Dear Prime Minister Modi, I Am Seeing Neither 'Vikas' Nor 'Achche Din'

from THE BLOG of

Markandey KatjuFormer Judge, Supreme Court of India; Former Chairman, Press Council of India

To

The Hon'ble Shri Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India

Dear Modiji,

I would have liked to personally deliver this letter to you, but unfortunately (or fortunately ) I am presently in America, and likely to be here for some time. So I am posting it here, with the hope that someone will forward it to you.

Modiji, the whole country was delighted when at the time you became Prime Minister in May 2014 you promised "vikas" ( development ) and "achche din" (good days), and we all thought that under your brilliant leadership India would soon become a land of milk and honey.

Even many of the existing jobs in India have been lost. Where then is vikas?

But Modiji, pardon me for saying so, even after almost three years of your rule, I am neither seeing vikas nor achche din—rather I am seeing mandi girawat, berozgari and bure din. Maybe that is the fault of my faltering and weakening eyesight. After all, I am an old man.

But what I hear is this:

1. The unemployment situation, which was already bad during the UPA regime, has worsened under your rule. One crore (i.e. 10 million or 100 lakh) youth are entering the job market in India every year, but only 1.4 lakh jobs are being created in the organised sector of the Indian economy annually. What do the remaining youth do? They become hawkers, street vendors, bouncers, stringers, criminals or suicides. Are these "achche din" according to you?

2. Modiji, the Indian youth voted en masse for you in the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections, because they were captivated by your magic slogan of "sab ka vikas", which was understood to have meant that now tens of thousands of factories would be set up, and millions of jobs created for the youth.

But, Modiji, jobs are created when the economy is expanding. The Indian economy is stagnant, and in fact has gone into recession under your rule (thanks to doles to your alleged big business cronies and scatterbrained schemes like demonetisation, which have created havoc). Even many of the existing jobs in India have been lost. Where then is vikas?

3. As regards "achche din", the situation is that lately prices of LPG, petrol, diesel, milk, etc have been hiked. Modiji, achche din chhodiye, ab kamar tod mehngai hai. Kisan atma hatya kar rahen hain. Bharat ke 50% bachche kuposhit hain. Gharib janta ko swastha labh naseeb nahin hai. Achchi shiksha durlabh hai. Modiji, kuch kariye na, desh 'traahi maam, traahi maam' kar raha hai, magar ap Badshah Nero ki tarah sarangi baja rahe hain. Saare desh ko apka hi hai sahara, gharib parwar, paikar-e-insaaf, mai baap. Humari naiya ke ap hi hain khiwaiyan. (Modiji, forget about good days, we are suffering back-breaking inflation. Farmers are committing suicide. Up to 50% of children are malnourished. There are no health benefits trickling down to the poor, a good education is impossible. Modiji, do something... all Indians are pleading for you to rescue them, but you're fiddling like Emperor Nero. The entire country needs your support... you are the shore to our boat.)

Hari Om

Your humble servant,
Markandey Katju
(Former Judge, Supreme Court of India )
2.3.2017, Fremont, California, USA