Instead of being a game-changing government, the BJP has turned out to be a name-changing one. The only successes it can point to are of schemes that were initiated by the UPA and often criticized at the time by the Opposition BJP: MGNREGA (which the PM sneered at, but now seeks credit for increasing its funding, even though states complain the promised subventions from the centre have not come); Aadhaar (which Mr Modi vowed to dismantle but has instead made compulsory, in many cases linking it to such things as credit cards and mobile phones that often have no links to government benefits);
Instead of being a game-changing government, the BJP has turned out to be a name-changing one. The only successes it can point to are of schemes that were initiated by the UPA and often criticized at the time by the Opposition BJP: MGNREGA (which the PM sneered at, but now seeks credit for increasing its funding, even though states complain the promised subventions from the centre have not come); Aadhaar (which Mr Modi vowed to dismantle but has instead made compulsory, in many cases linking it to such things as credit cards and mobile phones that often have no links to government benefits); Direct Benefits Transfer, attractively renamed Jan Dhan as if the BJP had not criticized its adoption; Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, now packaged as ‘Swachh Bharat’ with lower outgoes but five times the publicity budget; FDI in retail, the Financial Inclusion Scheme, liberalization of insurance and GST (Goods and Services Tax) itself, all of which the BJP had ferociously opposed and now wants to be congratulated for adopting. The UPA’s skill development mission has been renamed the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana; the National e-Governance Plan is now ‘Digital India’; the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana has been rebaptized the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana; the UPA’s Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme has become the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana; and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has been shrunk to Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and U...
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