 "Twists and turns in the Shourie tale")
Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Shourie launched a scathing critique of the Modi government's stand on growing intolerance in the country, in an interview to Karan Thapar on India Today TV. "Prime minister is not a section officer of the homoeopathy department. He is not head of a department. He is the prime minister. He has to show the country the moral path. He has to set moral standards," he said.
Of late, Shourie has emerged as one of the harshest critics of the Narendra Modi government. From Modi's stand on the Dadri lynching to the implementation of economic reforms under the NDA government, Shourie hasn't missed an opportunity to underline the Modi government's faults and misses in the one-and-half-year period it has been in power. Shourie, however, was one of the first among the BJP old guard who hailed Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate and the only answer to Manmohan Singh's lacklustre regime.
THEN
By 2012-2013, the UPA government had come to be defined by numerous corruption scandals, sluggish economic growth and an indecisive top leadership which led to the coining of the catchy phrase of ‘Policy Paralysis’. In an interview to Karan Thapar on August 26, 2013, Shourie criticised then prime minister Manmohan Singh for feigning ignorance about major economic and financial scams, and taking welfarism to the extent of bad economics.
A report in Mail Today newspaper from the same day also quoted him saying, "Wherever I go...the view that I get from the people is Narendra Modi ko lao (bring Narendra Modi). And certainly this view among all BJP workers (about Modi's ascension as PM candidate) is universal," The report also says he unequivocally lent his support to Modi as the "right man, the best man". He repeatedly batted for Modi as the "only hope for a clean, decisive leadership".
In fact, Shourie had joined the "Narendra Modi for PM" chorus as early as March 2013, according to a report in The Economic Times.
On Modi being considered a divisive leader who frightens the minorities and could rupture India's communal harmony, Shourie said in the August 26 interview, "There is communal harmony... In any case, the question really is if I keep shouting divisive, divisive, then everybody says see everybody is talking of him as divisive. The question is, at the moment what the country wants is not divisive but decisive leadership and he has certainly demonstrated that."
Shourie also maintained that Modi's reach within the BJP was ‘equanimous’ and without coteries. He said, "I'm saying that Modi has united the party at the grassroots level as far as I can see... the workers and volunteers are all for him."
NOW
It has been more than a year of the NDA government and the picture has changed. The Modi government is under fire for creating an atmosphere of intolerance. Shourie isn't holding back either. In his interview to Karan Thapar on Monday, Shourie accused Modi of deliberately maintaining silence on incidents like the Dadri lynching while his ministerial and party colleagues kept the issue "alive" merely to win the Bihar elections.
Shourie was accusing Modi of deliberately maintaining silence on incidents like the Dadri lynching while his ministerial and party colleagues kept the issue "alive" merely to win the Bihar elections.
Shortly before the first anniversary of the Modi government, Shourie said in an Interview to Karan Thapar on India Today TV, "The government seems to be more concerned with managing headlines than putting policies in place. The situation is like the many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle lying in a mess with no big picture in mind about how to put them together."
Shourie, in the interview, said despite promises, the concerns of foreign investors on retrospective taxes have not been addressed and incentives for manufacturing have not materialised.
"They (investors) require stability and predictability," he said.
Commenting on Modi's penchant for social media and his silence there, Shourie said, "You tweet when Sania Mirza wins a championship or greet someone on birthdays but you don't do such things when moral questions are involved. People doubt why he is silent," he added.
Diverging diametrically from what he had said earlier about Modi's reach within the party, Shourie, in the same interview said the central government and the BJP consist of only three people — Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and party chief Amit Shah, who have “frightened not just the allies but their own group”.
“I think, today the government of India and the party consists of three persons — Modi, Jaitley and Amit Shah… They work as a team. The three persons are not getting feedback from elsewhere. Secondly, they’ve frightened not just the allies but their own group — the extended party, etc."
His harshest remarks, though, came at a panel discussion following the launch of Business Standard's Editorial Chairman T N Ninan's book 'The Turn Of The Tortoise' on October 26, when he described the Modi government as 'Congress plus a cow', referring to the growing opposition by right wing groups to beef and cow slaughter. During the panel discussion, Shourie said, "Doctor Singh (Manmohan Singh) ko log yaad karne lag gaye hain (People have started recalling the days of Manmohan Singh). The way to charaterise policies of the government is — Congress plus a cow. Policies are the same."