Modi 365 (plus or minus)

Last week, newspapers, television, social media and my barber- everyone was talking about one year of Modi government (Amma beat him badly when it came to the front page advertisement in all newspapers across the country). Everyone gave their report. All went to its length and breadth from his foreign visits to the Land Acquisition bill. 

My barber kept the blade on my throat and asked “How did you feel about Modi’ one year government?”. I became speechless!

He didn’t wait for my reply. He said “Amma vanduthanga illa, innemel all will be OK”. Apparently, he didn’t get the difference between the central and state government. 

So what did this middle class private sector working guy got from Modi? Of course, one cannot expect anything direct from the government, but still I want to list the changes this government did to me. This is strictly personal, I’m not going to say anything on what this government did for others (poor, rich and NRI’s).

They made me to get the long awaited Aadhaar card. They took away my bio-metrics (finger print and retina scan). I assume it is now in an American cloud. My face in the card looked like my “onnu vitta sithappa”. I already have a bunch of identity and address proof, now Aadhaar card adds to the list. 

They made to link my LPG connection to my bank account. I still couldn’t understand, earlier I used to pay Rs. 400. Now, I’m paying Rs. 600 and Rs. 200 is transferred to my bank account. If you are going to transfer back the Rs. 200 to me, why did you collect it from me? On top, I receive an SMS from my LPG dealer to give up the subsidies, which will help for building the nation! How do I know if my Rs. 200 is properly spent for nation building?.

The usual raising of the income tax slab was not done in this budget. This was much awaited, which would have impacted directly our pockets. Instead Modi said we have to take a bitter pill. There was decrease in corporate tax and he gave a sugar candy to them.

Apart from the above there is price rise for both daily commodities and fuel. 

Let us see how my money is spent indirectly. Why such fancy campaigns like Swachh Bharat and Make In India. This things exists only in paper and TV commercials.

After this government came into power, every day, someone gives controversial statements, about what to eat, what to wear, where to pee, where to spit, how many children to have, what to read, whom to pray… All this news fills my daily paper. I’m forced to read it and I get disturbed. 

Oh forgot about this fortnightly talk. “Mann Ki Baat” is magnificently scripted by the verses from the Napoleon Hill, “You Can Win” kind-of thoughts specifically targeting the youth (read future voters). Why can’t there be a “Mann Ki Baat” targeting the government officials, MLA’s, CM’s, MP’s, parents, teachers, newspaper boy…

So how did Modi government impact you? Let me know.

**The above Modi mask image is by the blogger used only for illustration purpose.

** Newspaper Image from Twitter.