionally, he stated that notebandi had lead to a loss of 50 lakh jobs. Singh asked, “Who is responsible for this?”
Q3: Why is the unemployment rate in Madhya Pradesh higher than the national average?
Singh cited Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) numbers and said that the unemployment rate in Madhya Pradesh that was 4.1 per cent in 2016, rose to 9.8 per cent in December 2018. Singh asked, “How did the state unemployment rate exceed the national average?”
Q 4: Why ‘ease of doing business’ was being used to erode workers’ rights?
Digvijaya Singh asked why 44 laws, aimed to secure workers’ rights, were being replaced by four codes, without the advice of labour organisations. And all this in the name of ‘ease of doing business’. Singh asked, “Should only the entrepreneurs have a simpler life Modi ji, not workers? Only the safety of the factory is to be considered, not the workers?”
प्रश्न 1- प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जिस नोट बंदी पर गुमान करते रहे उसे लेकर RSS के भारतीय मजदूर संघ के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष बैजनाथ राय ने कहा था कि नोटबंदी के कारण चार से पांच करोड़ मजदूरों का रोजगार चला गया। क्या संघ झूठ बोल रहा है?
जवाब दीजिये कि श्रमिकों के साथ ये अन्याय क्यों?— Digvijaya Singh (@digvijaya_28) May 1, 2019
Q 5: How would self-employed youth pay salaries of their employees with just Rs 10,000?
PM Modi claims the youth have become employers rather than employees, but Singh pointed out that statistics show the monthly income of 80 per cent of those who are self-employed is less than Rs 10,000. With this amount Singh asks, how would they incur household expenditure and pay others’ salaries?
Also Read: Idea of Smart City Not Clear Even to Modi: Digvijaya Singh
Q6: Why are public sector enterprises sinking?
Digvijay Singh reminded his Twitter followers how Congress had set up and nurtured healthy public sector enterprises to form the backbone of the country’s economic and strategic security. In just five years, PM Modi had decimated those enterprises. Singh questioned, why ONGC, BHEL, HAL, LIC, SBI, BSNL, all the Navaratna companies sank under PM Modi’s leadership?
Q7: Why is ONGC’s value falling?
The Congress leader pointed out that the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which was once the biggest cash-rich company in India, had been shrinking by leaps and bounds from Rs 10,798.9 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 29.6 crore in 2017-18. Singh, alleging willful negligence, asked: “Is this development?”
Q8: Why HAL being sidelined and neglected?
Singh questioned why the Modi government was hell-bent on destroying Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Once the backbone of Indian strategic security, HAL had previously given Rs 4,631 crore dividend to the Modi government. However, it had to recently take out loans worth Rs 781 crore to pay employees their salaries, tweeted Digvijay Singh.
Also Read: In Vision Document, Digvijay Singh Promises Science City in Bhopal
Q9: Why are public sector banks incurring losses?
The Congress leader claimed public sector banks like State Bank of India were in good shape till 2014-15, with total profits of Rs 45,743 crores. But after that, he claimed, they started suffering losses with the highest being in 2017-18 at Rs 87,357 crore.
Q10: How are MNREGA, informal sector and the unemployed doing under Modi’s ‘Achhe Din’?
Lastly, Singh questioned PM Modi about the absence of the “achhe din” tag from the BJP’s 2019 election campaign.
He suggested that at his election rallies the Prime Minister should ask workers from MNREGA, informal sector and unemployed people about their “achhe din”.