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Modi admits failure when he compares himself to UPA-2 and not his own 2014 promises

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Keeping 2019 in mind, Narendra Modi wants India to forget the tall promises of 2014.

Incumbent leaders are often in denial about how short they fell of people’s expectations. Their last Independence Day speeches tend to claim that all is well, the government did so much work, India is shining, people are prospering, the economy is growing, and the country’s global might is rising.

It is to Narendra Modi’s credit that he is virtually admitting all is not well, that his government fell short of the promises over which he sought people’s mandate.

Modi’s response to not being able to deliver Achche Din is not denial. In 2013, Modi was telling us he’s the answer to all our problems but in 2018, he’s shifting the responsibility. “Brothers and sisters, the country has huge expectations, the country has a lot of requirements and to fulfil those, it is imperative for the central government and the state governments to work together steadily and continuously,” he said in his Independence Day speech.

Admission of failure

He almost admits he’s failed to fulfil the tall promises of 2014 when he keeps harping on 2013. He admits his dreams have been reduced to jumlas when he does not mention that his biggest gambit, demonetisation, backfired miserably.

The Prime Minister said, “The youth of our country has completely transformed the nature of jobs. Today the youngsters of the country are taking the nation to greater heights by exploring and engaging in new fields such as Start-ups, BPOs, E-commerce, mobility etc.” Yes Prime Minister the youth are doing that, but what did your government do?


Also read: We have transformed India in last 4 years, Modi claims in his final I-Day speech of term


It’s virtually an admission of failure when he shifts the onus of job creation onto the people themselves, as if he had not promised to create crores of jobs for them. If the MUDRA loan scheme is “changing (the) ecosystem” and making people “self-reliant” rather than seeking government jobs, why do we have lakhs of applicants for a few hundred government jobs?

Similarly, “the farmers of my country are emphasising on solar farming now”. But why are farmers committing suicide when the PM promises to double farm incomes by 2022? Modi can’t keep saying “my countrymen” are doing this and that, and count their achievements as his.

Modi knows this, of course. So the master orator, the master of political narrative, and India’s smartest politician comes up with this: he is restless, he says, he is agitated, impatient and worked up because “we have to achieve greater heights, we have to keep moving ahead”.

Modi is saying he wants another five years because he couldn’t keep his promises in the first five.

Few new dreams to show 

Listing his achievements, many of which need fact-checking, the Prime Minister said it was important to note how far we’ve come. And then he went on with the familiar tirade against the UPA-2.

Modi wants you to remember how the country seemed to be going to the dogs in 2013, but wants you to forget the utopian promises he made in 2014. Judge me against the previous government, he seems to be saying, but as far as my promises are concerned, let’s just forget them. ‘At least my government is better than the previous one,’ he seems to be saying. The obvious inference is that Achche Din have not arrived.

He claimed rural electrification has been faster under his government than the previous one, a claim not supported by data, but nevertheless the point is that there are still many households without electricity. The speed promised in 2014 is not be seen, never mind what the UPA did or did not do.


Also read: Modi 2018 vs Modi 2014: What he said, what he didn’t say at Red Fort


He didn’t have many new dreams to show. He announced an Indian would be in space by 2022, an ISRO idea that had been approved by the Manmohan Singh government in 2009.

He announced a grand health insurance scheme that would cover 50 crore Indians, but this had already been announced in the Budget. Unlike 2014, Modi is short of new dreams to sell.

Unable to sell big new dreams, unable to defend the fulfilment of old ones, Modi wants to be voted back to power so that he can feel a little less agitated.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. It’s time that journalist gets reconciled no govt will ever deposit ‘money for nothing” in to your account even if a lot of treasure haunts are done.
    So, basically it’s how he reads speeches or evaluates things or shapes his world view. Or he probably hopes his dreams will be fulfilled when RaGa becomes PM.

  2. Except you journalists people on the ground accepts that he has transformed their life by building toilets, gas and electricity the imporatnce of which cannot be appreciated by urban journalists sitting in Mteros.

  3. Actually five years is a small term to show real change as new schemes can not be completed and completed schemes take time to show impact.

  4. He may have admitted his failures tacitly . It is for the intellectuals to decipher them but not for voters who believe him firmly. They are more obsessed to get him back in power than Modiji himself . They believe that improvisations done by Modiji are “real developments ” not done ever before. Modiji has succeeded to convince the people whatever has been achieved during his tenure is achieved for the first time in the history of India .

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