The largest democratic exercise the world has ever seen concluded three days ago. People of India deserve to be complimented for making the 2014 elections a referendum on the misrule of the Congress-led UPA and demonstrating their faith in a proven new leadership. Young India deserves a pat on their back for increasing the turnout to the highest ever in India’s history, and giving a decisive mandate which is seemingly loud and clear in its hunger for change, if one goes by the exit polls.

I am an optimist. I strongly feel that we deserve to be nothing less than the foremost country in the world. A new India, fired by aspirations that might have so far been muted given the sense of despondency brought about by a decade of bad governance and massive corruption, has awakened from its sleep. Indians crave for good governance and visionary leadership; In Shri Narendra Modi, the nation is on the verge of electing a Prime Minister who embodies the above qualities and is also a torchbearer of integrity.

Shri Narendra Modi has walked the talk and demonstrated how he has transformed Gujarat – 24×7 electricity to all villages, best-in-class road connectivity, revolutionary water management (both for farms & households) and taken major initiatives in improving socio-economic indicators such as healthcare, nutrition and education. The people are convinced that based on this successful track-record, the principles of the Gujarat Model of socio-economic development, in conjunction with our learnings in other BJP-ruled states, can be applied pan-India. I am sure that the new government, led by Shri Modi and comprising a galaxy of eminent leaders and thinkers shall have the political will to lead from the front and initiate path-breaking changes rapidly, and at scale!

The run-up to the Lok Sabha elections has, unfortunately, seen undignified mud-slinging and false accusations leveled against Shri Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. As will be evident in less than 36 hours, the people of India have chosen to ignore the malice of some political leaders, and self-proclaimed “intellectuals” and “liberals” who have dragged on a motivated agenda ad nauseum despite all these unfounded accusations being repeatedly proven hopelessly wrong, even by the judiciary. It is a matter of pride for all Indians that the country has chosen to move on from this “ghisa-pita” debate, which has stretched beyond all reason.

India now stands at the cusp of a new dawn, powered by the conviction that the new government will take to fruition the dreams and aspirations of a billion plus people. There is no room any more for the divisive agenda which has been sought to be foisted on the common man. It is time for fresh beginnings. I look forward to India’s journey to glory, led by a new charioteer Shri Narendra Modi who believes in “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas”.

Together we will build ‘Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat!’

The results of the 2014 General Elections vindicate what has been my theory for some time now. Voters have started giving decisive mandates for the past five-six years. In 27 out of the 29 recent elections, one saw this trend being played out (Delhi and Jharkhand were the only exceptions).

I just paid my respects to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, my guiding light and mentor. This victory has given him immense joy. It is time to reflect what this historic verdict, means for the country.

The nation had a clear choice between a visionary leader with a distinctive track-record in governance and indisputable integrity versus a leaderless discredited party of the spectacularly inept and the unquestionably corrupt.

The former embodied “sabka saath sabka vikaas” and the latter only practiced competitive pseudo-secularism and indulged in nauseatingly divisive vote-bank politics. People of India have categorically rejected the latter.

In fact, caste-based political parties have practically been washed out in state after state. In addition, the geographical spread of BJP’s seats in this election is heartening – we are perhaps the only true a truly pan India party today. These factors together give me a great hope and enormous satisfaction.

While today is a day to feel overwhelmed about this resounding victory, we are conscious of the responsibilities and the stratospheric expectations from us. The story of transformation of India begins today. For far too long, Indians have been told that we are significantly below our potential. The time to act and set things right, is now. We simply do not have the luxury of time!

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government will leave no stone unturned to meet the aspirations of young India. We will launch a series of initiatives to rejuvenate the investment cycle, give an impetus to manufacturing, build infrastructure and focus on tourism, among others.

Our focus will be to create massive employment opportunities and also ensure that people’s productivity and income levels improve via targeted skill development programmes and better access to healthcare. In addition, technology will be leveraged to streamline implementation of welfare schemes to ensure better outcomes and expedite the process of poverty alleviation.

One other area that deserves to be highlighted is the debasement of public institutions under the Congress-led UPA. Every institution or arm of the government has been almost irrevocably corrupted, by the UPA. Integrity and the moral authority of these bodies has to be beyond reproach. We must restore people’s faith in them so that they function effectively and arbitrate on matters of national importance with fierce independence.

Once again, it gives me tremendous happiness to note that BJP will now be the principal driving force of the economy and the resurgence of India. The Narendra Modi led NDA government shall deliver and lead India to glory.

Jai Hind!

Source: This article is sourced from Economic Times.

“Secularism” is perhaps the most distorted, abused and molested word in the Indian political context today. The Congress and the Communists claim exclusive authority to distribute certificates of secularism to its cronies and allies (formal or informal).

Anyone leaving the Congress’ camp and joining — or even indirectly praising — the BJP-led NDA coalition, immediately stands the risk of losing this Congress-issued certificate of secularism. It is a travesty! The Communists in any case are increasingly becoming irrelevant in the Indian polity. Going by the opinion polls, the Congress’ days are numbered too.

The Congress’ tryst in engineering and abetting riots is worthy of recollection. The ethnic strife in Assam over the last two years, largely due to the illegal and uninhibited influx of Bangladeshis, where hundreds were killed and lakhs were displaced has happened under Congress’ watch. That Shri Manmohan Singh is a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam is worth noting in this context.

What action has he taken against his party’s government in Assam? What are Rahul Gandhi’s views on the matter and how does he propose to deal with this crisis? The English media, which is ever-eager to haul Narendra Modi over the coals for even using a harmless metaphor, turned a blind eye to this unfolding tragedy. One eminent editor (in)famously and casually sought to blame his channel’s deafening silence and lack of coverage of the Assam riots on the “tyranny of distance”. Would the same yardstick or line of reasoning apply if it were to happen in Gujarat?

The Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, in which several died and thousands lived in abominable conditions in relief camps all through the bone-chilling winter, also happened under the watch of Congress’ ally, the Samajwadi Party, which shrouds itself in a farcical burkha of secularism. In most riots in India, Congress has had a direct or indirect involvement. History bears this out.

The Congress’ role in the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 is well known. But roll back to any time period – in the Nellie riots of 1983, where over 5,000 are believed to have been killed, the Congress buried the Tiwari Commission report; the Bombay riots of 1993 where close to 900 people died under Congress Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik’s watch (and also allegedly due to delayed deployment of the Army by Defence Minister and then Congress leader Sharad Pawar); or the Surat riots in 1992 where 152 people died under Congress CM Chimanbhai Patel’s nose; or the 365 deaths in Hyderabad riots in 1990 under Congress CM Chenna Reddy; or the 1,161 deaths in Bhagalpur in 1989 under Congress CM SN Singh… I can go on!

Even more recent statistics by UPA’s own Ministry of Home Affairs points to 5,921 incidents of communal violence between 2005-12, a significant number of which were in Congress-ruled states such as Maharashtra and Assam or states ruled by their allies such as Uttar Pradesh.

Congressmen actively catalysed the unbridled and grossly illegal infiltration of Bangladeshis in Assam, which altered the demographics of several border districts and led to severe competition to claim the (limited) resources of the region. They also blessed these infiltrators with voter ID cards, ration cards and Aadhar cards.

These arbitrary allocations of taxpayer-funded resources, coupled with demographic alteration and patronage to certain anti-national elements, was akin to Congress showing a red robe to an enraged bull. Reaping political dividends out of tragedies is deeply engrained in the Congress’ DNA.

They believe in profiting from grievously unfortunate incidents like those mentioned above yet label other parties such as BJP that work for sabka saath, sabka vikaas, in pejorative terms.

A short glimpse of Congress’ own record in catalysing riots, as highlighted in this post, demonstrates that the Congress’ hand is bloodied. I am confident that an enlightened and mature electorate will respond to this Congress party, which has attempted to drag this nation into this faux debate of secularism-communalism, in fitting terms, and choose a decisive and determined leader who stands for nationalism, peace, economic growth and human development. There is no doubt that India will choose Narendra Modi.

It was a rare privilege to hear Rahul Gandhi speak during a television interview yesterday. I call it a privilege, given his darshan is rather hard to get even for his own party men, and even in Parliament – his attendance record is an abysmal 42%.

Even on the days he is present, he is conspicuously absent for large parts of the day – case in point, the Budget on 28th February last year. He neither participated in any significant debate, sans one (albeit orchestrated) nor asked any question in the last five years.

In the entire interview, Rahul Gandhi did not articulate his views on even a single economic issue or his vision to generate jobs and working opportunities to empower the youth and women, to whom he paid lip-service repeatedly.

It was deeply depressing and distressing to see the leader of India’s oldest party displaying shocking levels of ignorance (or was it delusion?) and exhibiting utter lack of comprehension to most, if not all, of the questions posed. At some level, we are fortunate that he has only been running the party and not the country. Rahul Gandhi yesterday replaced Manmohan Singh as the chief mascot of the ‘Modi for PM’ campaign.

It appears as if he had been supplied with a set of five answers which he chose between, irrespective of what the question was. While he kept reverting to these 5 themes (“wome’s empowerment”, “changing the system”, “fundamental issues of the country”, “RTI”, “deepening democracy”), the record of his own government falls way behind the platitudinous “motherhood apple-pie” statements. His words were short on facts and long on rhetoric.

He spoke about ‘deepening democracy’ – is that why nearly 40% of all MPs from Congress are dynasts, as per an analysis by Patrick French? I would not mind if these scions of political families had risen through the ranks on the basis of performance and merit, as some may well have, but a majority of these dynasts have been implanted on top and have inherited their parents’ seats. His so-called ‘experiment’ in ‘internal democracy’ in the Youth Congress, was only to ensure that children of senior Congressmen muscled their way through to the top posts, probably leaving behind genuine aspirants and party-workers, as was the case in my own state of Maharashtra. The gap between his words and actions is stark.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rahul Gandhi has been working behind the scenes, and reports to the Prime Minister. He spoke about making India a manufacturing hub – but the fact remains that the share of manufacturing in GDP has been declining, and the UPA’s job creation record has been deplorable (2.7 million jobs in 2005-10 by UPA vs 60.7 million jobs in 2000-05 by NDA, as per data from Planning Commission).

Is he even aware that the price of food has gone up by 157%, vegetables by 350% and onions by 521%, between 2004 and 2013? Can he name three concrete steps his government has taken to combat food inflation over the last five years (expressing hope of a turnaround and appeals for divine intervention do not count)? How does he plan to end the policy paralysis and flip-flops which have brought the investment cycle to a grinding halt?

I found his words on corruption rather amusing. On the one hand, his party claims credit for bringing in the Lokpal and RTI to tackle corruption, but on the other, they go out of their way to shield their party-men whenever a scam is unearthed. The nation hung its head in shame when at the stroke of midnight during the Lokpal debate in 2011, one of the Congress’ long-term allies stalled the debate in a reprehensible manner. In the interview, he was silent on the fact that the head of the same ally has been convicted in the fodder scam! He chose to use laudatory words instead to describe the unholy alliance and branded it an ‘idea’.

Here is a man who has neither displayed any competence nor interest in transforming the country. He has been a beneficiary of the very ‘system’ which he derides. He is a symptom of the malaise that has pervaded top levels of Congress party and the government. He has, perhaps inadvertently, pointed to the failures of his family and his party, which has ruled India for most part since independence. If today millions of Indians are still desperately poor, the common man is burdened with back-breaking inflation, the youth is staring into a sea of despondency and women think twice before stepping out during the evenings, one family and one party is singularly responsible.

Rahul Gandhi, through the interview, has thoroughly indicted his own party and his government. He has strengthened our case for a ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’!

(Piyush Goyal is a member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and national treasurer of Bharatiya Janata Party)

Gujarat under Narendra Modi has focused on good governance in the power sector and implemented long-term reforms as opposed to the short-term and anarchic methods adopted by Sheila Dikshit and Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. The result is round-the-clock affordable power supply in Gujarat. In Delhi, AAP has reduced power tariff in Delhi through subsidy in the short-term but the policy will lead to severe power cuts in the future. The Kejriwal model of governance will take Delhites from a free power dream a power-free one.

Sustained reform is better cost-controller than temporary subsidies

Considering basic power tariff on the lowest power slab (on which AAP and Congress gave 50% subsidy in Delhi), Gujarat has seen only 2% cost increase for the general population (? 2.7 to ? 2.75 / unit as per GERC) and a substantial decrease for the subsidy-deserving BPL group with a tariff of Rs. 1.5/ unit) between 2001-13.On the other hand Delhi has seen a 30% tariff increase even after the subsidy in the same period (? 1.5 to Rs. 1.9 / unit as per DERC) (Duties and taxes plus additional costs for fuel cost variation are on top of this tariff for both states).

Reforms ensure that everybody benefits and the state generates financial resources to provide for the really deserving. Additionally, BPL families in Gujarat get power at 30% cheaper rate than in Delhi, which is also a much better way to provide targeted subsidy.

Gujarat’s commitment for 24X7 power: Computing the cost of power cuts

All the above benefits have come while Gujarat went from a power-deficit state (-11% deficit in 2001 to 6.1% surplus power in 2013) in the face of booming demand (33,980 MW increase in power supply vs only 20,723 MW in Delhi). It was all the more commendable as it did so while controlling power tariffs while simultaneously the Gujarat Electricity Board went from making a loss of ? 2,135 Cr. in 2001-02 to a profit of ? 642 Cr. in 2011-12.

It is important to take into account the total power cost borne by consumers after taking into account what they spend on inverters and gensets. Lack of long-term vision in Delhi portents threats of an 8-10 hour daily power cut. Consequently these power cuts increase the real cost of power by 50-75%.

Agricultural, commercial and industrial tariffs in Gujarat are almost two-third lower than Delhi (? 4.4vs ? 7.3 / unit for commercial and industrial consumers and ? 1.7 vs ? 2.75 / unit for agricultural sectors). High tariffs increase the cost of doing business and result in industry shifting out of Delhi and consequent loss of jobs. Additionally, the commercial and industrial units operating in Delhi ultimately pass on the higher cost of doing business to the consumer which results in higher inflation.

Gujarat Reforms: Highlighting role of political will for good governance

Narendra Modi drove Gujarat power sector reforms on the twin pillars of Jyotigram Yojana (twin feeder system for agri, domestic and other uses) and control on power losses. Power theft was brought down by pursuing more than one lakh cases of theft. This needed hard political commitment to reform; defaulters were prosecuted irrespective of political affiliation.

Contrast this to Arvind Kejriwal’s call to stop paying power bills and the withdrawal of power theft cases and the difference between good governance and anarchy becomes very clear.

In summary, Gujarat fulfilled the growth aspirations of its people by providing 24-hour power supply while controlling power tariffs. This happened only because of the commitment to long-term reforms and willingness to spend political capital on the same. On the other hand, Congress and AAP’s short-term and anarchic methods are resulting in widespread power cuts and spiralling power tariffs. The choice for India is very clear between short-term dole and sustainable development.

(Piyush Goyal is a member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and national treasurer of Bharatiya Janata Party)

The Vote on Account presented on Monday was disappointing to say the least. The Finance Minister P Chidambaram attempted to play with numbers to make his government look good, despite the monumental inefficiency, malafide intent and gross incompetence of his government. I am immensely relieved that this will be the last budget of this inept Congress government.

The Finance Minister has made it a predictable game of statistical deception by rolling over expenses of the current year to the next fiscal, projecting fanciful revenue receipt numbers, cutting capital expenditure, yet continuing to overshoot non-plan expenditure.

Since the Congress’ policies have brought the economy to a grinding halt, thanks to its ill-conceived policies, the only way to continue spending on wasteful programs solely designed for electoral benefit, was via unbridled borrowing. Total external debt has sharply risen from $260 Billion (at 45 Rs/$) to $399 Billion (at 62 Rs/$) in just under three years. The external debt on every Indian has more than doubled!

Moreover, this government is borrowing recklessly for entirely imprudent purposes. ‘Bharat pareshan hai’ with the reckless squandering away of our precious resources on the atrocious ‘Bharat Nirma’ campaign, for instance.

The nation is simply fed up of this Congress government, which has brought us into a spiral of fiscal ruin and economic degradation, culminating into an era of stagflation. They now need fresh ideas which could reignite the investment cycle, kick-start growth, facilitate rapid infrastructure build out and ensure that millions of poor are “pulled up” from the crippling poverty trap. Unfortunately, the insipid proposals in this Vote on Account show no hope of visionary policies or programs.

Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, and by all measures the front-runner to lead the next government, has outlined an alternative and transformative vision for India. He brings an unparalleled track-record of good governance and does not rely on mere rhetoric and name-calling, unlike some other aspirants who attempt to desperately remain in the media limelight.

Our aim is triple per capita income by 2025, via an era of investment-led growth that automatically creates millions of employment opportunities across skill and education levels – both in urban and rural areas. India’s infrastructure deficit in terms of roads, railways, power and ports, needs to be addressed on a fast-track basis. To illustrate, we plan to construct a “diamond quadrilateral” of bullet trains, make auctions of natural resources fully transparent and in line with internationally accepted practices and professionalize management of PSUs involved with management of such resources to obliterate any political interference.

The average Indian has been forced to deal with double-digit food inflation over several years now. Supply side woes are solely responsible for this indomitable inflation. Tinkering interest rates can have a marginal impact on inflation, if any, as has been conclusively proven now. We aim to encourage investments that ease our supply side bottlenecks such as rural roads, cold-storage and grain-warehouses, which will also help us combat inflation. Moreover, we plan to map sowing patterns of crops real-time to anticipate potential supply shortages and create a “price stabilization fund” to cushion any unforeseen spikes.

Manufacturing, that has been the bedrock of success for all economies that have rapidly developed, is in the doldrums in India. Archaic laws, high cost of capital, poor last mile connectivity, corruption and a plethora of over-regulation, which in turn breeds further corruption and policy paralysis are the primary causes for this situation. Even those companies which have managed to tackle one or more of these issues are unable to truly scale up because of lack of skilled manpower. We need a national skill development program on a mission mode, to up-skill 200 million people over the next 10 years, so that they can tap the fruits of development that will ensue once the investment cycle is reignited.

Getting access to skills will enhance their productivity and their income levels, thereby increasing their standard of living dramatically. This will help in making India a global hub of knowledge, innovation and technical expertise, across sectors. A visionary leadership is required to harness rapid technological change for positive benefit rather than allowing to become disruptive and further exacerbate economic inequality. What stops us from taking this forward on a mission mode?

Productive and sustainable job creation, along with increased and better targeted social expenditure, are the only routes to permanently beat the poverty trap and to bring our social indicators on par with developed countries. This needs concerted action, led from the top, and this will only be possible with a Narendra Modi led government whose intent is clear and experience is immense. The nation now realizes that this is indeed the only way out to salvage the current situation of despondency that our people and economy have fallen into, and we are therefore seeing an unprecedented groundswell behind him and the party. The tide of the country will begin to turn, in May 2014.

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