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Senior Cong leader Jairam Ramesh praises Modi's governance model, hails Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
In a startling departure from convention, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it was time to recognise that Modi’s governance model wasn’t a ‘complete negative story’ and that ‘demonizing him all the time is not going to help’.
DNA Web Team | Aug 22, 2019, 11:04 PM IST
1.Jairam Ramesh praises PM Ujwalla Yojana
"Let me tell you it is not a completely negative story when it comes to economics of the governance, the politics of the governance is completely different," said the noted economist, adding "the social relations that have been created out of his governance model is also completely different".
On the Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana he said: “In 2019, all of us in the political discourse made fun of one or two of his programmes, but it has turned out in all electoral studies that the PMUJ is one single program which has been able to connect him with crores and crores of women and given him the political traction which he didn't have in 2014.”
"Now if we are going to run this down and say this is all hocus pocus and say these are wrong numbers, we are not going to confront this guy," he cautioned.
He also warned that people are not relating to the ‘current distress to his presence’.
2.Rajiv never used his powers to 'create atmosphere of fear': Sonia
Attacking the Modi government a day after party leader P. Chidambaram was arrested by CBI in the INX Media case, Interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi never used his powers to create "an atmosphere of fear or to destroy the freedom and liberty of the people in the country".
"Rajiv Gandhi came to power in 1984 but he never used power to create an atmosphere of fear or to destroy the freedom and liberty of the people. He never used his power to put the principles of democracy in danger," she said at an event to mark the 75th birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister.
Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have strongly backed Chidambaram and accused the BJP-led government of pursuing "vendetta politics".
Gandhi did not take any names but made several veiled attacks on the government.
"There are those who are busy in inventing a new past for us. Rajiv Gandhi was inventing a new future. To him, past had to be understood in all its complexities to building pride and not prejudice, to strengthen social harmony and not fuel antagonism and polarise our society," she said.
3.Party will struggle against forces of divisiveness: Sonia
The Congress chief said that the party must continue its struggle "against forces of divisiveness and those opposing the idea of India", adding that the challenges it faces are "formidable".
"He (Rajiv Gandhi) was proud of our past. But at the same time, he held a firm conviction that India had to be a modern nation anchored in reason and scientific temper in which obscurantism has no place," the Congress leader added.
Sonia Gandhi said that Rajiv Gandhi's political adversaries had accused him of being "out of touch" with reality due to his obsession over technology and computers.
"But it is this obsession that made millions of our youth today ready to tackle the challenges of the digital era," she noted.
"It is an occasion for us individually and collectively to reaffirm our resolve to continue upholding values that had inspired him and to stand up and confront forces determined to destroy their values."
