Townhall Times – As elections draw closer, the BJP, Narendra Modi, the RSS, and their allies are deploying every possible distraction to divert public attention from the real crises: poverty, unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, the collapse of public education and healthcare, and large-scale electoral manipulation. Supporting them in this diversion is the corporate media, which today has become the biggest threat to democracy. Yet, despite this, the real issues cannot be hidden.
If we look at inflation:
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Over the last 10 years, average retail inflation (CPI) has stayed around 5–6%, but essential items like food grains, pulses, oil, and milk have become significantly more expensive.
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Food prices alone have doubled at times, especially after 2019.
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Petrol and diesel prices have risen by roughly 50–60% compared to 2014 levels.
The Modi government claims to have lifted 250 million people out of poverty. But the truth hides behind manipulated statistics: how can a country that still needs to distribute free food to 800 million people claim this success?
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Government figures show poverty declining, but independent surveys reveal that demonetization and the pandemic pushed tens of millions back below the poverty line.
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According to reports by Azim Premji University and CMIE, around 230 million people fell from the middle class back into poverty in 2020–21. Poverty, like an unwanted guest, keeps growing silently.
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Incomes for informal workers have permanently declined. For daily wagers and contract workers, there is no certainty that they’ll have enough to cook an evening meal.
Unemployment
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Unemployment reached its highest level in 45 years (6.1% in 2017–18).
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CMIE data shows that in 2023–24, the average unemployment rate still remained at 7–8%.
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Among youth (ages 20–29), the unemployment rate in rural areas has even climbed to 39%.
State of Education
The government has closed nearly 100,000 primary and secondary schools. In Delhi and many other states, there’s an acute shortage of teachers; recently, 5,000 government schools were shut in Uttar Pradesh alone.
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According to NCERT and NITI Aayog, over 20,000 government schools were either closed or merged between 2014–2024.
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ASER 2022 reports that only about 50% of fifth graders can read a second-grade text properly.
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Declining quality in government schools has forced poor families to depend on costly private schools.
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According to the 2011 Census, over 60% of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh are illiterate.
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Conditions are even worse in states ruled by the BJP.
Healthcare crisis
The country urgently needs about 1.2 million more doctors, 2.5 million nurses, and 4 million paramedical staff. Hospitals lack beds, equipment, and essential medicines.
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Public health spending has stayed limited to about 1.2–1.5% of GDP, far below the WHO recommendation of at least 2.5–3%.
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The Covid-19 crisis laid bare the state of our hospitals: shortages of beds, oxygen, and ICU facilities.
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The push toward privatization has made healthcare increasingly unaffordable for the poor.
Most disturbing of all, the government’s strategy of using nationalism, Hindu–Muslim polarization, and inflammatory statements about the Constitution to distract people. Shockingly, even the Vice President—who has made similar controversial remarks before—along with RSS and BJP leaders, openly insult the very Constitution they swore to protect.
If they truly have a problem with the Constitution, they should debate and change it through Parliament—just as other laws are amended. But their real aim is different: to deflect attention from electoral fraud and the suffering of ordinary Indians.
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