The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has added to the Nitish Kumar versus Narendra Modi debate, with its chief Mohan Bhagwat reportedly rating Bihar’s performance above that of Gujarat.
At an interaction with foreign correspondents here on Thursday, Mr. Bhagwat was asked which State governments were role models for good governance.
“Bihar, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh to some extent, Madhya Pradesh to some extent, some parts of Maharashtra,” he responded, according to one of those present at the interaction.
Asked “Bihar first,” he said: “aisa log kahte hain [this is what people say].”
Asked to comment on this, RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya said: “The story about Shri Mohanji Bhagwat doing the rounds in the media today is totally false.”
Keywords: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Nitish vs Modi, Mohan Bhagwat
In terms of per capita income (PCI), in 2011, Gujarat ranked sixth among
major states with PCI of Rs 63,996, after Haryana (Rs 92,327),
Maharashtra, (Rs 83,471), Punjab (Rs 67,473), Tamil Nadu (Rs 72,993) and
Uttara-khand (Rs 68,292).What about inclusive growth in Gujarat? Though
Gujarat, with 31.8% people below the poverty line did better than
Maharashtra and Karnataka, it still lagged behind Kerala, Punjab,
Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, where poverty levels were 19.7%, 20.9%,
22.9% and 24.1%, respectively.
With respect to Human Development Index (HDI), Gujarat's story is
devastating. The HDI for Gujarat, in 2008, was 0.527 and it ranked 10
{+t} {+h} among major states. Kerala stood first (HDI: 0.790), Himachal
Pradesh scored 0.652, Punjab 0.605, Maharashtra 0.572 and Haryana 0.552.
With respect to three HDI components - income, health and education -
Gujarat does not present a shining story. In this respect, states like
Kerala took the lead in every sector, while Punjab, Himachal Pradesh,
Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal did better than Gujarat
Thus, Gujarat's growth story as claimed by Modi is more a myth than
reality. But it is also imperative that other states in the country make
concerted efforts to secure higher and also inclusive growth, rather
than getting enamoured with the Gujarat growth story. Also, for the
people of Gujarat, it's time for introspection and putting right efforts
in the direction of making Gujarat a truly "vibrant" state.
How can Modi and his followers could forget that there is no no
development in rural and tribal areas of Gujarat? Modi has hired PR
agencies to project himself as man of development and one who can become
the PM but the reality on grass root is totally different. Modi has
allowed industrialist to loot Gujarat and if he becomes PM, he will let
entire world to loot India...
First Modi must answer where are the missing children of Gujarat...he
must answer what happened in 2002, he must answer who killed Haren
Pandya, he must answer that why no Lokayukta in Gujarat, he must answer
what CAG report says about his corrupt...before the even think to be PM
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