NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer, Amitabh Kant’s remarks during a recent virtual event has now become a full-fledged controversy. Kant has received massive flak for his remarks saying there is ‘too much of a democracy’ to enact tough reforms in India.
Kant, however, took to Twitter to deny having made such a statement. He claimed that it was ‘definitely not’ what he said. He said that he ‘was speaking about the MEIS scheme & resources being spread thin & need for creating global champions in the manufacturing sector.’
The controversy started after the news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Kant as saying that it was difficult to implement reforms in India, as ‘we have too much of a democracy’. According to the news agency, Kant said that for the first time, the Centre had had the courage to carry out hard reforms across sectors including agriculture, mining, labour, and coal and the next reforms must be pushed by the states.
‘Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much democracy…You need political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done,’ he was quoted as saying.
Hindustan Times shared the PTI story titled ‘Too Much Of Democracy Hampering Reforms in India, Says Amitabh Kant’. Later, both the media outlets retracted the story after Kant’s tweet.
This is definitely not what I said. I was speaking about MEIS scheme & resources being spread thin & need for creating global champions in manufacturing sector. https://t.co/6eugmtoinB
— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) December 8, 2020
The HT’s webpage now opens to a page that reads ‘This story, sourced from news agency Press Trust of India, has been withdrawn.’
The PTI report is still available on other media platforms, including India Today and The Financial Express.
Defending Kant’s comment’s, Swarajya Magazine came out with a clarification that their discussion with the NITI Aayog chief was on PLI and manufacturing, and not political systems. The magazine stated that ‘some mischievous elements have attempted to distort’ and quote Kant’s statement out of context.
Swarajya’s interaction with @amitabhk87 was on PLI & manufacturing and not on political systems. His response was in the context of spreading resources too thin & not creating global champions. Some mischievous elements have attempted to distort & quote it totally out of context.
— Swarajya (@SwarajyaMag) December 8, 2020
Later, IBTimes in their fact-checked report claimed that his remarks were taken out of context.
However, the video shows otherwise.
Kant can be heard saying ‘Too much of a democracy’ not once but twice.
First, at 25.43, Kant can be heard as saying, ‘In India, we are too much of a democracy, so we keep supporting everybody’. He went on to elaborate, ‘For the first time in India a government has thought big in terms of size and scale and said we want to produce global champions. Nobody had the political will and the courage to say that we want to support five companies who want to be global champions. Everyone used to say I want to support everyone in India. I want to get votes from everyone.’
The second time was at 33.03 he can be heard as saying, ‘Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context. We are too much of a democracy’. He goes on to add that for the first time, the government has the courage and the determination to carry out hard-headed reforms across sectors.
He then elaborates upon the ‘political will’ to carry out these ‘hard-headed reforms’. When asked if the crisis (coronavirus pandemic) was a ‘second chance’ for India to make its mark, Kant’s comments clearly refer to the past being an obstacle in producing global champions and in carrying out reforms.
Backing this up, he further states in the video how for the first time the government has had the courage to be hard-headed in its approach as opposed to ‘too much democracy’ of spreading the resources thin by supporting and pleasing everyone.
Netizens called out Kant for his comments as well as denying the remarks later.
CEO of Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant says: We have too much democracy! Hard reforms like mining & farm reforms can’t be pushed through with this. Later while facing flak, he denied having said this! The Godi media withdrew that statement of his, but they forgot to delete this video! pic.twitter.com/JA5EVasErg
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) December 8, 2020
33-minute mark literally has you saying ‘Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context. We are too much of a democracy.’ https://t.co/qxFi2HDfMG https://t.co/y9e3q1EUzx
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) December 8, 2020
Niti Aayog’s @amitabhk87 has said TOO MUCH OF DEMOCRACY is hampering ReformsKant, in reality, it’s TOO MUCH OF DICTATORSHIP that has brought India to -23.9% GDP growth, the worst in the world.Ask Modi to get off his high pedestal, answer questions & follow democratic process.
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) December 8, 2020
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