2 Years of Modi: Things We Want To See Less Of

On 26th May, 2014 Narendra Damodardas Modi became the first Indian prime minister to be born in independent India (Rajiv Gandhi, India's youngest PM, was born in 1944.)

The two-year tenure has seen headlines for reasons both good & bad; there have been voices of condemnation and congratulation.

In the preceding post, I had discussed the things I felt we needed to see more of from this government. Now in the concluding part of this two-part analysis of the two years of the Modi government, I wish to highlight the not-so-good aspects of the tenure so far: the things we want to see less of.

The Things We Want To See Less Of:

Lesser rallies, photo-ops & campaign-style speeches. We would prefer the government working seriously behind closed doors and the people being able to see its effect on the ground rather than more rallies, speeches and selfies and nothing substantial on the ground. There were several print media reports that highlighted the plight of farmers whose nascent crops were destroyed to prepare the stage for the PM's inauguration rally for the 'Fasal Bima Yojana' in Madhya Pradesh. Similar was the plight of farmers in Balia in Uttar Pradesh when their crops were cleared to make way for the PM's inauguration rally for the 'Ujjawala' LPG scheme. It's ironic that policies and programmes for the rural and farmer population were inaugurated by 'uprooting' their source of livelihood.

Lesser political embarrassment. The recent controversy in Uttarakhand left the BJP & the NDA government red-faced after the entire 'circus' played out. No doubt that the very purpose of a political party is to capture power but this entire episode reminded one of the Indira Gandhi era when all provincial opposition governments were dismissed just because the people had chosen her to lead the central government. Please focus on the government you're democratically given charge of.

Lesser stinginess in social spending. Economist Dhirendra Kumar in this article points out how the interest rate cut in the Senior Citizen Saving Scheme shows a lack of compassion in the government's policy decisions. The rate-cut saves the government a mere ₹150 crores annually- nothing significant when it comes to the vast amounts governments spend on social security worldwide. Similarly, the EPF fiasco will probably be remembered for the multiple rollbacks- withdrawal tax, withdrawal limit, compulsory pension investment, EPF interest rate-cut & finally back to where it was. Why mend something that ain't broken? Also, as far as rate cuts go, the government needs to remember that fiscal discipline is one thing and stinginess is quite another.

Lesser focus on divisive issues. The party and the government can surely do better than to let issues such as 'nationalism', 'Bharat Mata' & 'the holy cow' hide the real work they're doing. The JNU incident and the Jat agitation in Haryana highlighted the glaring double standards of the government on the issue of nationalism. Arsonists who were part of a vote-bank were condoned, while students who professsed a different ideology were labelled seditious. The government needs to understand that such blatantly superficial nationalism is of no use and will only malign the government and question its seriousness to govern.

Lesser foreign trips. Last, but in no way the least, the PM needs to limit his foreign sojourns. He needs to remember that his desire to become a world leader needs to begin with a highly successful administration at home. No matter how many or how few rupees are spent, no matter how many MoUs are signed in the foreign trips; the perception among the masses is negative. And no one understands the importance of perception for a political leader more than our PM.

(Part 2 of 2)

(Concluded.)