The official data analysis shows that the much-publicised ‘Delhi Model’ of AAP government is a blatant attempt to deceive the public through misrepresentation and misinformation with help of massive expenditure on advertisements, writes former IAS officer V S Pandey
Currently politics has been reduced to propagating falsehoods and befooling the people by setting a narrative which is far removed from the truth. Goebbels has been worsted by his propagandist Indian successors. Every brazen lie that is pronounced by our politicians is authenticated by supportive media outlets through proactive noisy opinions blared by so- called objective debating experts and political analysts. The Lie is duly reinforced by the anchor. The Mission is skillfully accomplished and the “Big Lie” metamorphoses as the Truth. The Real truth, orphaned and distraught weeps silently and soon perishes and is quietly buried under the mountains of lies.
However, the Lie turned truth grows, runs amok , unchallenged and formidable now after gathering the support of trusting crowds. The new narrative impacts people and is imprinted on their gullible minds for years till a new lie coated in a rediscovered truth- poverty eradication, equity, vikas, empowerment is implanted through the same age old process. This has been our democratic story for several decades and indices of development remain abysmal even today- and are projected falsely- despite the current Information age – when all kinds of information is available at the click of a button. Despite digitalization , truth remains caged patiently awaiting release by some Avtar, some time. Truth is patient. It will shine ultimately.
This reality defines the situation confronting our nation. Though governance always claims to be speaking the Truth, unfortunately people find themselves tragically buried under humungous lies. Since independence, all the governments have been working hard to remove injustices, inequity, poverty and corruption and claim to have accomplished these goals. But the nation’s system shows no sign of having become just and honest. We have the dubious distinction of having nearly 50 crore people living below the poverty line and struggling to literally survive. Every political leaders heart bleeds for the poor. After a few years in power, these aam leaders shed their own poverty, transforming into billionaires at lightning speed -defying economic theories and after purporting to be working to alleviate the lot of poor citizens. The Big lie that they live only to serve the poor remains uninterrogated and the narrative of pro poor governance dominates the discourse.
The art of lying has been perfected and now mountains are created literally out of nothing. From India becoming “Vishwa Guru”, to emancipating the down-trodden, to uplifting backwards through socialism, currently it is being propagated that India has the ‘best education minister of the world’ in the form of Mr. Manish Sisodia. This truth was proclaimed after CBI raided the house of Sisodia in connection with, the now well publicized excise scam, which was widely rumoured to be mired in corruption. So a counter narrative is being propagated with the active assistance and collusion of the paid media that under the aegis of Mr. Sisodia, as education minister of Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal government has done wonders .This was packaged and embellished as the ‘ Delhi Model’ to befool the country. The official data analysis shows that the ‘ Delhi Model’ is a blatant attempt to deceive the public through misrepresentation and misinformation. The Delhi Chief Minister highlights through extravagant advertisements, that the free treatment in government hospitals and free education in government schools is the hallmark of his so-called Delhi model .However, he deliberately omits to point out that all the state governments, pan India, have been providing free education and free medical treatment to the people all these decades.
Mr Kejriwal failed to expand the education and health infrastructure in Delhi -which is the barometer of success for any government. In the year 2011-12, Delhi had 948 schools run by the directorate of education where as during Mr Kejriwal‘s entire tenure only 18 schools were built and just two students received loans under the Delhi government‘s loan scheme for higher education. This is tomtommed as performing exceptionally to improve health and education in Delhi. Conversely, governmental data shows that during Kejriwal’s tenure the performance of government schools fell drastically compared to Mrs. Shiela Dixit’s tenure- as far as pass percentages of ninth and tenth class results and rate of drop out is concerned. Most unfortunately, the number of admissions has decreased in government schools during Kejriwal’s time while the total share of admissions in private schools has increased! And this mediocre performance has been publicised by Kejriwal by spending crores on advertisements through print and digital media. The governmental data also reveals that no new government Hospitals were opened by the Delhi government between 2015 and 2020 The much publicised Mohalla clinics were missing during the critical Covid pandemic period. Mr Kejriwal also claims to have done a stellar job by providing free water and electricity to the poor and showcases it throughout the country as his major achievement. He has conveniently glossed over the fact that almost all the states provide free water to the people and electricity rates are as low as they can be for rural areas where crores reside. In the huge state of Uttar Pradesh, the farmers are provided free water for irrigation and water supply is almost free -practically everywhere. Similarly in rural areas, electricity supply is rarely charged for and it is as good as providing free electricity to the rural millions . The lies , have been beautifully gift wrapped in the red ribbon of illusion, then showcased and subsequently publicised by spending billions of public money – as the gospel truth -that Delhi has the best education minister in the world. Goebbels had successfully deceived the German masses by following the same credo -if you repeat a lie often enough ,people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself. The Public must be ‘educated’ with authentic facts to negate the perpetuation of these Big untruths.
(Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India)
