Answering Media on Questions to Narendra Modi, but will they venture into responding these queries?

Published: Monday, Jan 13,2014, 18:33 IST
By:
0
Share
sagarika ghose, narendra modi, sagarika's articles,

I do not represent Mr. Narendra Modi’s point of views officially or unofficially but I decided to write this to Sagarika Ghose, Deputy Editor at CNN-IBN English Channel. Sagarika has been asking some questions most of them relevant to Mr. Modi. As a journalist, she is entitled to this and as a POR holder, Mr. Modi is entitled to choose not answering them. (POR = Position of Responsibility). It is between them and not my business to comment on that, until Sagarika dragged me in between. Yes she did complain that, she is receiving abuses and went to brand those who support Modi with decorated words ‘bhakt’, ‘army’ etc. This is where I decided to step in.  So I would now give valid responses to her and post that would ask my own set of questions to Sagarika and her colleagues across channels in Mainstream Media.

Answering Sagarika

Modi Ji, what is your stand on caste quotas?

Caste Quotas is a result of Gandhain Principles embedded in the Constitution of India, which urges the government to take Affirmative action for the weaker section of society such as women, SC and STs. A committee would be set up to review, which castes have benefitted from the Quota system and it would be reviewed if a particular caste should continue to receive this benefit, depending on how socially well of the particular caste is

Modi Ji, how will you control the fiscal deficit?

We would have to go for additional sources of Revenue which the current Government is ignorant to. For example, bringing in the Black Money stashed in offshore accounts, auctioning scarce resources (like 4G spectrum could alone fetch us around 2 Lakh Crores) and various other resources.

Modi Ji, will you rollback FSB and MNREGA? If not how will u control spending?

FSB and MNREGA are not effectivbe in its current form. There is no complete rollback possible but it needs review. For example, FSB currently covers around 700 million people. Most of them do not need Free Food, but they want opportunities to work, to create wealth for themselves, so in future it is possible that rather than covering large population, a small population will be covered which cannot even afford food and is inert to the High growth rate. Additionally the Scheme will not just focus on providing grains but other nutrional components to those who are suffering from malnutrition. Finally, we would also ensure that a robust delivery mechanism is in place. You can research the BJP Chhattisgarh govt. model to for the same.

Modi Ji, will you rollback Retail FDI since your party opposes it?

There is no room for FDI in Retail sector because India is home to already large retail chains. Bringing in Foreign Retail Chains would discourage the local vendors who provide Raw Materials as the foreign chains can avail it cheaply from China. This would mean curtains for many of our small farmers and vendors. As a govt. we are duty bound to protect the interest of smallest of farmer. So we would assess, if any laws can be made to protect them

Modi Ji, how will you reform the aviation sector?

If you study Gujarat, we have had a lot of PSUs which were sick. Today they are brimming with profit. I would urge you to make a documentary on that and show it to yout viewers as to how these bleeding companies faced a dramatic turnaround. Same would apply for Aviation sector, particularly the State owned Air India.

Modi Ji what will be your Pak policy?

As our former Prime Minister Atal ji said “You choose your friends but you do not choose your neighbours”. So it is our destiny to have Pakistan as our neighbor and we do not have any other choice. So it is in everyone’s interest that peace prevails in the region. However that doesn’t mean that any concession would be given to Pakistan which compromises integrity and sovereignty of India. Cross Border Terrorism would be dealt with tough hands. Additionally we would also assess what can be done to enhance our Internal Security

Modi Ji, how will you reach out to US biz interests, given your image in US?

From, what I understand of the US economy, they are more than eager for new markets and what better than a market of 125 Crore people with immense growth potential? If you see in our Vibrant Gujarat Submit, billions of dollars of MOUs are signed each year and large portion of it translates into actual Investment. I would also remind you, a US Congress delegation had met me earlier this year and discussed my ‘minimum government, maximum governance model’. The country under BJP rule will attract a horde of business entities and that would include the ones from US

Modi Ji, will you push nuclear power in big way, your stand on current Nuke Liability law?

Our growing population and increased industrialization has ensured that we need to quickly look onto Alternative sources of energy. Also it is critical to reduce our dependence on Oil exports. Pushing for Nuclear Energy is also 1 part of the enhancing Alternative Energy source. SO NDA would also push for Nuclear power but not at the cost of National Security. The current Liability Law makes India vulnerable at some stand points and we would not like to pursue it with the existing loopholes. Not to forget we have abundant stock of Thorium which can be yused for Nuclear power

You say secularism is India First, your vision of place of minorities in a democracy?

Secularism means India First. It means there would not be discrimination with a person with respect to his religion. A poor Muslim or a poor Christian is entitled to as much benefits as a poor Hindu. It is my belief that favoring any particular religion would create a rift. Anything and everything should be for everyone irrespective of religion. As far as protection of their culture and languages is concerned, our Constitution gives them this right as per Article 29 and 30.

Modi Ji, will you raise taxes to control deficit? If so, which taxes are u planning to raise?

That is a call which would be taken at the right time but as of now the intention is to look for other sources of revenue as already answered in one of the previous question. Additionally our plan is to curb Tax Evasion. If more people start [paying taxes, who are evading it otherwise, it would naturally result in increased revenue and decreased deficit. Increasing Transparency is the key here so that more and more percentage of productive population starts paying taxes.

Now that Sagarika has received answers (and all of them satisfactory ones), it is my turn to ask questions. These set of questions is not just for Sagarika but any journalist in Main Stream Media. Here are they.

  • You do not hesitate for a moment to brand all the supporters of Mr. Modi with same brush calling them abusive, violent etc. Using the same brush, would it be acceptable to you if the entire Media is called Paid Media because we know Paid News is a prevailing concept and some journos, if not all are definitely paid
     
  • Many journos have close relation with politicians, businessmen etc. Before the start of the program, do you plan to mention your political leaning so that your views are taken by the viewers accordingly, rather than coming as biased?
     
  • Many journos have received favors in cash and kind (like Lutyens’ Bungalow), would they clarify this before each show, so that people are aware that the journo’s stand is/is not affected by any favors from a politician
     
  • In India there are atleast 1000 political parties and if the number of independents across various Assemblies and Lok Sbaha is added, the number would be in lakhs. What was then the reason for the news channels to give a disproportionately high coverage to a new party AAP between the periods May 2013 to December 2013?
     
  • Adding to the above, the coverage proportion to AAP has even sky rocketed after the December 2013, elections to the extent that if one opens his TV channel at anytime of the day, more than 70% chances are that the news would be about AAP.
     
  • In all the Political TV debates, there is a trend to call 1 spokesperson from BJP who is grilled by 1 spokesperson each from CPM, Congress, SP, AAP, BSP, JDU etc and 3 to 4 Analysts/Intellectuals who are Left leaning. Why this highly skewed debate with 1 person pitted against 7 or 8?
     
  • You say that Media is unbiased, but there has been a clear bias towards AAP. Infact after doing Overt Promotion of AAP through TV and Twitter, 1 news editor has joined the party. Can we get a confirmation, if no other Journo from your channel will join any party, atleast in the next few months?
     
  • Media has asked so many questions to Narendra Modi, who has not even become the PM. Why can’t media ask same questions to the ruling party as to why so many of their policies have failed?
     
  • Media is quick to ‘break news’ without verifying. Many times it has indulged in unfair trial of an individual, although the legal Jury has been otherwise. In such cases, will you also give coverage showing how the Media was unfair to an individual and apologize duly and unconditionally?
     
  • Many a times, unverified news is flashed for hours and later on the news proves to be incorrect, in such a case, does the TV channel intend to apologize or atleast regret the false news for same amount of time?
     

Author : Suyash Bharadwaj | Follow the writer twitter.com/Suyash75

Comments (Leave a Reply)

DigitalOcean Referral Badge