Union Minister Arun Jaitley today rued the media's tendency to set the agenda and said it selectively picks parts of people's comments to suit its narrative.
On the occasion of the release of his book, 'Andhere se Ujale ki Aur' (From darkness to light), the Finance Minister came in for lavish praise with BJP chief Amit Shah hailing him as one of the few post-Independence leaders who worked to restore value-based polity.
In his address on the occasion of release of the book, an anthology of his write-ups, blogs and speeches translated in Hindi, Jaitley said he has been in the thick of political events since the days of Emergency and has been writing for decades on relevant issues.
"One reason for writing more is that the character of media also changed with time. It became more interested in setting the agenda than what you are saying. It will highlight those parts of a statement that is relevant to issues picked up by it," he said.
While releasing the book, Shah said Jaitley in his write-ups expressed the voice of rural India despite coming from an affluent background and having grown up in Lutyens' Delhi, and has also criticised the media despite being considered "a media's darling".
Praising his work as the Finance Minister, he credited him with piloting two "achievements" of the Narendra Modi government--the GST bill and the Income Declaration Scheme.
"When values in public life fell after Independence, then some leaders consistently fought to restore them. If a list of such leaders, irrespective of party affiliations, is made, Jaitley's name will figure among them," the BJP chief said, praising him for his transparent and value-based politics.
He was also among those party leaders who started the practice of putting in place a sound election management system, from strategising to picking relevant issues, Shah said.
Referring to BJP's multi-pronged campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Jaitley said he wrote on the party's request regularly from July-August 2013 to May 2014 when the last round of polls took place and results were announced.
His aim has been to express the party's viewpoint seriously and added that he has never used a word or sentence may have caused it trouble.
He also rued the lack of humour and satire in public life, saying there used up be a lot of space for this earlier and referred to the likes of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and politicians Piloo Mody and Madhu Dandavate.
Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta said Jaitley combined humour with erudition and is heard in silence when he speaks in the Rajya Sabha, which otherwise sees uproar when BJP members speak.
Jaitley said that for years the success of Railways was
measured by subsidising consumers and making populist announcements regarding trains.
"Railways got caught in a battle where populism prevailed over performance and the basic principle on which any commercial establishment is to be run, the first essential principle is that consumers must pay for the services that they receive," he said.
He said that power companies were not doing well till the 2003 power reforms came and the highways sector was successful through toll mechanism or cess on fuel that consumers were paying for using the highways.
"Worldover, only those services have succeeded where there is a financial model and the financial model is that the consumers pay for what they receive. We turned this whole theory upside down by a self imposed indiscipline that populism requires that I require that consumers not to pay for service that they receive. Therefore, any establishment will start crumbling under its own weight and contradictions," he said.
Jaitley said that today, even though there is no competition within the Railways yet they have to compete with alternate modes of transportation.
He said the Highways sector, which has developed in the last 15 years, is giving railways a real run for money and in terms of passenger traffic now with airline network, even for travel purposes railways will face a big competition.
"Therefore, unless both in performance as also in internal management, you are not able to maintain the highest of standards, the dangers of losing out to competition will always be there," he said.
Jaitley said railways have been fighting the competition and the stress is showing in their finances.
He said airports have become more developed than most developed countries in the world.
"Logically, there is no difference in the functioning or requirements of airports or railway station. Therefore, with the kind of real estate and land in their possession, there is no reason why railways cannot develop to that level," he added.
