Farmers in the BJP-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, distressed by demonetisation and government inaction, rise in revolt and spoil the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious third anniversary celebrations.
HUMONGOUS WAS THE WORD USED WITH pride by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to describe the plans for the third anniversary celebrations of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government when they were announced in mid May. The multidimensional celebrations that were to be conducted from May 25 to June 15 by the BJP, the ruling coalition and the government were programmed to start with the launch of the eponymously named event, MODI, or Making of Developed India. It was to be followed by Modi's’s address to the nation from Guwahati, the capital of Assam where the BJP was elected to power for the first time in 2016. The celebrations were to continue in 900 cities and towns across the country, with the Prime Minister himself participating in the events in Bengaluru, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Pune and other major cities. The plans visualised included Modi writing two crore letters and sending 10 crore SMS messages to common people, front-page advertisements in 400 newspapers across the country displaying Modi’s visage and listing his government’s achievements, 30- and 60 second advertisements on television and radio on all the 22 days of the celebration period, and 300 multimedia exhibitions in various States.Apart from this, each Union Ministry launched hundreds of booklets titled “Then and Now (UPA and NDA)”, evidently to highlight how the country had marched ahead under Modi’s regime. The agriculture sector, with particular emphasis on the socalled farmer welfare programmes initiated in the past three years, is given special focus in the booklets.
This story is from the July 7, 2017 edition of FRONTLINE.
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This story is from the July 7, 2017 edition of FRONTLINE.
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