February 4, 2025
Sagarika Ghose’s speech during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address
Sir, on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, I rise to speak in response to the hon. President’s Address. My comments are, in no way, directed to the hon. President herself; I speak in opposition to the Government. Sir, I would like to quote these lines from the renowned Bengal writer and poet, Sukumar Ray, from the famous collection Abol Tabol published in 1923. “Why is it that the Raja of Bombagorer hangs mango pancakes in a painting, the queen wears a pillow on her head and the queen’s brother hammers nails into slices of bread?” This is a satirical poem. It shows that the Government is disconnected from reality. It is totally disconnected. The citizen is forced to become a mute spectator, mutely watching the Government’s absurd drama. This is exactly what this Government is all about. This is a Government disconnected from reality. This is a Government that does not know how to tackle the catastrophe of unemployment, the crisis of price rise, etc. This is a Government that does not know how to tackle the challenge of security in Manipur. This is a Government not guided by our great national motto, ‘Satyameva Jayate: let truth triumph’. This Government is not guided by Satyameva Jayate. Like the Raja of Bombagorer, this Government lives in an imagined reality. All it wants is media publicity and to set up a media narrative. This is precisely why India faces today an acute governance deficit. This Government came to power with the slogan ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. Instead today, we have a Government which is minimum governance, maximum publicity. It is minimum governance, maximum publicity. I will give some examples of minimum governance, maximum publicity. Sir, let us start with the Kumbh mela, a classic example of minimum governance, maximum publicity. The publicity blitz and event management at this year’s Kumbh is so overpowering that it is as if there has never been a Kumbh mela before. I was a journalist. I covered the Kumbh mela in 2001 and 2013. There was much less hype, much more orderly for crowd management, much better crowd management, etc. This time, there has been this tragic stampede. More and more evidence is emerging. It is not just one stampede. There are two stampedes, maybe three stampedes. Investigative journalists are reporting far higher number of deaths than the Government is telling us. VIP culture at the Kumbh — many are saying and reporters are saying — is responsible for this. VIPs drove up to the ghats in their cars. They made the public walk. Routes were closed. Common pilgrims had to wait and became restless. Swami Swaroopanand Maharaj, President of Shankaracharya Parishad, has raised these concerns as well. The Government came to power saying that it is ending VIP culture. Today, this is the Government for the VIP, of the VIP and by the VIP. In contrast, in the Gangasagar Mela in Bengal, about one crore come every year; there is not a single incident. If a Kumbh Mela-type stampede had happened in Bengal at the Gangasagar, God forbid what would have happened? There would have been at least a dozen fact-finding missions that had been sent within 48 hours to Bengal. Once again I say, ‘minimum governance, maximum publicity’. Why is the BJP Government reluctant to share the numbers of dead? . Instead of showing real remorse and instead of showing accountability, the Government’s PR machine is going on and on and on. Minimum governance, maximum publicity. Then, Viksit Bharat. Periodic Labour Force Survey, PLFS 2023-24, has shown that half of India’s workers are self-employed. Half of India’s workers are self-employed. The education testing firm ‘Wheebox’ says that out of 3 lakh college graduates, only half are employable. Others are not employable. In 2023, only 32 per cent working-age women participated in the labour force. A former RBI Governor has written that without jobs, there can be no Viksit Bharat. Yet, the Government is going on and on about Viksit Bharat. Minimum governance, maximum publicity. The Government has utterly failed to provide quality allocations on education. Not a single Indian institute of higher education is ranked in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2025 and in the QS World University Rankings. Sir, the Union Government’s UGC draft regulations of 2025 savagely attack the autonomy of universities and are a body-blow to federalism. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), shows that half of class 3 students cannot read class 2 texts, half of class 5 students cannot read class 2 texts. Yet the Prime Minister is all smiles, photo-ops, ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’, exam warriors, books are being written. Minimum governance, maximum publicity! “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” is a slogan. Where is “Sabka Saath”? Where is “Sabka Vikas? Today, India is called the billionaire-raj. The top 1 per cent control 40 per cent of the national wealth. The bottom 50 per cent only have 3 per cent. Is that “Sabka Vikas” Yes, I can. I have it for you, Sir. Yes, I will give it to you. “Sabka Saath”, anyone? Where is “Sabka Saath” when the Prime Minister meets celebrities but does not meet farmers? Where is “Sabka Saath” when you don’t take the Opposition into confidence, when you bulldoze legislation in Parliament? Where is “Sabka Saath” when the Prime Minister has not held a single press conference? This is astounding in the history of democracy that a Prime Minister has not held a single press conference and has not answered a single question on the floor of the House. The Government says this is the mother of democracy, India is the mother of democracy. But whether it is rights groups, NGOs, the Government has been doing everything to muzzle the voices of those who speak truth to power. In the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, India has slipped to 159th place out of 180. The Government is projecting its tenure as “Amrit Kaal” but it has rejected the United Nations multi-dimensional poverty index. The Government has its own poverty index, but experts are pointing out that the parameters of this national poverty index are different from what the international standards are. Why are the parameters of the poverty index being altered? Minimum governance, maximum publicity! The rupee is falling constantly. SMEs are shutting down. But the five trillion dollar economy drum beat is so loud that it is drowning everything else. Minimum governance, maximum publicity! During the President’s Address, plans were laid out to send the Gaganyaan Mission into space and an Indian into space. ISRO was congratulated. Excellent, wonderful! But what is the Government doing to encourage rational thinking and the scientific mentality? During Covid, the Prime Minister asked people to bang on thalis. Is this science or is this superstition? The Government talks about middle class, aspiring middle class. Suddenly, the Government has remembered the middle class. But the middle class aspirations are being ditched. Lakhs of Indians are giving up Indian citizenship. Paper leaks are destroying the future of youth. Over 70 examination papers have leaked in seven years. In 2022 alone, over two lakh renounced Indian citizenship. India lost 4,300 High-Net-Worth individuals in 2024 Sir, is this the middle class dream? No! This is minimum governance, maximum publicity. Sir, if the Government was ready to honestly admit its mistakes, if the Government was ready for an honest appraisal of its own work, it would recognize the suffering of people. But, all we have is a constant PR drumbeat. The truth is important. The truth matters. Mahatma Gandhi in ‘My Experiments With Truth’ said, ‘God is not truth. Truth is God.’ When we tell the truth, that is an act of worship. We have to always tell the truth. I started with Sukumar Rai. I will end with Sukumar Rai. In his Poem, ‘Ekushe Ain’, Sukumar Rai writes, “In an authoritarian land, those who write poetry or those who speak truth to power are imprisoned in cages and made to recite mathematical tables.” Is this ‘Amrit Kaal’, Sir? Is this the ‘Amrit Kaal’ where free speech lives in fear? Where entrepreneurs are suffocated because of impending possible raids by agencies, where the Opposition Party is always in a state of fear that the constitutional agencies will be weaponized against them. Is this Amrit Kal? Is this the Amrit Kal that the Government wants? Without open questioning, without open debate, we cannot call ourselves the Mother of Democracy. The Government says that India is the Mother of Democracy, yet the same Government cozies up to media owners and shuts down journalists. You can’t do that. You can’t become cronies with media owners and shut down the voices of the hardworking journalists. That is not democracy. That is not being the Mother of Democracy. The Government is consistently talking about raising minimum support price of Kharif and Rabi. Farm groups were protesting outside Delhi until recently because the farmers’ demands from 2020 have not yet been met. Farm groups are still protesting. They are still outside the borders of Delhi. They are still protesting. This is because their demands have not been met.Today, in 2025, more than half farm households are under a heavy loan debt. Farmer suicides have been on a rising trend since 2014. According to a NCRB Report, there were 1 lakh farmer suicides between 2014 and 2022. But, the hon. Prime Minister keeps talking about doubling farmers’ income by 2022 against a minimum governance, maximum publicity. As I said, the truth matters. We cannot become a poet like Sukumar Rai, who are imprisoned in a cage and made to recite mathematical tables, because they are not allowed to speak truth to power, because they are not allowed to speak the reality of the times, because they are not allowed to confront the Government, ask questions to the Government, and actually demand answers from the Government. The question arises that when the Government believes in minimum governance, maximum publicity, is there any place for the truth? When a Government believes in minimum governance, maximum publicity, is there any place for ‘Vaad-Vivaad’ and ‘Samvaad’? When Government believes in minimum governance and maximum publicity, what will happen then? To our great national motto, Satyamev Jayate. Thank you.
