EX MINISTER COMPARES MODI’S 2 YEARS AS PM ‘TO A BOXING MATCH WITH EVERYBODY’; FEARS THROTTLING OF CIVIL LIBERTIES AND ‘INCONVENIENT VOICES’ IN NEXT 3 YEARS
Web Report
NEW DELHI — In an exclusive interview with Karan Thapar for India Today, former federal minister Arun Shourie is upset with the performance of the Narendra Modi government which will complete two years in office next week. Shourie said Prime Minister Modi is running a one-man “Presidential government”, reported India Today.
While accepting that under Modi, corruption at the Centre had diminished or disappeared, Shourie stressed that nothing was ‘deliberately’ done in the states, citing Vyapam scandal in Madhya Pradesh, Lalit Modi episode and Saradha scam.
He compared Modi’s two years as prime minister “as a boxing match with everybody”. “This was a great opportunity completely missed”, Shourie said.
In an exclusive interview with India Today TV’s Karan Thapar, Shourie, who was Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, criticized the Modi government’s handling of some of the raging controversies like the Agusta deal.
Shourie criticised the present BJP-led NDA regime for not appealing against the acquittal by the Italian trial court of Agusta’s two former chiefs Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini. |Arun Shourie: PM Modi’s silence deliberate
“It was like digging a mountain to find a mouse. But and invisible chuha (mouse),” the former minister said.
In the 40-minute interview, said that over the next three years he expected “a more systematic attempt to curb civil liberties” and an increase in “decentralised intimidation” besides “choking” of “inconvenient voices”.
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This government is a Presidential government without checks and balances.
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Modi’s two years as Prime Minister has been a boxing match with everybody. A great opportunity completely missed.
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Imposition of President’s Rule in the two Congress-ruled states Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand was unconstitutional. The “deliberate” BJP policy of attracting and inviting defectors would “undermine” the party.
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There is no consistency or logic to Modi’s Pakistan policy. The PM’s Pakistan policy has confused India. “We have made fools of ourselves in the eyes of Pakistan”.
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Where is good governance? Don’t think individually, think of civilian, military relations in armed forces. Think of the way these paramilitary forces are trained.
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Agree there is no corruption at the Centre but Modi government has failed to curb graft in states. What happened in Vyapam, PDS scam in Chhattisgarh? What happened to Lalit Modi? Nothing.
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What happened to the Commonwealth Games loot? Is the government pursuing the case?
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Why did the Modi government decide not to appeal against the acquittal by the Italian trial court of Agusta’s two former chiefs Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini? Modi government had two years to find new details in Agusta, but what it do?
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Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar has not stated any new fact (in Agusta deal) which was not in public domain earlier.
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Comparing Modi’s China policy to Jawaharlal Nehru’s, Shourie said,” Both men believed they could charm the dragon and both men turned out to be wrong.”
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Modi is getting inputs from very few people and they are, additionally, the people he has chosen.