Hyderabad: In a gesture enough to rile Narendra Modi government, economist and social commentator Dr. Parakala Prabhakar, who is also the husband of union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, accused the prime minister of slipshod handling of economy terming the latter as 'staggeringly incompetent.'
Dr Prabhakar’s new book ‘The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on A Republic in Crisis’ (published by Speaking Tiger) which was formally launched on Sunday in Bengaluru comprises a series of essays on the Modi government’s handling of the economy, politics and other issues.
Prabhakar, who is known as a bitter critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also alleged that PM Modi is very competent in summoning divisive feelings latent among the people. He expressed hsi views in an interview with Karan Thapar.
Prabhakar has a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and incidentally, is married to Nirmala Sitharaman. He further said that Hindutva was smuggled in on the sly by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the 2014 election on the plank of 'development'.
The economist also said that it would be a disaster for not only the economy but for the nation in general to have another Modi government in 2024. The popularity of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP is only because of his ability to mobilise people.
In 2014, Dr. Prabhakar recalled, Narendra Modi and the BJP had asked for votes after promising good governance, a clean and corruption-free government and 'development'. The nation was not taken into confidence about their real intention to usher in a Hindu rashtra (Hindu nation) and unleash the forces of Hindutva, he said. Development thus was used like a Trojan horse to let Hindutva loose on an unsuspecting nation—and if this is what BJP and Modi stand for, they need to be resisted, he added.
