Modi must realise that the old alibi of blaming '70 years of Congress misgovernance' won’t hold for long
No one would know the travails of a Prime Minister’s job better than Narendra Modi, being a 24x7 workaholic leader, and rooted as he is in people’s strife, whether it was in firmly supporting Muslim women’s petition for triple talaq, or exulting with the start-up gang of entrepreneurs by being one with the boys.
However, “those who are governed are entitled to question those who govern,” as critique is the bedrock of a mature democracy. In comparison to Modi’s global peers, fortunately, this is neither Vladimir Putin’s Russia that is repressed, nor is India like Donald Trump’s America, a democracy at war with a Twitter neurotic, cyber-bully President. Nor is Modi an impulsive and nutty Kim Jong-un who could press the trigger on his hostile neighbour just for fun.
Victories
Through a series of electoral victories, Modi has ended the sense of entitlement of our political dynasts. A "New India" can only be birthed when "Old India" cedes to new ideation. Compared to his political contemporaries like Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati who have failed to anticipate the aspiration of 400 million millennials comprising the neo-middle class, Modi as a modernist gauged that well.
However, schemes like "Start-Up India" and "Skill India", though futuristic and well intentioned, have long gestation periods to deliver jobs. And expecting start-ups to become the new job-creators is unrealistic, as mortality rates of new businesses failing are as high as nine out of 10 globally, according to the Forbes findings. Employment generation can only be through export facilitation, a robust industrial policy and government spending.
Second, the BJP has yet to throw up a prototype of a model state amongst the 18 provinces it dominates, as to what a "New Indian" state will feel like to inhabit. This includes the BJP’s hold over two of the most corrupt and apathetic civic bodies — the BMC and MCD. Like Gujarat was projected in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections after Modi’s 12-year tenure, the BJP now has no equivalent to showcase a near-perfect state before the 2019 polls.
Gujarat is now beset with the Patidar issue, while Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir are facing anti incumbency. As for Haryana, it has turned out to be an antithesis to Modi’s idealistic paradigm of a "New India". Its political establishment has recently been found complicit in what I call "spiritual cronyism" in allowing Ram Rahim’s parallel universe to flourish to leverage his hold on his social constituency for political gains. Also, Modi must realise that the old alibi of blaming “70 years of Congress misgovernance” won’t hold for long.
Fault lines
I enumerate some of the multiple fault lines of "Old India": One, the negative shock of demonetisation shrank GDP to 5.7 per cent, lower than the 6.8 per cent of 2008, the year of the global economic crisis. This, despite the falling oil prices. This is the BJP’s last lap of governance to retrieve the economic loss by 2018. New India would least want to be terrorised by predatory taxmen who now go after the honest taxpayers each time tax revenues fall.
Two, weeding out corruption cannot be glorified as achievement enough, because integrity is a prerequisite we demand of elected leaders. Besides, corruption among lower bureaucracy is still rampant amongst civic bodies, police and I-T officials.
Three, our healthcare has become unaffordable and the population is underinsured, while insurance claims are hard to resolve or recover. Four, police and prison reforms have yet to be undertaken and pendency of judicial cases is ever mounting. Five, subsidising Air India’s losses of Rs 55,000 crore or recapitalising NPAs of banks only forces the taxpayer to bear the burden of an inefficient system, requiring glitches be fixed with a sense of urgency on cumulative debt.
Freedom
The PM must also take note of one more point: with the growing fear of diminishing freedom of expression, we are increasingly being perceived as a “50:50 democracy”. Like the right to privacy, we accept that freedom of expression is an inalienable fundamental right, yet not an absolute right.
But when student outcry is regarded as a "thought-crime" against the state for venting political convictions which are not necessarily seditious, it reflects a mindset of control freaks of the Old India. Democratic constitutions were framed to curtail state power and allow the citizenry to maintain a healthy dialogue and dissent with authority. When authoritarianism begins to intrude into our daily lives, it also brings down the Fourth Pillar and a strong Opposition, which are the democratic heartbeat of a nation.
In the "New India" Modi seeks to shape in the likely event of his "Second Coming" in 2019 lies the destiny and dreams of 134 crore Indians, and thereby renewed burden of trust, which is a privilege and a responsibility.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)