Archives for 2019

Priyanka Gandhi, sister of Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi and one of the youngest scions of India’s most fabled political family, officially enters politics ahead of national elections.

The biggest democracy in the world is due to elect its leader for the next five years in fewer than 100 days. And the race has just become more interesting.

On Wednesday, the main Indian opposition Congress party announced that Priyanka Gandhi – the younger sister of party leader Rahul Gandhi and one of the youngest scions of the country’s most fabled political family – had officially entered politics.

The popular 47-year-old accepted a senior position and will be in charge of the party’s affairs in the key state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the 545-strong lower house of parliament and has produced nine Indian prime ministers.

The news had Congress staff across India dancing and burning crackers.

‘Crowd-puller’

Priyanka Gandhi’s appointment is expected to significantly help her brother in mounting a credible challenge to the dominance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the last elections in 2014, Congress saw its seat count in the lower house of parliament fall to just 44, while its vote share in Uttar Pradesh dropped to about eight percent.

Analysts said the party needed new ideas and new faces to revive their fortunes.

“This was in the offing,” Said Naqvi, a journalist and political analyst,

“She [Priyanka Gandhi] is a definite a crowd-puller and this decision will certainly weigh on the ruling BJP’s gameplay now.” 

Political dynasty

Priyanka Gandhi’s family has long dominated Indian politics.

Her great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the first prime minister of independent India; her grandmother, Indira, and father, Rajiv, were also prime ministers, while her mother, Sonia, is a former Congress party president, who headed the party for nearly two decades, until Rahul took over in 2017.

Priyanka Gandhi herself is no stranger to politics but had confined herself to Amethi andRaebareli, constituencies which are represented by her brother and mother respectively.

She is married to businessman Robert Vadra, who the BJP has accused of corruption in his business dealings. The Congress party has dismissed the allegations as “politically motivated”.

In recent months, Congress has been on an upward curve, wresting power from the BJP in December’s regional elections in the key states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The results dealt Modi his biggest defeat since taking office in 2014, boosting the opposition before the national polls, when more than 900 million eligible voters are expected to pick the country’s members of parliament who, in turn, will elect the prime minister.

‘Game-changer’

So far, most opinion polls have the BJP leading the race, with Modi’s popularity remaining high.

The outcome, however, is not seen as a foregone conclusion.

This month, the leaders of the regional Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced the creation of a potentially formidable coalition aiming to challenge Modi. 

Meanwhile, in a show of strength, Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the eastern state of West Bengal, a few days ago organised a massive rally attended by most of the parties opposing the BJP.

And now, Priyanka Gandhi’s official foray into the state’s politics is expected to add more pressure on Modi and his ruling party.

“Priyanka’s entry is a game-changer,” Jai Prakash, a farmer from Amethi, told media.

“People see a reflection of Indira Gandhi in her. She is more charismatic than Rahul,” he added.

“She is Congress’s trump card.”

Nasheman News : To be a premier investment destination, the Karnataka government began identifying farmlands in rural areas to set up industrial units, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said on Thursday.

“To make Karnataka a premier investment destination, our government has begun the process of identifying large acres of farmlands in rural areas to set up industrial units,” Kumaraswamy said at a trade event here.

Unveiling the Indian machine tool manufacturers expo (Imtex) at the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre, the Chief Minister said his government would soon set up an integrated facility for machine tool industry to create an ecosystem and make it competitive.

“As a joint initiative of the state and central governments, the Tumakuru Machine Tool Park will be set up in about 500 acres of land at Vasantha Narasapura industrial area in the district,” Kumaraswamy told the gathering.

Tumakuru is about 70 km northwest of Bengaluru.

For ease of doing business, the government has initiated a host of new programmes and events like Imtex and Tooltex to hasten industry-led growth.

“Our state’s technology engagement has attracted investments from the across the country and abroad, making Karnataka a favourite for investing in disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, 3D Printing and Robatics,” said Kumaraswamy.

As a pioneer in industrial development, Karnataka has been following a new industrial policy since 2014 for enabling the manufacturing sector grow at 12 per cent and attract Rs 5 lakh crore investments and create 15-lakh jobs.

“Karnataka has recently been ranked by the central government as one among the country’s top three states for highest employment generation,” said Kumaraswamy.

The eight-month-old Janata Dal-Secular-Congress coalition government has also identified nine districts across the state to set up industrial clusters for fostering innovation and product diversification.

“We have identified Ballari, Bidar, Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga, Hassan, Kalaburgi, Kolar, Koppal and Mysuru for the clusters. We intend to expand our state network to tap the huge talent available in tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” said Kumaraswamy.

Industries Minister K.J. George, Revenue Minister R.V. Despande, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Vice President Vikram Kirloskar and leading industrialist Jamshyd N. Goderej were present on the occasion.

Leading Indian and overseas machine tool makers are showcasing their technologies and products at the 5-day expo-cum-summit.

Nasheman News : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday targeted Narendra Modi and said that the Prime Minister lies through his teeth even after reciting God’s name; Gandhi, on the other hand, fulfils his promises.

Addressing a large public meeting here, the Congress chief said he has kept his promise of loan waiver to farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan after his party came to power in December 2018. However, Modi never thought about the crisis that farmers faced and has been too busy pampering his “15-20 industrialist friends”. 

“Narendra Modi wrote off Rs 3.5 lakh crore loans to his 15-20 friends, but never gave a single rupee loan waiver to farmers who toil day and night,” Gandhi said.

He said if his party formed the next government in Uttar Pradesh, then it would replicate the food processing units that have started coming up in Madhya Pradesh, where Congress took charge only a month back.

Once the Congress comes to power at the Centre, it would “bring back to Rae Bareli all the development projects that have been snatched away from the parliamentary constituency of his mother by Narendra Modi”, he added. 

Rae Bareli is the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi. But in the next election Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was appointed General Secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pardesh on Wednesday, might contest from the seat.

He also appointed Jyotiraditya Scindia as the western Uttar Pradesh in-charge.

Gandhi also raked up demonetisation, Rafale deal and Goods and Services Tax (GST) issues, and said that the Modi government has destroyed the small businesses with its policies.

Nasheman News : Priyanka Gandhi’s formal debut in politics has re-ignited a fierce debate on political dynasties and opinion is sharply divided if family lineage is a slur or works as a spur in public life.

Going by the success rate of leaders with family roots, it seems that political upbringing does help in para-drop launches of electoral careers, proving that dynasties have paradoxical existence in democracies.

The newest member of the Gandhi family has walked onto the political turf carrying a legacy of five generations but no political party except perhaps the Communist bloc can claim to be dynasty-free.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose ordinary tea-seller image had a mojo effect in last elections, has often mocked political families. But he has not been able to get rid of what is often considered to be a menace in his own party even though ordinary backgrounds of their leaders are routinely projected as a unique selling proposition of the ruling brigade.

Even a cursory look at the composition of the current Lok Sabha gives away the family roots of many politicians who are popular faces.

Among the second generation leaders include newly appointed interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, the son of the late BJP Treasurer Ved Prakash Goyal. In fact, there are many young BJP MPs who have taken over the baton from their fathers.

Anurag Thakur from Himachal Pradesh is the son of former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. Poonam Mahajan, the MP from Mumbai North Central, carries forward the legacy of her late father Pramod Mahajan, who was one of the most influential Ministers in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. 

Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi, though extension of the Gandhi lineage, hold the BJP flag in Parliament. Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju is the son of Rinchin Kharu, who was the first pro-tem speak of Arunachal Pradesh.

The problem in Congress is at another level. Under the umbrella Gandhi dynasty, there are several sub-families. 

Jyotiraditya Scindia from Madhya Pradesh is the son of late Madhavrao Scindia, Sachin Pilot is the son of late Rajesh Pilot and Sushmita Dev is the daughter of late Santosh Mohan Dev.

Apart from the two principal parties, dynasty is the basic foundation of most of the regional players who run their organisations as fiefdom. 

The Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh represents Mulayam Singh Yadav’s clan. The Badals in Punjab drive Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Shiv Sena is synonymous with the Thackeray family. Abdullahs are leading the National Conference while the PDP is led by the Mufti clan in Jammu and Kashmir. The late M. Karunanidhi’s son M.K Stalin spearheads the DMK. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is the son of the legendary Biju Patnaik.

The clan culture prevails across the board, covering the entire Indian political spectrum.