[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]E[/dropcap]nglish News channel Times Now’s Arnab Goswami bagged the prized interview of Prime minister Narendra Modi. The interview was detailed, providing Modi all the space to talk about his policies, thoughts and source of motivation. Arnab was unusually but understandably obsequious and Modi confident but apparently coy. All debating elements were ticked namely, Jobs, government’s policies, China, Pakistan, GST, Raghuram Rajan, Black Money, Anti-corruption, Elections, Opposition and Modi’s vision.
The interview had set the social media on fire and the piece which has been under intense debate is Modi’s response to Arnab’s questions on controversies surrounding RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s exit.
Modi firstly explains how his government has not indulged in the “witch-hunt” of UPA appointed bureaucrats and how the government was magnanimous in allowing Dr. Rajan to complete his full term of three years. Whether Dr. Rajan would reconsider his decision “to not make himself available for a second term” is anybody’s guess.
Mr.Modi further states that those creating controversies around Raghuram Rajan are being unjust towards Dr.Rajan and then in an indirect snipe at Dr.Subramanian Swamy showers praise on Dr.Rajan and certifies his patriotism. He also admonishes “those” who are creating issues for the sake of publicity but it is not clear whom he was referring to. It is to be noted that apart from Dr.Rajan’s reference neither Arnab nor Modi took any names and only made indirect references leaving to some amount of speculation.
The social media has been fractured right at the middle with Swamy’s supporters expressing their disappointment over PM’s comments and Swamy baiters relishing this moment.
Now even Swamy’s bête noire Congress have latched on to Modi’s comments and have called for Swamy’s expulsion.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]t is to be noted that Arnab Goswami and Dr. Subramanian Swamy have not been on amicable terms with Arnab Goswami misquoting Swamy on the Tamil fishermen issue and Dr. Swamy refusing to appear on Arnab’s news debates unless Goswami apologises publicly to him for his false allegation. The questions were put forth by Mr. Goswami in a manner to evince a strong response.
With Modi throwing his weight behind the Finance minister and his bureaucrats; Dr. Swamy appears to be the only one championing the cause of Hindutva, especially the construction of Ram temple, and looks to be waging a lone battle yet again. But this is not a new situation for him. He had cracked the 2G scam, National Herald scam and other issues single-handedly fighting against the very system which Modi made a mention about. Also, the corrupt babus who still inundate the North block must be heaving a sigh of relief against whom Swamy had launched a scathing attack.
In the last two years of Modi Sarkar there has not been much traction on the cause of Hindutva with only Dr.Swamy regularly making efforts to bring a closure to the never ending court battle for construction of the Ram temple through legal means as well as through negotiations.
BJP’s ideological parent, The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Sangh Parivar would be well served to take a step back and take a holistic review of the progress made so far on the cause of Hindutva. It is to be noted that the massive mandate given to the BJP led NDA was on three core promises made to the electorate viz., Economic Development, Corruption-free governance and Hindutva.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he RSS should come out of its slumber and support those who are fighting the difficult battles against corruption and for the cause of Hindutva. Dr.Swamy is at that stage of his illustrious career where he needs no publicity. His various successful battles against corruption and for the cause of Hindutva have immensely helped in defeating the beleaguered UPA in 2014. The ruling government largely benefited from his aggressive stance on Agusta issue. In Vinay Sitapati‘s latest book Half – Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India Dr.Swamy’s role in being the brainchild of 1991 Economic reforms is prominently mentioned.
Dr. Swamy is tough, pugnacious, fiercely independent, vocal against corruption and never bothered about being politically correct. But he has been factually correct and most of his allegations have turned out to be true time and again. These are rare skills and is extremely scarce in Indian politics where sycophancy is practiced across the political spectrum without an iota of shame. Also, being a renowned economist himself; Dr.Swamy brings in his rich perspective of shaping the Indian economy forward with reformist ideas like abolishing Income Tax, abolishing Participatory notes to name a few.
It would be interesting to see how Dr.Swamy charts his course from here and how his fight against corruption and his other pet projects takes shape. Also, to be looked out is his relationship with the BJP leadership and the larger Sangh parivar in the days to come.
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Views Personal.
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Most unfortunate comment by Mr Modi I have de-friend him on Twitter, the only way to apoligise to Bharath Mata to what was said is to make him a Finance Minister, Dr Swamy is a Yug Purush, once in a century Bharath Mata gives rise to great souls like Swami Vivekananda, MK Gandhi, Dr Swamy, to show humanity the right path.. If we don’t recognize it its our loss, Mr Modi is busy cozing up to Luytens Delhi and is being misled by Jaitely..who is not an economist by training or education. RSS again is a toothless tiger, it needs to takes sides quickly with Swami and move Jaitely to say defence and move Swamy into Finance Ministry, If not the curse of Bharath MAta will endure denying Modi a second term for insulting her illustrious son Dr Swamy.
Hi Sashi, I feel the same that Modi is feeling indebted towards Jaitley, probably for assisting him in his initial days as PM navigating the complex Lutyens maze. But if Modi continues with his sense of indebtment then it will greatly damage the resurgence of India, given the FM’s lackluster performance thus far.
A very good article. Modi did not say anything negative about Swamy. Even after the interview Swamy praised high about Modi. Modi said one should not give certificates about others patriotism until it is proved that they are traitors. Arnab batted for Jaitley. But Jaitley and Swamy also did not say anything publicly against each other. Swamy being the most intelligent person tweeted about variables in an equation. Media hyped a lot. Modi also talked about humor and how media will misrepresent everything. Supporters of each individual will analyze the interview in their own way but not objectively. Swamy to some extent makes some unnecessary comments because Media loves them. He only told media not to publicize everyone as we see so many unknown people in the limelight now through the idiot box. Only one thing happened. Rajan could not bear the pressure and spilled the beans that he is not taking another term. Of course no Govt. Gave 2nd term to Governor that they have not picked.
Modi getting touchy about constructive criticism indicates that theere can be no smoke without fire and not everything is well with governance.Swamy is correct to bring the points publicly in time for course correction rather than trying the beaten track for results.
However Swamy should tackle the bull’s horn one at a time till logical conclusion and focus on relatively important issues.Well meaning and Hinduttva proponent he may be but Nation would not like to see him exhausted mid stream by getting bogged down with trifles.
Modi said that no individual is bigger than the system. This could also mean Raghu Ram Rajan who was making lot of comments on issues not concerning RBI.
Absolutely agree with Shashikanth Rao.
Contributions of Dr.Swamy are invaluable. He is the only sincere,credible and effective anti corruption crusader the country has ever seen. He is gifted with knowledge which if used properly will show the true potential of India — not incremental but in giant leaps.
Mr.Modi should also act and talk very responsibly when he is speaking in regards to Dr.Swamy.
He is the hero for many Indians, especially young and patriotic..
DrSwamy is now stuck in the wrong party.BJP is nothing but “fake hindutva” version of congress.Best of luck to him and us minority Indians who aspire for clean governance.
It will challenging for PM Modi to manage both Swamy and Jaitley together.
Public admonishing was most uncalled for.
This article is like a breeze of fresh air after all the agony and frustration at modi after his comments on Dr. Swamy.
Modi may be one in a billion, but so is Dr Swamy. In fact, modi is a PM because of the foundation laid by Dr. Swamy and others. If modi feels a sense of debt towards jaitley, then let him keep him happy in ways that do not compromise on the resurgence of India. But where is the accountability towards mother india when Dr Swamy is humiliated and sacrificed, when it is Dr Swamy who is most suitable to rejuvenate the Indian economy, which he has already proved in the past. Modi does not talk about hindutva anymore. Noone is convinced of the traction in last 2+ years on the economic front. Budgets look like extension of UPA’s. Modi’s ahankaar costed us Bihar. Today again he talks like a ahankaari. I hope things normalize. I hope this is all part of modi’s grand plan which we are unable to read.