How can Modi be beaten in 2019? Following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s byelection reverses last week, the consensus in the commentariat clearly leans towards a grand alliance (or mahagathbandhan) of opposition parties of the sort that humbled BJP in Bihar in 2015 and in three recent Uttar Pradesh parliamentary byelections. The subtext is that an …
Continue reading Watch out BJP, you’re trailing behind the UPA in your bypoll performance
In a 31 Mar 2018 Indian Express op-ed, PM advisor Surjit Bhalla accused critics of the government of purveying “fake news” in an effort to create a “political atmosphere helpful to the (weak) challenger”. He contended that “liberal elites” are trying to “change people’s perceptions”, and quoted Joseph Goebbels: “if you incessantly repeat a lie, …
Continue reading When the facts fail you, start tossing Nazi references
In a Forbes magazine article that caused a happy stir in right-wing social media, Harry G. Broadman argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “governing prowess” had “boosted India’s GDP growth” and “produced sizeable increases of inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI)”. He stated that the reforms implemented by Modi in his first three years were …
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is proud of the government’s scheme to distribute millions of low-cost, energy efficient LED bulbs. And why not: Modi told the Lok Sabha on 7 Feb that the distribution of 21 crore LED bulbs had helped households save ₹11,000 crore in electricity bills. Even the name bears his unmistakable imprint: “Unnat …
Continue reading Why you shouldn’t be bedazzled by Modi’s LED claims
In case you’re wondering where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promised “Acche Din” went, the answer is getting clearer. As part of the Uttar Pradesh campaign, BJP-affiliated social media has been spreading clips of a 16 Sep TV appearance by party president Amit Shah, where he directly answers this question. So let’s examine the six claims that Shah, …
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Times Now, his first TV interview since taking office, on 27 Jun 2016. As with his Wall Street Journal interview the month before (critiqued here), Modi covered a lot of ground, from economic reform to domestic politics to foreign policy. Here we specifically examine some of his claims regarding his …
There's something about serving in the Modi government that converts seemingly sensible people into inept spinmeisters. Consider the respected Columbia University economist and NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya. In an 8 May 2016 Business Standard op-ed titled The turnaround in infrastructure, he reeled off the Modi government's many accomplishments in this arena. Following which he warned …
Continue reading Arvind Panagariya spins an infrastructure tale
Roads and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari likes to present himself as the singlehanded builder of Indian highways. He has repeatedly claimed -- most recently at the 2016 India Today Conclave -- that the pace of highway construction has increased by close to ten times under his watch: https://twitter.com/SandeepUnnithan/status/710360486462644224 This would be brag-worthy if it were true, …
At a 21 Feb 2015 rally in Bargarh, Odisha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused an array of "unscrupulous forces" of trying to bring down his government. In the rogues' gallery he included the owners of chemical factories who he said were angry at his government's distribution of neem-coated urea, which had ended the profitable diversion of …
In a 13 Feb 2016 speech at the recent Make in India jamboree in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took credit for many economic achievements. These included India's climb in various World Bank and UN indices, and all-time records in coal and vehicle production, software exports and cargo handling by ports. The claims were taken from the BJP's …
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