Change in the political narrative

Recently, INC announced their latest flagship scheme as part of their election manifesto - NYAY - Nyunatam Aay Yojana (Minimum income guarantee scheme), which promises to pay Rs. 72000/- per year to "poorest of the Indians" (conditions apply!). Followed by the announcement, the INC President Mr. Rahul Gandhi pronounced it as "Surgical Strike on the Poverty".

While I do not intend to go into the details of the NYAY or whether it is feasible or not, few thoughts definitely popped up in my mind.

Firstly, since Mr. Modi has taken over as the PM, he has changed the complete narrative of the political and government agenda. His government started coining the acronyms for various schemes. The acronyms are usually self-explanatory for a common man. Some examples:

  • MUDRA Bank - Micro Unit Development and Refinance Agency Bank - Mudra means currency and this scheme relates to financing for SMEs
  • NITI Aayog - National Institue for Transforming India - Niti means "policy" - which is primary function of NITI Aayog.
  • UDAN - Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik - A scheme for affordable aerial connectivity
Some of them were coined just to make a point - SCAM (Samajwadi party, Congress party, Akhikesh Yadav and Mayavati) or AK-49. 

If one remembers the schemes launched by an earlier government (UPA or Congress), several of them would carry the name of someone with Gandhi or Nehru surname. e.g. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya etc. And most of them failed to have a meaningful acronym.

In contrast to the past, INC launched a scheme, which has none of "Rajiv", "Indira," "Gandhi", "Nehru" name in the scheme. On top of that, the scheme acronym also means something related to the scheme. Additionally, INC is also trying to steal some of the limelight by using the recently popular phrase "Surgical Strike".

While the success or failure of the scheme has no relation with the name or acronym, what amuses me is INC is forced to follow in the footsteps of BJP (or Mr. Modi in particular) to get the attention of the masses. 

As we say in Marathi - "हे ही नसे थोडके !!"

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