Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Almost half a dozen announcements or moves were made by the Narendra Modi government in the past eight days, keeping people and the Opposition guessing about the government's agenda and intentions, and inviting criticism that they were "diversionary" tactics to "hide failures."
The announcements started two days before the third meeting of the Opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc on August 29 with a slashing of LPG prices by Rs 200. A special session of Parliament has been called, but its agenda is not yet known to the public, despite being dubbed 'special.' Additionally, there was a mention of 'President of Bharat' instead of 'President of India' for a G-20 dinner hosted by Droupadi Murmu.
Congress General Secretary (Communication) Jairam Ramesh posted on 'X', "The PM presides over a WMD factory—Weapon of Mass Diversion," while senior RJD MP Manoj K Jha told DH, "Modi is trying to create a spectacle to hide his government’s failures."
The Rs 200 decrease in LPG prices on August 29 was only the first move, which Opposition parties were quick to dub as a "panic reaction." As foreign media splashed headlines alleging irregularities with the Adani Group, with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is linked, the government on August 31 - the first day of the I.N.D.I.A meeting - announced a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22.
Interestingly, the agenda of the meeting was not divulged, prompting Congress' Jairam Ramesh to say that it is the first time such an announcement was made without an agenda. "Nobody knows about the agenda," he told a press conference on Tuesday.
On the second day of the I.N.D.I.A meeting on September 1, the government announced the setting up of a panel under former President Ram Nath Kovind on 'One Nation, One Election,' without providing details of other members of the committee and its terms of reference.
It took another day for the government to announce the members of the committee and the terms of reference for simultaneous polls to Parliament, Assemblies, and local bodies, which the Opposition said has a "determined" outcome.
Interestingly, the government, for the first time, indicated its intention to combine elections to municipalities and panchayats with other elections.
The latest in this string was the invite for the G-20 dinner in which the First Citizen of the country was described as the "President of Bharat," which again led to speculation about bringing in a resolution to use 'Bharat' as India’s name.
Jha said, "Modi is trying to create a spectacle to hide his government’s failures. This is not the way for a great country like India. The Prime Minister does not have it in him to run this great civilization. It is time for him to say that he cannot manage."
Jha said the latest moves showed that the government, which won the 2014 and 2019 polls with a big majority, is "rattled very badly," as they could not do anything substantial on pro-people matters.
"Take the case of LPG. Till now they were saying they cannot dictate the market. If they were genuinely concerned, they would have taken this measure much earlier. It would have shown their sincerity. Now, a special session is called, but even Cabinet Ministers do not know what the agenda is," he said.
He alleged that the government's intention is to divert attention from "increasing price rise, rising joblessness and falling incomes," "closure of MSMEs and distress of farmers," "costly clean chit to China at the border," "Modani megascam," "constitutional breakdown in Manipur," "growing polarization in Haryana," and "obvious weaknesses and certain defeat of BJP in five election-going states."