Comments by "M Shastri" (@libshastra) on "Why Opposition is as much to be blamed as BJP for Shami, FabIndia trolling" video.

  1. So the Opposition in our country is stupid. Let's break down Narendra Modi here for a bit (and BJP). Modi's power comes from 4 legs - Hindutva - Nationalism - Infrastructure - Delivery of Services Let's start with Nationalism. Modi's Nationalism is India first policy, which encompasses asserting India as a global power and strategic partner. You can see that with his clear foreign policy and national security priorities. When it comes to each State, he makes it a point to speak in their local language and embrace their local culture and fit in. The opposition can either align with it or present a better alternative, what does the opposition do instead? Kejriwal instead goes into DeshBhakt mode rather than project Delhi has a world class city or host something like Invest Delhi. Rahul Gandhi, well he invites British MP David Milliband for poverty tourism and says, "This is real India" or bring back Article 370. Mamta Banarjee is busy being Bengali rather than Indian, she does not make space for other States in her own campaign speeches. The only one here who comes close to the energy of Modi's Nationalism is Shiv Sena and DMK (AIADMK as well) with their regional variations. Infrastructure, this is an easy one for any opposition ruled state to take advantage of. But unless if it's a BJP run state, Infra projects are barely talked about. This is even more evident when you look at status for projects in the National Infrastructure pipeline portal. AMRUT, PM-AWAS-U, Smart Cities grants allocated for non BJP states have lied unspent (it's in their dashboards). Only opposition parties that's doing well here are YSR Congress and TRS. Delivery of Services, with the exception of Odissa and BJP ruled states, no other state bothered with attaching their name to scheme or improving delivery. There's very visible progress from the Centres when it comes to it's schemes - Jan Dhan, Nal se Jal, PMUY all have received praise for it's reach and delivery. Again, the only folks here who seems to be working on it are YSR Congress and TRS. (Too early to judge DMK) And then you have the final leg that's Hindutva. The opposition, of all things caught on this and are trying to out Hindutva Modi this like a bunch of Bollywood music producers following KPop trends. This is a fool's errand. The opposition can't even present a coherent alternative to Hindutva or their own interpretation of Hindutva. You might disagree with Owasi, but at least here, he presents an alternative grounded on constitutional values for some parts of the day. This is why I think they are stupid. They are so full of themselves and stuck up that they don't realize that they can easily outmanoeuvre Modi on 3 legs of his politics.
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