Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  ‘Jumla’ haunts BJP
BackBack

‘Jumla’ haunts BJP

Opposition parties, especially the Left and the Congress, have often used the word to target BJP both inside and outside the Parliament

Narendra Modi. Photo: Vijay Soneji/MintPremium
Narendra Modi. Photo: Vijay Soneji/Mint

New Delhi: Jumla, or empty promise, is one word which keeps coming back to haunt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in its 21 months in power.

Opposition parties, especially the Left and the Congress, have often used the word to target Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both inside and outside Parliament. Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in an interview to Mint on 11 February, had described the economic policies of Modi government as ‘Jumlanomics’. But was he the one who coined it?

No. In an interview to ABP News channel on 5 February, 2015, BJP president Amit Shah had first used the word jumla. He had defended BJP in the interview for promising people before election that they will get 15 lakh each once black money stashed in foreign bank accounts was brought back to the country.

Shah had said that Modi’s statement during Lok Sabha poll campaigning was just a political jumla. “The thought behind the statement was to recover the black money stashed abroad and utilizing it to the development of the poor," says the website of ABP News.

The word jumla will be used again by the opposition parties to target BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“You have this fall in the international oil prices—one aspect is that it is not going to the people. Even when it’s falling, you are raising excise duties and that is the only way you can manage your fiscal deficit. That’s why this ‘jumlanomics’, as I call it, has nothing to do with actual reality," Yechury told Mint.

In the run-up to Delhi elections in 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party used the word chunaavi jumla or election gimmick to attack the BJP.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the time had urged people not to vote for parties that have “distributed alcohol and money". He had also taken a dig at Shah’s statement on jumla.

“Don’t vote for parties who treat their poll promises as chuunavi jumla. Vote for those who are into honest politics and will eradicate corruption," he had said.

The rhetoric seems to have stuck and was used during the Bihar elections in November 2015 as well. Ahead of elections, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s campaign used the word to describe the promises made by Modi ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 09 Mar 2016, 10:48 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App