PM Modi takes credit for Telangana’s growth in bland speech

Hyderabad: Lacklustre! That just about sums up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the public meeting in Parade Grounds here that marked the conclusion of the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP on Sunday. Contrary to expectations, Modi did not even touch upon burning national issues such as inflation, economic downturn, unrest in the […]

Hyderabad: Lacklustre! That just about sums up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the public meeting in Parade Grounds here that marked the conclusion of the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP on Sunday.

Contrary to expectations, Modi did not even touch upon burning national issues such as inflation, economic downturn, unrest in the country, farmers’ problems, unemployment, foreign policy and coal imports, among others, which were raised by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the days preceding the saffron party meeting. Instead, the Prime Minister focused on claiming credit, where none existed, for the rapid development of Telangana on various fronts in the past eight years.

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It was indeed a failed script after the brouhaha created by the saffron brigade in the run up to the meeting. Coming as it does after two days of deliberations at the national executive meeting of a ‘national’ party, one expected the Prime Minister to speak about various issues facing the country and the party’s blueprint to address them, but it fizzled out into a painstaking exercise at trying to ward off criticism about the complete discrimination of Telangana and project the State’s development as a Central government achievement, and both attempts fell flat!

Completely lacking the chutzpah that is part of Modi’s garb when he visits other parts of the country, he could only mouth the “Sabka saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas” slogan to try and convince the gathering that Telangana was as much in the development radar of the Centre as others. The Prime Minister’s body language as he reeled out the Centre’s contribution to the growth of the youngest State was not in sync with the words that tumbled out.

Modi spoke about how the BJP government at the Centre had taken up construction of various projects in the State, including infrastructure development such as flyovers in Hyderabad at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore, a mega textile park, Regional Ring Road, National Highways, rail network and five irrigation projects, virtually turning it into a ‘Fact vs Fiction’ affair since most of the works were taken up by the TRS government.

The Prime Minister conveniently failed to mention that Telangana’s share in the development of the RRR would match the Centre’s. And pray, what are these five irrigation projects that the BJP government is staking claiming for? This after the Centre repeatedly cold-shouldered Telangana’s requests to accord national project status to either the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme or the Palamuru-Rangareddy scheme!

Modi, however, indirectly admitted that the entire Telangana was electrified when he said the BJP government was ensuring electricity to every village and city in the State. He stated that the BJP government was striving to ensure that Hyderabad has a well-equipped Science City. He went on to claim that the union government had not only reopened the fertiliser factory at Ramagundam, but would also establish a mega textile park, a project that is off to a flying start thanks to the efforts of the State government.

The Prime Minister also said that the people of Telangana are yearning for a ‘double-engine growth’ and asserted this will be fulfilled if the BJP comes to power in the State. He assured that if BJP comes to power, the pace of development will also double. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a disaster taking place after 100 years, his government tried to support every family in Telangana, he said.