 "Former BJP minister Arun Shourie slams Modi, Shah, Jaitley troika")
In an interview with Karan Thapar on Headlines Today, Shourie criticised the PM for talking about Mahatma Gandhi but wearing an expensive monogrammed suit, for his silence when communal riots took place or when churches were attacked, for centralisation of power in the Prime Minister's Office and for his government's economic policy lacking a bigger picture.
Shourie said though Jaitley was a good lawyer, the PM shouldn't base his decisions on "lawyerly arguments", as lawyers were adept at arguing one thing today and another tomorrow. Shourie, 73 and a former journalist, had emerged as a supporter of Modi when the PM, then Gujarat chief minister, was to be elected as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate in 2013. Shourie wasn't included in the Modi cabinet after the party's victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
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In the interview, telecast on Friday, Shourie advised Modi and his government to learn to embrace others and maintain a low profile. He said the gap between the government's projection and performance had become too vast. Shourie, however, said the PM alone wasn't to blame. He said the "trimurti" (triumvirate) of Modi, Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah worked as a team to run the government and the party but it wasn't getting feedback, as it had "frightened" not only allies but their own people, too.
Shourie said some in the government were busy "managing headlines" on the economy, adding it was going to "rebound". He termed the claims of an economic revival a "hyperbole", with no delivery. Shourie said the investment cycle had failed to pick up and the tax issue fir FIIs was "mishandled", with the government behaving like a "bully".
Shourie pointed to the government's failure to carry out institutional reforms, stressed the need for inducting experts from outside into the government and was critical of the government picking up "too much confrontation with too many people", including the Supreme Court and the Reserve Bank of India.
He said the PM had failed to deliver on economic reforms, which he had argued for as Gujarat chief minister. He slammed the land ordinance as ill-advised. "Disruption of Parliament is a parliamentary tactic," Shourie quoted Jaitley as having said when in Opposition. This, Shourie said, had now come to haunt the government, with the Opposition unwilling to cooperate. He said the BJP supported the United Progressive Alliance government's land Act and now, it couldn't explain why it wanted amendments.
Shourie said a more embracing attitude with the Opposition would have helped carry out economic reforms. He criticised Shah for his abrasive tone in West Bengal against the Trinamool Congress. He said people focused on the 335-seat majority the government had in the Lok Sabha but they should remember it had received only 31 per cent votes, with two-thirds not having voted for the party. "That is what happened in Delhi (Assembly polls)," Shourie said, bemoaning how no corrective action was taken when "the masterstroke of master strategist" in bringing former top cop Kiran Bedi boomeranged.
He termed as incomprehensible the fact that several top posts, including those of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Central Information Commission, were lying vacant. Shourie criticised Modi for his failure to speak on issues such as ghar wapasi, communal riots in Moradabad and the 'love jihad', especially as the PM didn't miss an opportunity to tweet on various subjects. This, he said, was alienating minorities, particularly Muslims, and there was a danger of the Muslim youth being pushed towards the Islamic State.
Shourie, praised Modi's handling of ties with the US and China, but said the follow-up to these was weak. He said the US was "feeling quite impatient" on defence procurement deals, while the Modi government had failed to "grab" the opportunity to avail of the operational intelligence Washington was willing to share. He said dealing with Pakistan required "steadier thinking". Shourie said he wasn't aware of the extent of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's involvement in the shaping of India's foreign policy, but added it "does not bode well" if she was being kept on the margins.
Shourie said Modi was a successful chief minister who had ably implemented major projects in Gujarat, but he was yet to make the transition to policy making that the top job in Delhi required, as also to the minute scrutiny the Union government was subjected to in comparison to a state government.