Amid speculations, controversial politician Shashi Tharoor, who’s being questioned by Delhi Police in his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s mysterious death case, did appear at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival but used the platform to take potshots at Narendra Modi, BJP, Hindu outfits RSS and VHP. He began the session by reading out selective passages from his book India Shastra, which questioned ‘Modi-fication’ of India.
“What can one make of a man whose speaks of tolerance and accommodation while condoling hate speeches by party members he has appointed as ministers? What does one interpret when he speaks of minimal government and maximum governance and is himself in the process of running the most centralised or top down bureaucracy driven, personality-dominated central government since the Indira Gandhi emergency rule. What conclusions can be reasonably derived about the leader who says the government has no business to be in business but has never said a word to question the anomaly of his government running airlines and hotels. How can we expect such a Prime Minister who has been elected on promise of delivering results but whose very fine speeches and liberal announcements appear totally disconnected from any tangible action map, adequate funding or execution capacity. The jury is still wondering whether we can celebrate the ‘Modi-fication’ of India,” he said.
“Mr Modi is not oblivious to problems. However, he has chosen to keep mum. In six months of his governance, we are yet to see any change in policies or introducing some landmark decisions affecting the millions of youth in this country. I got a call from European investor who expressed shock over reports like ghar wapsi, Hindu rashtra, love jihad and burning of churches. He said how can he invest in such a state which is so bothered about religion,” he said.
He said that Modi has failed to clamped down on his subordinates which will lead to his ‘future failure’. “A lot of fringe elements have come up and they have their idea and vision of India. If they are not tackled by the prime minister soon, he will be rejected by this country and soon, you will have Congress waiting in the next election,” he said. Tharoor, who happens to be one of the supporters of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’, for which he also angered his own party recently, questioned the viability of the campaign by saying that “ambitions without a concrete plan will create more frustration and depression in coming time.” “It has become a mere photo op for many and they do not even touch brooms for the rest of the year. I had suggested a plan for my constituency (Thiruvananthapuram) for treating sewage but it went in vain,” he said.
The 58-year-old former union minister, who was just questioned by the Delhi Police regarding his wife Sunanda Pushkar’ death, refused to talk on the matter. He made scribes run from pillar to post but declined to comment.
