Uttarakhand latest among BJP-ruled states to hold investor summit in a bid to reach out to business community.
New Delhi: Uttarakhand’s first investors’ summit over the weekend — inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi — is an addition to a string of such events organised by BJP-ruled states in recent times, as part of the party’s “carefully calibrated strategy” to pursue a two-pronged approach of cultivating a welfare image, but continuing with its outreach to the business community.
The Trivendra Singh Rawat-led BJP government came to power in Uttarakhand in 2017.
According to top sources in the BJP, it is under instructions from PM Modi that BJP-ruled states have been actively holding business summits as an outreach to the community, particularly to balance out its welfare, pro-poor plank.
When the BJP-led NDA government came to power in 2014 and after its attempts to dilute the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, it was accused by the opposition of being a “pro-rich and pro-industry” government. Since then, the BJP has consciously tried to shed this image, honing its pro-poor image.
Platforms to publicise govt schemes
The BJP-led NDA government has brought in a slew of welfare initiatives — from Ujjwala to Saubhagya, a revamped rural housing scheme, Jan Dhan Yojana, Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, Mudra loans, Pahal, and more recently, the ambitious Ayushman Bharat.
BJP leaders, led most actively by Modi, have constantly and across platforms talked about their government’s attempts to help the marginalised, sparing no occasion to talk about the flagship schemes.
“However, along with this pro-welfare tag, it was also felt the BJP should not seem indifferent to the business sector and to balance that out, the PM felt party-ruled states should organise summits to engage with the business community. Most of these are inaugurated by the PM himself,” said a source, who did not wish to be identified.
This is also much in line with Modi’s own formula as chief minister of Gujarat when he initiated the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in 2003.
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By inaugurating these summits, the PM uses them as platforms to convey what his government has done for the business sector.
At the ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors’ Summit 2018′ Sunday — the first in the state — Modi claimed India was the ideal investment destination in the world today.
“In the past four years, the state and central governments together have taken over 10,000 measures, which have helped the country improve its position in the ease of doing business rankings by 42 points,” he said.
‘Advantage Assam’ summit
Earlier this year, the Advantage Assam Global Investors’ Summit was held on 3-4 February, and inaugurated by the PM.
The BJP government in the state defines it as the “largest ever investment promotion and facilitation initiative by the Government of Assam”.
“Our government has taken up many path-breaking economic reforms in past three years, which have simplified procedures for doing business,” Modi had said at the summit, the first in the state where the BJP came to power for the first time in 2016.
UP Investors’ Summit
Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP pulled off a stunning victory in 2017 and which is crucial to its fortunes in the Lok Sabha polls, the CM Yogi Adityanath government held a two-day UP Investors’ Summit on 21-22 February in Lucknow. This was the first such major attempt by the Adityanath government to reach out to the business sector.
“Can there be a competition between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to achieve the target of trillion-dollar economy, first? This kind of competition will lead to development and generation of employment,” Modi said at the inauguration of the event.
The state decided to hold another follow-up summit in July end — the UP business summit — also attended by Modi. Around 81 investment projects worth over Rs 60,000 crore for Uttar Pradesh were launched there.
The PM took on the opposition for their allegations of him being pro-business and said he was not afraid of being seen with industrialists, who, he said play a key role in the country’s growth.
‘Magnetic Maharashtra’ conclave
Maharashtra — another crucial state for the BJP — held the first ‘Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018’ summit in Mumbai on 18-20 February under the Devendra Fadnavis government.
The event, which had a target of attracting Rs 10 lakh crore of investment in Maharashtra, was once again attended by Modi.
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“We are moving in a direction where the state is policy-driven, governance is performance driven, government is accountable and democracy is participative,” the PM said.
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh
Last year, another BJP-ruled state, Jharkhand, also participated in this trend as Chief Minister Raghubar Das and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the government’s maiden two-day investment promotion event, ‘Momentum Jharkhand Global Investors’ Summit 2017’, on 16 February.
This year, Modi visited Jharkhand in May to lay foundation stones for developmental projects worth Rs 27,000 crore.
Besides Gujarat, BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh — where the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government is due to complete three terms — has also been organising annual global investors summit.
“This is a deliberate pattern. On one hand, the PM talks about our welfare schemes and on the other, we engage regularly with the business community. Ahead of 2019, this balance is key,” said another BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.
The criticism of all these summits, meanwhile, is that most promises made are not fulfilled. The mismatch between commitments made during these summits and execution on the ground has often been cited as an example of the futility of these conclaves.
The success of these summits ought to show up in figures of incremental private investment and, to some extent, in job creation.