Outed comrade and cow question

New Delhi, March 1: Arun Shourie had famously described the Narendra
Modi government as "Congress plus a cow".
After yesterday's general budget, a subtle modification may not be out of
order: comrade plus cow.
The symptoms were always there.
A now-mothballed proposal to build a Rs 18,000-crore steel plant in the
public sector, reminiscent of the commanding-heights dream.
Reluctance to resurrect the divestment ministry that was sired by the Atal
Bihari Vajpayee government and buried by the UPA.
The Prime Minister equating farm subsidies with industry incentives at The
Economic Times summit in front of a host of industrialists.
Taking over troubled tea gardens in Bengal.
If anyone missed the symptoms, yesterday's general budget proclaimed the
diagnosis loud and clear: being Left is in the DNA of the Narendra Modi
government.
The big question is now that the Modi government has come out of the
closet, whether it will pursue the political-economic agenda or allow the
bovine brigade to continue to run amok.

Some analysts have described the new budget as "soak-the-rich budget" - an

appellation that found some legitimacy from the fact that the government
failed to lower corporate tax as promised in the last budget but did not desist
from taxing the rich more.
Last year, Jaitley had said he would cut corporate tax from 30 to 25 per cent
in the next four years - and said this would be linked to a sharp cutback in
tax exemptions that industry receives.
Even while justifying the reformist but unpopular tax on provident fund
withdrawals, the government today said it would mostly affect "highly paid"
employees of the private sector, making it clear where its sympathies lay.
Some leading lights of the erstwhile UPA are said to be describing the budget
as "UPA 3" in private but BJP leaders insist Modi has always been "pro-poor"
and then sheepishly refer to what must rank as the last word on the subject.
These leaders point to the Left-leaning Economic and Political Weekly that
has consistently traduced the RSS and the BJP for their ideological
persuasion.
The February 6 issue carries a piece titled " Har Khet ko Pani? (Water for
every field?) Madhya Pradesh's Irrigation Reform as a Model".
It commends the governments of Madhya Pradesh (headed by BJP leader
Shivraj Chouhan) and Gujarat (used to be headed for several years by Modi)
for their policy of pursuing agricultural growth through irrigation
development as a political strategy for "capturing agrarian vote-banks rather
than rent-seeking" without being accused of irrigation scams.
The EPW article says: "Modi's agrarian success in Gujarat was unparalleled.
But Chouhan, who took over as chief minister after Modi in Gujarat, has
outdone even Modi in accelerating irrigation benefits."
The article advised Prime Minister Modi to emulate his and Chouhan's
irrigation templates.
The reference to the EPW was one of the BJP's ways of contextualising the
social and political significance of the new budget presented by Arun Jaitley
yesterday.

BJP ministers and officials claimed that unlike the last two budgets, Modi
micro-managed yesterday's exercise to the same degree as Jaitley.
"Even the EPW has praised our governments. Rural development was always
on top of the PM's agenda," said BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP
Bhupendra Yadav but remonstrated about the Left link.
"What is Left about the BJP and its leaders? Our fundamental philosophy is
based on Deendayal Upadhyaya's (Jana Sangh ideologue) concept of
'antodaya' (serving the last person waiting in the queue) and the budget is
within that framework. We are Antodayaists," Yadav said.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi explained: "Yes, the

Congress tried to label our government pro-corporate. But if you see from
day one, from the PM's first Independence Day speech in Red Fort, the issues
he raised were poor-centric, whether it was the Clean India Campaign, the
Jan Dhan Yojana or Beti Bachao, Beti Padao. Who needs to be encouraged to
make their daughters study? Not a rich person but the poor."
But a BJP minister conceded in private that the need to highlight the
government's "pro-poor" thrust acquired greater urgency after the Delhi and
Bihar election routs.
"Unfortunately, Modiji came with the tag of 'friend of industry'. Maybe the
aspect of Gujarat Shining, projected in the grand Vibrant Gujarat summits he
hosted, added to the perception. His publicised foreign visits, the diaspora
shows and the monogrammed suit he wore (during President Barack
Obama's visit to India, which triggered the "suit-boot ki sarkar" jibe from
Rahul Gandhi) damaged him even more.
"Nobody writes about it but the damage correction began when he discarded
his suits when he travelled abroad, except when they were absolutely
required. He kept industrialists at arm's length and refused to meet them
except strictly on a professional agenda," the minister claimed.
For instance, a business magnate, considered close to Modi, got habituated
to checking into the very hotels the Prime Minister stayed in on his overseas
trips. After Modi's aides took note, the businessman was told off.
However, when Modi's supposed "correctives" went unnoticed, he did what
he thought he does best: speak to the people directly.

On January 29, the Prime Minister had declared at The Economic Times
summit: "When a benefit is given to farmers or to the poor, experts and
government officers normally call it a subsidy. However, I find that if a benefit
is given to industry or commerce, it is usually called an 'incentive' or
'subvention'. We must ask ourselves whether this difference in language also
reflects a difference in our attitude? Why is it that subsidies going to the
well-off are portrayed in a positive manner?"
Modi went on to quantify the "subsidy" for industry at a little more than Rs
62,000 crore in 2014-15 - which is an estimate of the revenue that the
government had to forego because of a range of incentives and tax breaks
that it extends to nurture productive investments in the private sector.
In the latest budget, the government has announced that it plans to cap
accelerated depreciation at a maximum of 40 per cent from April 1, 2017.
Accelerated depreciation has spurred investments in renewable energy
projects like solar and wind power which have been allowed to depreciate
machinery by as much as 80 per cent and, as a result, pay lower taxes. By
halving the rate of depreciation, the government has delivered a blow to
these businesses.
The government has not come out with its usual "statement on revenue
foregone" along with its budget documents this time. So, there is no way of
knowing how the change in the tax exemptions will impact revenue earnings
of the government.
A day before the budget, speaking to farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Modi had
hammered away on this point more emphatically. "What is my dream? My
dream is that by 2022, when the country celebrates its 75th Independence
Day, farmers' income should double."
The Centre's nightmarish experience with unsuccessfully pushing through
the amendments in the Land Acquisition Act, blocked by the Opposition for
being "industry friendly", left Modi "rattled" - possibly why the "Garibi Hatao"
theme (originally associated with Indira Gandhi) is being replayed.
Will the Centre's effort to get the BJP back on the "development and
governance" track take off, especially when in the past such attempts were
quickly deflected by the motor mouths and hotheads?

"The PM and the BJP are clear that everyone needs to speak on the
government's policies only and not air all kinds of opinions that polarise
society," said Union minister Prakash Javadekar.
Till now, there is little evidence that the message had been delivered sternly
and it had percolated down the ranks.
On the JNU controversy, too, the Centre has been steadily hardening its
stand. Post-budget, a clue to any change may come when the government
shows its hand on how it deals with the privilege motion against HRD
minister Smriti Irani.

This New is Originally Posted on THE TELEGRAPH