As the National Democratic Alliance completes its four years of being at the helm of affairs, Swaraj India has slammed the Central government for “making only grand announcements but lacking in political will to implement them”. It has accused the Modi government of making hollow promises, and more importantly, “weakening the social fabric of the country”.
Lambasting the Modi government, Swaraj India said that other than having provided some evocative slogans like ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Smart City’, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, the Modi government has scored zero.
Taking about the Central government’s various failings, Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav said, “Women are unsafe because of increasing incidents of sexual assault and violence, with members of the ruling party rushing to save the accused. The Dalit community is unsafe because of rise in direct and indirect attacks (on them). The community is worried and insecure after weakening of the legal system of reservation and loosening of anti-tyrannical law.”
Talking about growing insecurities among religious minorities, Yadav said violence against Muslims is on the rise. “Criminals are being encouraged and protected. A law is being made to define the citizenship of India on religious lines,” he said.
Yadav even pointed out that incidents of encroachment and terror attack from Pakistan have increased and our relations with neighbouring countries, including China, have become more challenging.
Eminent lawyer and Swaraj Abhiyan President Prashant Bhushan said the Modi government’s four years were rife with corruption and endless failures. “Corruption is on the rise, authority of anti-corruption bodies has been eroded, corrupt officers are being shielded, demonetisation failed, black money is as it was in 2014. In spite of all efforts by the government to hide the truth, mega-corruption incidents like Birla-Sahara Diary, Rafale scam, Jai Shah and Adani have reached the public. Corruption in BJP-ruled states is also breaking the Congress record,” said Bhushan.
The party said the damage done by the BJP is irreparable. It has accused the BJP of openly flouting Constitutional norms, where the judiciary is either being replaced by ‘yes-men’ or strangulated. Dissent is being muzzled and the media is being used as propaganda machinery of the government.
Talking about the plight of farmers, the party said they are more insecure today because of the government’s apathy towards them. It said the government had promised to double the farmers’ income by 2022, but in the last four years the real income has not increased even by 2%. It criticized the government for its flawed demonetization and implementation of GST.
It said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised one crore jobs every year but the number of jobs have shrunk. The BJP government has given this country a ‘job-loss’ growth.
Swaraj India National Spokesperson Anupam accused the government of siding with the criminals. He said, “Insecurity among Dalits and minorities is its peak. People committing hate crimes are being glorified, safety of women is on a steady fall with BJP leaders either busy protecting those who committed horrible crimes against women, or being criminals themselves.”
Anupam also criticized the Prime Minister for being perpetually in a campaign mode even at the cost of governance.