The Narendra Modi government’s recent renaming of MGNREGA as ‘VB-G Ram G’ is yet another illustration of its linguistic sleight of hand. It illustrates a broader pattern of image-centric governance at odds with the institutionalist approach of former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Over the past 11 years, the Modi administration has repeatedly rebranded key welfare schemes, often attaching his photograph and his party’s symbols to programmes originally launched without personal glorification under Singh’s leadership. The fact that this alteration of his most popular scheme has come just ahead of Singh’s first death anniversary on 26 December makes it even more striking.

To truly grasp the contrast between both prime ministers, one must look at another flagship initiative of the former. The Bharatiya Janaushadhi Yojana launched in 2008 to provide affordable medicines to citizens, introduced under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the scheme soon took shape, with Janaushadhi centres opening across the country. After Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, this programme too became a target of similar manoeuvring. It was rechristened in 2014 as the ‘Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana’, with a mandatory display of Modi’s photograph. It soon acquired the acronym ‘BJP’ and got a brand new saffron logo.  What was conceived as a programme to serve public health needs........

© National Herald