18 reasons why Modi won again

1. Modi’s clean image. His mother traveling in auto rickshaw and brother living humble life reinforced belief that Modi is honest man. Except Rafale, no noticeable corruption charge on Modi govt surfaced. Supreme Court had dismissed the Rafale investigation petition and after some time Rahul apologized to Supreme Court about using Supreme Court shoulder to call Modi as ‘Chowkidar chor hai’. This incident further given confidence that Modi is clean.

2. Except Pulwama and on armed force establishments, no bomb blast happened in cities during Modi govt tenure while earlier, bomb blasts were common. This given confidence to people about alert government.

3. ‘Swatchh Bharat Abhiyaan’ helped in cleanliness in cities. Cleanliness was visible in last couple of years. People appreciated Modi’s cleanliness move.

4. Inflation was under control, price of any commodity item didn’t shoot up which opposition could pick. After many years, inflation was not election issue. People noticed this and given credit to Modi.

5. People were fed up with ‘Kadi Ninda’ dialog after any terrorist attack. Balakot Ariel attack as well as surgical strike made people to believe that Modi is courageous person and right fit for national security. Captured Indian pilot Wing Cdr Abhinandan was released within 48 hours, people given credit to Modi Govt’s diplomatic success.

6. Rural toilets, LPG gas connection, house scheme helped to win heart of rural women. Rural road condition improved, electricity supply improved in villages. Villagers given credit to Modi for these visible changes.

7. Jan Dhan Yojana ( opening bank account), Ayushman Bharat Yojana ( health insurance), Mudra Yojna ( small business loan) touched millions of people. The beneficiaries are happy with Modi.

8. Kumbh Mela was grand in Prayagraj, it’s estimated that around 25 Crore people took holy dip in Maa Ganga during 50 day Magh Mela. Cleanliness and arrangement made people happy. People found Maa Ganga much cleaner than before, this given confidence to people about efforts of cleaning Maa Ganga is in right direction.

9. Modi washed feet of Cleaning workers during Prayagraj Kumbh who were from backward cast. This event won heart of millions of non Modi supports from Backward cast.

10. RSS on the ground support helped BJP immensely. BJP’s has organizational strength i.e well defined and disciplined Karyakartas. They help in convincing people about BJP ideology and Govt working. Amit Shah’s election strategy and his commitment is an edge for BJP. BJP is very strong in marketing. Digital marketing is next level. Courtesy to Jio, millions were first time smartphone users that too with internet. Digital marketing of BJP influenced them to large extent.

11. Modi’s bullet project as well as India’s anti-satellite capabilities shows Modi as futuristic leader. Modi is focused on road highway infrastructure. The construction activity is visible and given confidence to people about progress of country.

12. Modi has made his image as Macho, decisive and aggressive. People want these qualities in his leader. Also Modi’s regular temple visits and openly chanting Jai Shir Raam has made hardcore Hindu supporters happy.

13. The opposition was showing united and stressed on removing Modi, opposition couldn’t give credible reason why Modi should be removed and if he is removed, who will become PM. In absence of any PM face from opposition, people had to choose between certainty and uncertainty. People chose certainty.

14. Rahul Gandhi’s credibility is low. Wink in parliament and visiting JNU post anti India Slogan shows immaturity. If people have to choose between Modi and Rahul, no way Rahul will come close to Modi.

15. In recent union budget, Govt announced about ₹6000 yearly support for small farmers. In April’19, many of small farmers got first trench of ₹2000. People were pleasantly surprised to get money in account without paying any bribe. This made people fan of Modi especially in villages.

16. Some upper cast voters were not happy with Modi, which was evident in Madhya Pradesh election due to ordinance on SC/ST act. 10% reservation for general category helped to pacify them.

17. Development in Varanasi is visible. Cancer hospital, Airport to city 4 lane road, underground electricity wire, modern railway system in Maduadih and cleanliness of ghats are some glaring examples. Varanasi being tourist place, people notice these things and admire Modi’s effort. When tourist goes back to his native place they tell positive things about Modi.

18. SP/BSP/RJD were trying for too much of cast polarization i.e they were banking on their traditional vote bank and it was visible through their election campaign. BJP successfully did reverse polarization i.e except few sub cast who support these parties, all other cast of that particular category joined hand with BJP.

Wishing all the best to Modi 2.0 Government!!

Jai hind!!

Manoj Tripathi

How proper utilization of tax can lead to progress

Rajesh studies in Class 8^th, while doing homework he noticed that his Grand Father, Mr. Ashok Nath who retired as school teacher almost 20 years back got frustrated while reading newspaper and folded it hurriedly and kept on the table, Rajesh rushed to him and asked his Grand Father “Grandpa, what happened, why you are upset?”

Grandpa replied “Dear Rajesh, I am upset with the way our politicians are announcing freebies for winning election and also there is a growing tendency of avoiding tax by people”.

Rajesh said “OK, but what’s wrong in this, its people’s money and going in the hand of people or remaining with people. Government is supposed to help the poor, isn’t it?”

Grandpa replied, my dear son, to help someone, you need to be strong. Governments can help poor only if Government is wealthy and full of resources, poor Governments can’t help its poor citizens”

Rajesh got further puzzled. He said “Grandpa, I am not getting your point”

Grandpa said “Fine, let me tell you a story, you will understand the importance of tax collection, wise use of collected tax”

Ramnagar and Laxmangarh are neighboring village in district Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. The population and size of both villages were almost same in year 1930, both villages were almost cutoff from any development. Kuccha house, no road, no school, no hospital, and no police station so literally no development, both villages were almost dependent on agriculture. Whatever little extra crop production they were doing, they used to sell in Pratapgarh city and with the money in hand, they used to buy items of daily use like cloth, medicines, utensils etc.

Irrigation is most important component of agriculture. Both villages were fully dependent of rain. Whenever there was good rain, they used to get healthy crop i.e more produce, which in turn was giving more money in hand. But the problem was that due to terrain, it was not possible to retain rain water. So the risk and dependency on rain was very high.

Sarpanch of Ramnagar thought of building check dam in his village so that with help of the check dam, rain water can be stored in artificial reservoir. Villagers got excited with the idea and they were willing to contribute manual labour in this noble cause. But alone manual labour was not enough to build check dam. It required Brick, Cement, Sand and Steel bars to construct check dam. To buy all these things Sarpanch proposed tax on villagers. Villagers never heard the concept of tax. Some of the villagers opposed the move with logic that their ancestors have managed to live so long in the same village then why this unnecessary check dam construction through tax. Ramnagar Sarpanch convinced villagers that the check dam will help in irrigation even when there is low rain and thus better agriculture produce was guaranteed leading to prosperity. After lot of struggle, total tax collected as per land size was Rs 40000 (that point of time it was huge money) for check dam construction.

When neighboring Laxmangarh villagers heard about construction of check dam they laughed on resident of Ramnagar that Sarpanch is making fool out of them.

Soon check dam was ready. Next year there was good rain hence no benefit of check dam was visible in Ramnagar as there was abundant water. Ramnagar people started blaming Sarpanch of wasting tax money.

Next year there was huge shortage of rain. Laxmangarh where there was no dam, they were blaming nature and helplessly saw the damage of crop, while there was abundant water stored in Ramnagar (courtesy to check dam). Ramnagar had very good crop. They sold the excess produce to city and earned handsome money. With better earning, farmers bought high yield seed and fertilizer. These steps clubbed with assured irrigation had given bumper crop, thus extra production had given extra money in hand of Ramnagar villagers next year too. With more money with them, they bought good clothes, ornaments, better wheels for their bullock cart.  Now Ramnagar villagers were happy with Sarpanch and decided to follow whatever he says. Sarpanch decided that on the basis of amount of crop sales in city, there will be tax imposed and collected tax would be used for common services. Total tax collection was Rs 10000 in that year. He used this amount in constructing kuccha road. He constructed small clinic and school. He paid teachers and doctors to come to his village and work. Soon village kids started learning, there was no need to take patients to city and spend money on transportation (because medical facility was in village) which made villagers happy.

Village Ramnagar become model village and example of prosperity. Nearby village dwellers used to come and admire the development while Laxmangarh was in same old shape. No roads, poor people, no school, no clinic, torn clothes. Finally Laxmangarh residents realized that because of check dam, Ramnagar people have become prosperous hence agreed to follow footsteps of Ramnagar. They also constructed the check dam and attained almost similar prosperity.

After few years, there was election for Sarpanch in Ramnagar (which attained prosperity first). Lot of candidates filed nomination. Existing Sarpanch put agenda of good road, better facility in clinic and school. Another candidate Ramadhar lure voters with promise of freebies like pension for old people, marriage assistance money to girls, free bicycle to girls. Ramadhar also promised that there won’t be any tax collection from small farmers (small farmer i.e almost 40% of villagers).  People of Ramnagar got excited with the poll promise and voted in favour of Ramadhar. Because of tax exemption given to small farmers, the tax collection in that year was only Rs 16000 against last year Rs 20000. New Sarpanch spend almost Rs 12000 on freebies which he had promised. Villagers were very happy to see new Sarpanch as man of words and true messiah of poor. Because of freebies and exemption only Rs 4000 was left for development work. This amount was not enough to pay salaries of doctors and teachers, buying new medical equipment’s, medicine, repair of clinic and school building and roads. Therefore Ramadhar decided to increase tax on big farmers. Again villagers celebrated this step as masterstroke for narrowing the gap between rich and poor. This annoyed some of big farmers who decided to settle in city and opting for gain trading rather than agriculture. Because of this some of rich farmers left the village, next year tax collection had gone down to Rs 12000. For freebies, the Sarpanch needed entire Rs 12000 and he had no money left for salary and repair work. Soon teachers and doctors left the village. Villagers were clueless on what was happening. Next year again there were elections, this time people were determined to remove Ramadhar and elect earlier Sarpanch. Ramadhar tactfully created cast tensions among villagers. As he was from the cast having majority of the population he again won the elections. Some of the rich farmers bribed Ramadhar to manipulate their earning record so that they have to pay less tax, which Ramadhar did by taking the bribe. No wonder, next year tax collection was just Rs 9000. With time, the condition of village amenities had further gone down. Ramadhar stopped even pension for old citizens.

While on the other side in Village Laxmangarh, people had elected Suresh despite other candidates offering huge freebies. Suresh realized that post crop harvest there is always risk of untimely rain and thus crop can get damaged. Hence with help of collected tax, he constructed large shed where villagers can keep their produce safely. He constructed small guest house also so that merchants from city can come and stay in village and buy stuff in bulk. He paid agriculture experts to come to his village and educate people on methods to increase farm productivity. All these steps helped to produce more and sell at better price thus next year tax collection had reached Rs 25000. Next year he had given loans to small farmers so that they can buy high quality seed and fertilizer and produce better crop. This idea worked and within 2 years poor farmers were in much better condition and returned the loan. Suresh used the tax amount to build Pakka road, enhancing facility in clinic and school. He further put drainage system thus water borne diseases had gone down. All these helped in prosperity of villagers and soon the tax collection had gone upto to Rs 35000. More tax collection was giving opportunity to Suresh to spend money for welfare i.e if somebody is really needy for costly medical treatment or poor person wants to get his daughter married in such cases, with common census, money was given to needy people. The village was prospering. Villagers made nice houses, they were wearing good clothes, their children were getting decent jobs in city (because of education), and people were healthy.

After hearing the progress of Laxmangarh, villagers from Ramnagar visited Laxmangarh and were wondering how come this laggard village that too just 2 Kms far from their village became so prosperous. Finally Ramnagar village people realized importance of tax collection, its right usage and electing honest candidate.

Grandpa asked Rajesh “So my son, what is your take out of this story?”

Rajesh Said “Grandpa, this story has helped me to understand the reason behind your disappointment, this is not just story of 2 villages but entire country. People have to decide, if they want freebies, cast based politics or short term pain for long term gain. I will share this story with my friends so that they can make their parents to understand ill effects of freebies and tax avoidance”

My request to all, please share this story for bright future of our country. Are you ready for doing this much?

Jai Hind!!

Manoj Tripathi

(Purpose of this write-up is not to hurt sentiment of any person or group. The view expressed in the article are personal)