Letters: Like a jilted lover

Arun Shourie is taking out his frustration on the Narendra Modi-led government like a jilted lover. His speech reported in Business Standard on October 27, spews more fire than it emits light. He calls the present government of the National Democratic Alliance "scaled-up Congress plus a cow". It is fun, sarcasm and animosity wrapped up in personal jealousy. It is widely believed that since he did not get his desired portfolio of finance minister, he has started a tirade against the prime minister.

He has said the Rajya Sabha not passing Bills due to its dysfunction is an alibi for the PM to not do anything, which he could otherwise do. He does not say how the PM could have gone ahead with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax without the Bill getting passed. Or, for that matter the Land Reforms Bill.

He has referred to some issues at public sector banks, but he has not mentioned what these are. He has only quoted a retired governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). If the issue is known to the former governor, the present governor could also set it right. How is Modi responsible if the RBI governor does not do it, considering the latter is pretty independent in his actions?

Shourie accuses the PMO of being weak because apparently, it does not have competent persons with domain knowledge. These are very unscientific utterances. On the other hand, many writers have described Modi as a man of action rather than a person wasting too much time in confabulations in countless meetings of the group of ministers.

Shourie has criticised India's Nepal policy without knowing that the constitution adopted by Nepal has been accepted by a vast majority of its people, with only a small group feeling disadvantaged. This is bound to happen when a century-old monarchy is replaced by federalism and democracy with a written constitution.

Important achievements of this government such as Jan-Dhan Yojana have not been noticed by Shourie.

He is bent on finding fault with Modi. This reminds me of the famous saying that if you do not like a person, then you do not also like the way he walks.

Sukumar Mukhopadhyay, New Delhi

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