As polling for the parliamentary election entered its fifth phase on Thursday, Narendra Modi hit out at the de facto and de jure governance of the past ten years by appealing to the electorate, particularly the youth and first time voters, to choose a “Government that works, one with a decisive and accountable Prime Minister who has a voice in his own Government”.
At huge rallies in Erode and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate said that Tamil Nadu is suffering from a severe shortage of power that has virtually crippled its tremendous potential for growth. The fault for this situation, he said, does not lie in the State, but in one lady of Tamil Nadu who was responsible for the delay in several infrastructure projects across the nation, and these caused a huge loss to Tamil Nadu also.
Alluding to the former Union Minister for Environment, the Gujarat veteran who has often taken up cudgels with the lady, said that the nation would be told that projects are being held up for “green” reasons, but the question is whether this meant “the environment of green leaves or the green note with the picture of Mahatma Gandhi”. All projects were stopped in the country and a “Jayanthi tax imposed”, he charged, and directly challenged Congress president Sonia Gandhi to explain “if projects were held up for ‘green’ reasons, then how did the green colour change as soon as you changed the Minister?” As many as 150 files were cleared within days of the Minister demitting office, he raged, “Who is responsible for the loss to the nation? Crucial infrastructure projects were delayed, industry came to a grinding halt; growth was held up and thousands of youth lost their jobs”.
Standing in turmeric country, Narendra Modi said the Erode’s turmeric can change the economy of the State as it is sought after for Ayurvedic medicines and herbal cosmetics, the global market for which is growing exponentially, so much so that America wanted to file a patent for it. The BJP, he assured, will give special focus to the development of herbal medicines and will encourage research and development to enhance productivity and branding of native products.
Erode also has tremendous potential as a textiles haven as all components from cotton spinning to weaving and dyeing to handloom are present in the district and only need promotion through infrastructure and market linkages. The area has a strong connection with Gujarat which is a cotton growing State and here cotton receives its value addition, he observed.
The textile industry, he said, has the greatest potential to generate employment after agriculture, and lamented that at a time when the country is in distress and is undergoing a cycle of jobless growth, the textile industry has been allowed to sink. Yet these days the ‘shehzade’ (the very mention of which had the crowds roaring in appreciation), “is moving around talking about things ‘made in India’ and ‘made in China’, when he should know that in China the textile industry provides crores of jobs but the situation in India is quite different”. The indifference of the Government of India has resulted in buyers going to Bangladesh and other Asian countries when the Chinese supplies prove inadequate, but India has not been able to benefit from this situation; the jobs of the youth were taken away, and “now you talk of ‘one India’ because you are losing power”, he charged.
Erode is famous also for its carpet industry, he said, but the artisan does not get good returns. In fact, the State has a rich heritage of arts and crafts which have been neglected by the UPA. The BJP manifesto, he asserted, promises to develop an entire value chain to cater to the needs of skilled artisans and connect them to credit and markets. The textile industry, however, has a problem for which the industry and the Government must step up with common effluent plants to save the environment.
Narendra Modi blamed the policies of the Centre for the fact that the Sivakasi crackers industry is close to shutting down; this will open the door for the market being flooded by Chinese crackers.
The BJP leader promised to reorient the economy with job creation at the Centre, with a national multi-skill development mission that will emphasise labour intensive trades. Tourism will get special attention as a low investment high return industry.
At Kanyakumari, where he was received by enthusiastic crowds, Narendra Modi said that the Congress would “have to pay for its sins”. Kanyakumari has so much potential as a tourist destination, he mused, that it could alone pull the State out of its morass. For instance, a double railway line from Chennai to Kanyakumari would have triggered enormous growth and proved a boon to tourists.
Bemoaning the disinterest of the regimes at the Centre and in the State, he thundered that the son of a fisherman, Joe D’Cruz, has risen to become a Sahitya Akademi award winner, but the Government of India does nothing for the community. The need of the hour is for a paradigm shift in thinking about the interests of fishermen, he said, adding that it is not enough for Sonia Gandhi to come to the area and say that she is concerned about the safety of fishermen.
There will be no progress for the region until it is freed from the clutches of two parties (AIADMK and DMK), he said, as they concentrate on finishing each other when in power and have no time for the people. He regretted that there is still a crisis of drinking water in the villages, and said the NDA alliance should be considered as a viable alternative to the hitherto dominant parties, at least at the Centre. The land of Kanyakumari, which has a close relationship with Swami Vivekananda, should realise his dream of making India a Vishwa Guru.
Emphasising the pain of ten years of jobless growth, Narendra Modi appealed to the youth, especially those in the age group of 18 to 28 years, and first time voters, to not only vote but to be canvassers and think of their future and the future of the nation. Warning that if they lost the opportunity provided by the 2014 election, they would be the “first losers in the country”, he urged them to ensure the election of a government that responds to their needs in an imaginative and proactive manner.
Niticentral.com, 17 April 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/04/17/vote-for-a-decisive-prime-minister-narendra-modi-213036.html