Modi government as ‘terrible’ as UPA, says AAP

The Narendra Modi government has proved “just as terrible” as the UPA regime it replaced, Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said on Monday.

A resolution passed at its National Council meeting also dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strategy of “manufactured intolerance... a grave threat to the Idea of India”.

In its strongest ever attack on the Modi government, the AAP said people replaced in 2014 “the most corrupt government in Indian history with an alternative that promised development and good governance.

“In the past 18 months, that alternative, the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance), has proved just as terrible.” The resolution said corruption pervaded all levels of the central government, economic growth was lacklustre, employment generation was negligible, social-sector spending had fallen, and the agrarian economy had been left to fend for itself.

“Politically, the BJP has stayed true to its past and gone on to try and tear the social fabric that delicately binds Indian society. The real agenda of the BJP is intolerance and the purpose is dividing society for political gains.”

The AAP said this “manufactured intolerance” had been rejected by people, first in Delhi and then in Bihar. 

“But BJP’s continued attempts to make it the centrepiece of its political strategy is a grave threat to the Idea of India.” The AAP, which swept to power in Delhi in February after crushing the BJP, vowed to “politically oppose all corrupt and communal forces which in  our view are the primary danger to Indian society”.

On a proposal moved by Sarita Singh, one of its 67 legislators, and seconded by Delhi unit leader Dilip Pandey, the National Council adopted three resolutions.