What ‘achhe din’ is BJP talking about, Congress asks

In his first year in power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to tackle inflation, bring back black money or help farmers, Congress leaders alleged on Tuesday, when they took out a protest march in Mumbai against the BJP governments at the Centre and Maharashtra.

In his first year in power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to tackle inflation, bring back black money or help farmers, Congress leaders alleged on Tuesday, when they took out a protest march in Mumbai against the BJP governments at the Centre and Maharashtra.

The Congress – in combat mode ever since the return of its vice-president Rahul Gandhi – conducted the march from Girgaum Chowpatty to Azad Maidan, although they did not have permission from the police. The party said the the PM had created a new record by “fooling 125 crore people at the same time”.

“What ‘achhe din’ are they talking about? Neither was inflation reined in, nor did black money come back; fuel prices were hiked, farmers are killing themselves across the country and there is massive unemployment. The PM’s only aim seems to be his foreign tours,” said Sanjay Nirupam, city Congress chief.

Former legislator Charan Singh Sapra slammed the PM for spending taxpayers’ monies on ‘promoting himself.’

“Instead of spending our hard-earned money to convince us that he has brought in acche din, he should transfer the money to our accounts, so that we get at least a fraction of the amount he had promised.”

Both the Union and state BJP-Sena government have not made life better for the farmer, said Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, opposition leader in the state legislature. “We demand the Centre re-distribute proceeds from the coal auctions, as well its savings from the fall in international crude prices.”

The Centre has also been denying farmer relief aid to the state government, Vikhe-Patil said.

“The first thing the government should do is to waive off farm loans entirely. It can also offer subsidies in farm inputs, using this money,” he said.

The Congress has strategically targeted the celebrations the Modi government had planned for its first-year anniversary. For about a week now, different leaders have called it the ‘death anniversary of Modi’s promises’. Senior party leaders and former Union ministers have been taking on the government on various issues.