The front page of many national dailies on Saturday was filled with full-page ads highlighting the achievements of Modi government. The funny part, however, was that some of the achievements were written more than once to fill the page and the government itself seems unsure about some of the data.
1) In the ad, Ujjwala scheme is mentioned twice: 3.8 crore women have got LPG connections and 3.8 crore families get smoke-free lives appear under two different categories.
2) The government claims to have constructed 7.5 crore toilets and 7.25 crore toilets in the same ad.
3) Under three different categories, the govt highlighted that around 1 crore houses were built for the poor.
4) There were widespread protests across the country as SC/ST bill was considered to be diluted by the government. However, the ad makes the bizarre claim of strengthening the SC/ST Atrocities Act.
In order to mark the completion of four years in power, the Modi government has made elaborate plans to publicise its achievements from May 24-June 3. In the past, they have faced criticism for spending an exorbitant amount on ads and publicity. According to an RTI, since the time Modi came to power till March 2018, the government had spent Rs 4,343.26 crore only for advertisements and publicity through different media.
This time, the government, however, does not seem to have much to talk about and this ad is proof.
Journalist Smita Gupta also took note of the ad.
via .@g_smita The #Modi government did not have enough ‘achievements’, so it has actually repeated some of them to fill a page! #ModiAt4 pic.twitter.com/UTISTxCGG5
— anjali mody (@AnjaliMody1) May 26, 2018