No Prime Minister before Narendra Modi has travelled as frequently to the states. Prime Minister Modi typically visits BJP-ruled states more often though. The frequency of his visits increases before elections. What is more, he has never shied away from using these visits for politics and propaganda. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who lived for years in Lucknow and got elected from the city, did not visit Uttar Pradesh as frequently as Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha. Although most of these visits are tagged to some official function or the other, the PM generally does not miss attacking the opposition and making political statements. Writing after PM Modi laid the foundation of a new airport at Jewar in Greater Noida (UP) on November 25, former BJP leader and Union Minister Yashwant Sinha reflected, “…The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of UP, especially the latter, were in full form and used the occasion to the hilt for politicking. I was told right at the beginning of my official career that the ruling party and the government are two separate entities and the former should not encroach upon jurisdictions that solely belong to the latter.” He went on to point out: “One of the conventions that developed over time is that monies from the government’s exchequer will not be used or, more aptly, misused to promote personal or party agenda. There is a ‘Lakshman Rekha’ dividing the government and the ruling party. But does anyone even remember this distinction today?”Public funds are used to arrange PM’s rallies. That should ordinarily be reason enough for him to refrain from utilising the platform for political messaging. But then he fancies himself as a disruptor of conventions. And neither the Election Commission nor the media find anything amiss any longer in ruling party leaders going overboard at official functions. The Lakshman Rekha between ‘public’ work and ‘political work’ has disappeared.
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