Creation of Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund when the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund already exists is “undemocratic, unfederal and in poor taste,” noted historian Ramachandra Guha said on Monday.
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He slammed the new initiative as one that would only pave the way for “sycophancy” and “chamchagiri” of the rich towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“When something [Prime Minister’s Relief Fund] already exists, why create a new vehicle and why give this misleading name? It could have been PM COVID Fund, PM Health Fund or PM Crisis Fund,” he told The Hindu on Monday after taking to Twitter to criticise the fund. “It seems to me exploiting a national crisis for building Prime Minister’s brand. I do not know who is behind this... whether it is the Prime Minister’s brand management team or the Prime Minister himself,” he said.
The new fund was created on Saturday, and donations to it will be considered by the Corporate Affairs Ministry as fulfilment of the mandatory obligation of corporates under corporate social responsibility.
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He said there were several aesthetic, legal and pragmatic issues. Legal questions relating to how or whether at all it was registered and how the trust was constituted have also been raised. “Why should Uday Kotak or Akshay Kumar living in Mumbai donate to the Prime Minister? People are suffering in the next street. They can donate directly to Jaslok Hospital. The relief is primarily at the State level. It is an unhealthy precedent and must be challenged. It gives unnecessary discretion to the Prime Minister.”
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“Someone tweeted an important issue that it is part of centralisation and personalisation of the government. If you have to create a fund or encourage an industrialist to donate, it should be to the government. This is basically encouraging sycophancy, chamchagiri and loyalty to the Prime Minister.”
