Modi is not issue, people’s problems are: Yashwant Sinha

Intensifying their attack at the ruling BJP, former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday said that the saffron party was no more what it was with internal democracy taking a direct hit.

Eulogising the former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, they said that BJP has now become a “Modi sarkar”.

Loyalists-turned-bitter critics of the BJP, especially of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, also made it clear that victory in 2019 election would be an “uphill task” for the BJP with Opposition gradually presenting a united front.

A month after severing ties with the BJP, the former External Affairs and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha also criticised the Government for its strategy regarding neighboring Pakistan and the economic policies.

Pointing that the Constitution was “repeatedly violated” in past four-five days in Karnataka, Yashwant Sinha said that the “doctrine in today’s BJP is that elections must be won at any cost” while ignoring the ethics, or democracy.

Referring Himachal Pradesh’s former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar’s recent statement, Yashwant Sinha said that one of the senior-most leaders in BJP had recalled an incident of 1982, when BJP had won 29 seats in Himachal Assembly polls and the Congress secured 31, with six independent MLAs ready to support the BJP to form the Government.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee had then announced that the BJP would sit in Opposition rather than resort to horse-trading…And exactly opposite happened in Karnataka, which did not succeed fortunately,” he said adding that the two persons, who controlled the party today, are nowhere close to the stature or the moral standing of Atal and Advani.

“Today’s BJP is not the BJP of Atal-Advani, which I had joined in 1993. It has been taken over by the people to whom nothing matters more than power. I am glad I am out of it,” he said.

However, at the same time, he made it clear that Modi is not the issue, but “issues are issues…be it farmers, economy, youth or foreign policy…We are witnessing certain trends in our country and society which are not healthy for our country. Issues will prevail and not the persons. We would concentrate on issues”.

2019: AN UPHILL TASK FOR BJP

Cautioning the saffron brigade, the former BJP veteran underlined that winning 2019 elections would be an uphill task for BJP considering that all Opposition parties are coming together ignoring their egos and resolving differences.

Yashwant Sinha pointed that despite 282 seats in 2014 polls, BJP’s vote share was 31 percent, while all other parties got 69 percent. “And if this 69 percent got together, BJP would suffer…It is simple arithmetic,” he said underlining that main ego problem was in Uttar Pradesh between the SP and BSP, and “if they can resolve it, it can happen anywhere”.

He made it clear that the people, in 2019 polls, would judge on the basis of government’s performance in past five years and not “what happened when Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru, or Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi was there”.

He lashed out at the BJP Government saying that a sense of disappointment was prevailing across the nation as all promises the BJP had made before polls were just “chunavi jumle” to come to power.

 PAKistan POLICY ‘COMPLETE FAILURE’

Picking holes in Modi Government’s Pakistan policy, the former External Affairs Minister dubbed it as a “complete failure”.

“It would not be exaggeration to say this,” he said while pointing that Modi invited the then Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his swearing in, and suddenly went to Lahore to meet him, but “Pakistan befooled Modi who keep on giving them concession and they took advantage…I would say that Pakistan is cleverer than us in their foreign policy”.

BJP “DISTORTING TRUTH”

Mincing no words and making it clear that he was saying with “full responsibility”, the former Finance Minister said that he did not “trust” figures government is providing regarding fiscal indicators or job generation.

“GDP figures are coming from the corporates while there are no figures by unorganized sector which has witnessed marked decline due to demonetization and GST,” he said.

He pointed that after coming to power, government changed the base year and also formula to evaluate GDP which changed the figures. “We have no comparative figures. Only year is 2013-14, which was UPA government’s last year. Estimated growth rate was 4.7 percent, which after changes in base year and formula, became 6.8 percent witnessing a major jump,” he pointed.

On employment, Sinha lashed out at the Government for doing away with Labour Bureau of India’s figures regarding jobs, and considering Employees' Provident Fund’s figures for job creation.

“This is completely wrong way to evaluate employment generation as any establishment could register with EPF only if it has 20 employees. An organization of 19 employees, when registers after it get one more employee, EPF would say 20 new jobs, but otherwise there’s only one,” he elaborated while describing it as “distortion of truth”.

He quipped, “By the end of their tenure, India will be growing 10 percent annually, employment generation will be two crore, and every jumla would become a reality.”

RASHTRA MANCH — A MOVEMENT

Two Sinhas, who have lot in common — being former union ministers, representing same party, top critics of present BJP leadership, outspoken and fearless — have come together under Rashtra Manch (National Forum).

Yashwant Sinha, father of the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, had left the BJP on April 21 and announced a non-political platform on January 30 along with Shatrughan, former Minister Harmohan Dhawan, former ambassador KC Singh, among others.

“It’s not an organisation but a movement for country’s betterment,” he said adding that their most important concern at the moment is saving democracy as it would be difficult if any of its pillars were compromised.

Shatrughan added that they have come together “not with a political motive, but to put politics on the right math, it’s a constructive movement, an andolan…anyone, from any party, can come for country’s betterment and people’s interest”.