BJP leader and former minister Arun Shourie on Friday, 7 October, said he had made a "mistake" by supporting Narendra Modi’s candidature for prime minister.
This, he said, was his second mistake after supporting VP Singh, who led a Janata Dal government supported by the BJP and Left parties from outside.
I made two mistakes – by supporting (former prime minister) VP Singh and then by supporting Modi.Arun Shourie, BJP leader
Addressing the sixth Khushwant Singh Literary Festival at Kasauli, Shourie was speaking on ‘how to recognise rulers for what they are’.
Don’t go by what these fellows say now. Go by what they have been saying in the past. Actually, don’t even go by what they are saying, but go by what they have been doing and what they have condoned in other people. So, that is very important for the future.
He said leaders should also be judged by examining their claims "in great detail".
I think this is one of our great failures, of our newspapers, of people like me who did not examine the claims about the Gujarat model. Now we are realising that it (the Gujarat model) never existed in the first place. That it was event management.
Not the First of Shourie's Critiques
In an interview with a leading news channel earlier too, Shourie criticised the NDA government over “sliding economic growth and increasing job losses”. He even went ahead and compared demonetisation with suicide, claiming that suicide is “a bold step to take” as well.
Shourie called demonetisation “the largest money-laundering scheme”, and described it as an “idiotic jolt” to the Indian economy in the interview to NDTV. He said that GST was an “important reform”, but was poorly implemented.
He labelled the BJP government a “government of two-and-a-half people; that is, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and one in-house lawyer (Arun Jaitley).”
Speaking about Yashwant Sinha’s recent disapproval of the government’s alleged “mishandling” of the economy, Shourie said that “many others in the BJP share our concerns.”
While BJP rubbished Sinha’s comments, Shourie categorised it as their “standard operating procedure” to avoid disapproval. He also suggested that the BJP should release a preventive list in advance “mentioning people who they think are frustrated”.
Shourie’s criticism comes just days after former finance minister Yashwant Sinha criticised the government for their mishandling of the economy.
(With inputs from IANS.)
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT in partnership with #MyRightToBreathe to find a solution to pollution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)