By Badri Raina / The Wire
First a snapshot of what has reportedly been said.
Then the “who said it.”
- that “poverty stands like a demon before us”;
- that, citing, would you believe it, a “UN observer”, “large parts of India have no access to clean water or nutritious food”;
- that “20 crore India is below povery”;
- that “23 crore India earns Rs.375/- a day” only;
- that “unemployment,” citing, would you again believe, a “Labour Survey,” is at a high of 7.6%;
- that “1% Indians own a fifth of national income” (never mind that the figure is actually more like a half, not a fifth);
- that “50% Indians own just 13.5%” national income;
- that “government inefficiency” (you got that right) is also responsible; clearly questioning the modern Indian adage “Modi hai tou mumkin hai”;
- that the idea that only “urban centres” can create employment is turning them into “hell”;
- that the problem cannot be sorted out by “tech” solutions – a palpable blow to Jio, etc.?
- that grand (and, might we add, grandly proclaimed,) “all-India schemes” are not the answer, but local avenues of “entrepreneurship” and “skill development”; that, predictably, though, emphasises Ayurveda and other pet themes of ancient wisdom;
- that India requires a “labour intensive” (again you heard that right too) model of economic activity.
And so on and so on.
Now the “who said it”:
Not Sitaram Yetchury, or Rahul Gandhi, or Arun Kumar, or Paul Krugman, but the General Secretary of the RSS, Dattatreya Hosabale.
It remains to be seen whether or not action will be initiated against the RSS (surely, while they may disown anybody else, they cannot disown their General Secretary?) for thus vilifying the image of Bharat, and bringing the duly elected government into disrepute.
This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here