Promising to begin the process of de-criminalising politics by making a crime-free Parliament (apradh mukt sansad) his first priority on coming to power, Narendra Modi said that politicians with criminal associations can never serve the people and so “I will cleanse Indian politics”. Addressing ecstatic crowds in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, at his Bharat Vijay Rally Day 27 on Monday, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial contender said that he would set up a committee to look into the affidavits of all elected MPs who have criminal cases pending against them and have them referred to the Supreme Court. Those found guilty will go to jail, he said.
The committee will function dispassionately, he pledged, and whether it is BJP, NDA, Congress, BSP, SP, or any other party, “no one will be spared. Those who have committed crimes must be punished; their seats will become vacant, and clean candidates will be elected”. In this way, Parliament will be cleansed (shuddhi-karan ho jayega).
Reiterating this at Etah later, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate said that former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had tried to clean up politics in UP, and now he (Modi) would take responsibility for this unfinished task. Mocking a political rival who told media persons that, “there is no Modi lehar (wave), Modi is zehar (poison)”, the Gujarat veteran said he was indeed ‘poison’ for thieves, bandits and anti-social elements and “this poison will bring purity to Indian politics”.
Although Narendra Modi has previously indicated that Parliament can be cleansed in this manner, he elaborated his road map for a clean polity in response to concerns over his statement that he would not be vindictive on coming to power. He doubtless meant that he would not single out individuals for hounding, but many feared that this could be interpreted as giving a free pass to those who have indulged in rampant corruption in the past decade.
Recalling the attacks on him on account of his humble background, the BJP veteran said he had no grievances about being born in a poor family and in a backward community, but he felt sad when the Congress, Samajwadi and BSP leaders made fun of the poor. The language some persons have used to mock at a tea-seller “shows their regressive mentality”. Stating that “It is not about Narendra Modi”, he said that those scorning his natal background should know that he earned his living selling tea, but did not sell the nation.
The leaders of such political parties, he added, care only for their own family. All concern is confined to son, daughter, daughter in law, which, he said, “is insulting to the people of Uttar Pradesh”. Born with golden spoons in their mouths, such persons visit the homes of the poor with an army of photographers, just like tourists going to see the Taj Mahal; they pick up their poor children and get themselves photographed, and once the cameraman moves away, they dump the poor kids and move on (an allusion to the families that Rahul Gandhi promised to help during his tours and forgot about later, despite news of their plight being reported in the media).
Narendra Modi said that as one who has lived in poverty, he remembers what it is like to sleep in the cold when the family does not have adequate blankets; he suffered humiliation from railway travellers if the tea he sold was cold. That is why, as he emphasised again at Firozabad, he would be able to serve the poor, because he understood their needs, and had a track record in Gujarat to support his claims.
The bangle industry of Firozabad, he said, is renowned throughout the country and no married woman considers her trousseau complete without the glass bangles from this district. Yet successive regimes have done nothing for the industry by way of innovation and nothing for the workers by way of protecting their health. Notwithstanding the districts’ vast potential for small scale industries, the doors for goods from China were opened and small factories allowed to shut down, and youth thrown out of employment. The Gujarat Government, on the other hand, had helped to make small innovations in the kite industry, trained all engaged in the trade for one year, and as a result the industry rose from an annual turnover of Rs 30 crore to Rs 700 crore.
Uttar Pradesh suffers because of the BSP-SP jugalbandi in which the BSP harasses the baap-beta team (Mulayam Singh-Akhilesh Yadav) when it is in power and the SP takes revenge on Behenji (Mayawati) when it is in power, he said. Even worse, he added, the ma-beta team (Sonia & Rahul Gandhi) provokes the SP and the BSP and escalates tensions. None of these parties cares about the State; they will pass five years playing such games, he warned. The Congress has pushed the nation into such a deep pit that he (Modi) would need a strong Government of 300-plus to pull it out of the mess. He asked the people if they want to elect a Government led by those (read Sonia Gandhi) who go to Amethi and say, “please take care of my son” (read: please elect my son).
The state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh can be gauged from the fact that people living next to the Yamuna suffer shortage of drinking water. In Delhi, the UPA allows farmers to commit suicide and jawans to be beheaded. He urged the Election Commission to ensure free and fair polls in the district and exhorted the people to defeat all other political parties in the State.
Rounding up a whirlwind tour of the State at Mathura, where cine star Hema Malini is the BJP candidate, before proceeding for two more meetings in Maharashtra the same day, Narendra Modi told the gigantic crowd that the dirty Yamuna “is an insult” to Sri Krishna. Gujarat, he thundered, has completely transformed the Sabarmati and the same can be done for the Yamuna.
The holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem earn fabulous incomes from religious tourism, and it is only in India that a land as holy as Mathura-Vrindavan, where millions of Hindus would wish to come, is neglected. Proper facilities around the Brij parikrama, he said, would draw lakhs of pilgrims and change the face of the region, besides providing a living to thousands in the unorganized sector. The world is keen to learn about Sri Krishna, he said, appreciating Hema ji for popularising his story through her dance.
As the rapturous crowds kept punctuating his speech with chants of his name, the BJP veteran pledged to bring back all illegal money stashed abroad and utilise it for the welfare of the poor. Claiming affiliation with the Ram Chandra ki parampara of pran jaye par vachan na jaye (life may be lost but not the pledge), he reiterated that money looted from the nation would be brought back by the incoming regime.
Niticentral.com, 21 April 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/04/21/crime-free-parliament-first-priority-narendra-modi-214424.html