View from the right: Cleaning the Ganga

The cleansing of the Ganga has been high on the Parivar’s priority list, particularly the VHP and its fellow travellers. And the Parivar has been striving to co-opt Malviya and Patel, both Congress stalwarts, to make up for its own deficiency of icons.

STAMP OF MODINOMICS

The Organiser features a morphed photograph of Jaitley, a briefcase in one hand, walking a tightrope. The cover story observes: “Budget 2014-15 was caught between high hopes and hard decisions. The finance minister in his budget speech said, ‘The prevailing economic situation presents a great challenge. It calls for a conscious choice to be made by all of us. Should we allow this drift to carry on and watch helplessly? Should we allow our future to suffer because of our indecisiveness? Should we be victims of mere populism or wasteful expenditure?’ In such a challenging situation, instead of going for big bang changes, Arun Jaitley has opted for a balancing act between ensuring growth and controlling inflation… While retaining Modi’s stamp of addressing high aspirations, the finance minister has cleverly played within the limitations of fiscal restraint. Therefore, despite divergent views about presentation, detail and specificities, the budget has been positively received.”

The weekly sees on the budget the “stamp of Modinomics, because the announcements made by Jaitley were in line with the vision and promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election campaign.”

ACHHE DIN

The Organiser’s editorial says: “The Modi government rode on the slogan of ‘Achhe din aane wale hain’ and created aspirations for hope and change… the Union budget 2014 was expected to be a tangible roadmap for ‘achhe din’… As far as the vision related to ‘achhe din’ is concerned, by and large, all sectors have given thumbs up to the budget on three counts — vision, direction and content… There is a logical continuity in the BJP’s election manifesto, the priorities identified after government formation, the rail budget and the general budget. While focusing on standard budgetary parameters of education, employability, fiscal discipline and rationalisation of taxes, the budget smartly outlines issues of cultural heritage, aspiration, industry and growth, security and inclusion.” It argues that “the budget is a clear embodiment of the ideological vision of the government”.

Compiled by Pradeep Kaushal