Not long ago, Prime Minister Modi dreamt of wresting more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha and this was when he scornfully described the budgetary allocations to the economically weaker sections and women as “revadis”. After the Lok Sabha debacle, he has become a champion of revadis because he has realised that brand Modi is no longer a crowd puller. Modi's journey in welfare schemes began with loans from PSUs and LIC. Then he switched to state funding. Now, his major focus is Modi guarantees. The battle of guarantees was at its zenith during the Karnataka polls and now PM Modi has become a full-fledged, competitive promoter of poll-eve freebies. The Maharashtra elections saw 146 freebies being rolled out by the NDA. During the Haryana elections, too, the BJP had announced Rs 2100 monthly allowance for women, scooters for girls, free dialysis for patients, and two lakh government jobs. With the Delhi elections round the corner, the electoral air is reeking with a competitive freebie culture. AAP freebies in Delhi include the Mahila Samman Yojna for women ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 2100 per month and Sanjeevni health care scheme for people above 60 years. AAP has claimed that so far 1.3 million people have........

© Free Press Journal