Part -1
For a while leaving aside the politics of compulsions and concerns of left- right and centre and approach the one year of Mr Modi as prime minister, one will have to accept he did managed to achieve many positive impacts compared to the numbers of regressive decisions.
First and foremost is certainly the foreign policy. After Nehru for the first time a prime minister is able to take India out of the traditional “Pakistan feared” skewed foreign policies that hampered India’s position very badly across the world spectrum. In the past, many countries including China were successful in containing India through this Pakistan ploy. In one year with his extended tours across the world, it appears to be look like that he has managed wriggle out the country from that precarious situation.
Second important thing could be Jandhan yojana: the rural bank account opening campaign. Although the actual intention could be that to tap the unregulated rural money back into regulatory system including access to business, but in long run this could be a hugely beneficial project by systematically replacing paper money with plastic cards. In the future this would become handy to ensure social security schemes. For example, I am already a beneficiary by getting insured for 2 lakh for death and another 2 lakh for accident for mere 330 rupees by the bank where I hold my account. Effectively this less than one rupee a day scheme can bring in lot money of insurance sector for investments and social security for common man.
Thirdly the make India campaign. Although the framework looks like unsure of any direction, certainly a much-needed beginning has been made. Considering the global economic situation, its time India make this much needed impact as early as possible. Across the world in 2014, only ten countries commanded 82% of the global trade and among that four nations of Europe controlled 47% of it. India is nowhere there in near vicinity. We have to make the call that India with its large young population, whether we want to remain consumer of this trade or should we stake the claim on it. In next twenty and odd years while many countries in Europe will become the land of aged population, India will still be the land physically strong young people. With the outsourcing of production to Asian countries, most of these nations are now slowly but steadily becoming only a trading nations. At this moment these countries may be retaining the technology, but in a long run, Asian countries that are the production hubs for these trade, where actual engineering is happening and technical jobs are created are the one who are going to dominate the technology and in turn the trade. China has already shown this to world. If we don’t take part in this game we will end up destroying ourselves by becoming only a consumer of European trade of Chinese goods. Make India argument certainly is a positive argument in that direction. We need to cultivate effective manpower for this. Good engineers, technologists, designers, craft men and artists are the need of the hour. Unfortunately Modi government’s educational policies looks shaky on that ground. Our vision for white color employment is clearly evident with the opening of more IITs, engineering collages and design colleges across the country. But to become a production hub, we should have larger vision and policies for blue color employment and its education. We should make them attractive and dignified. India should have million ITIs and Polytechnics than engineering colleges and medical colleges. More than the vocational course policy there is noting much to be seen that reassure the public that government has anything in mind for employment generation for common man.
IT revolution in the past had shown us that once we give education, our rural youth are capable to take any challenge and make it big. In India every states have benefited from IT revolution with their children making it big in technology. If one recall in India IT did not start at engineering colleges but was started in blue collar training centers like NIITs and others and initially the jobs were also of blue collar than white collar. So the make India is a right decision, but the government should iron out the lacuna of support education as soon as possible. A vision is the need of hour on education.
IT revolution in the past had shown us that once we give education, our rural youth are capable to take any challenge and make it big. In India every states have benefited from IT revolution with their children making it big in technology. If one recall in India IT did not start at engineering colleges but was started in blue collar training centers like NIITs and others and initially the jobs were also of blue collar than white collar. So the make India is a right decision, but the government should iron out the lacuna of support education as soon as possible. A vision is the need of hour on education.
Fourth and most important, he is the first and only prime minister who used all mediums available on earth to communicate with people and that too in common man’s language. His selfie projections are classic example, the one that relates to young and trendy. If it had the flavor of not just the events but of the vision and work progresses this tireless communication would become some day the bench mark of democracy. Unfortunately in spite of his communication on all channels Mr. Modi could not dispel the shrouded grey area of him people believe he possess from public imagination.
Part -2
During the first NDA rule, in a television interview Mr. Advani attributed the success of his much acclaimed Ram Mandir Ratha yaatra that brought BJP as a reckoning force in Indian politics to the organization skills of one relatively unknown RSS backroom operator: Narendra Modi. Interestingly while complimenting Mr. Modi’s organization skills, he never differentiated the vote churn from that nation wide tour and the large-scale riots on its route. Perhaps Mr. Advani was unable to differentiate this complex ambiguity of Mr. Modi’s organization skills: the cold bloodedness and the performance. To a great extend Mr. Modi’s rise to power stems from this complicated notion exist even among his close confidents. They fear that he can do anything to achieve his objective and we have enough reason to believe that this image is not an accident but Modi has crafted it with much of his organization skill.
If one asks whether Mr. Modi is a religious fanatic or not?
His opponents will jump into the fray with hyperactivity claiming evidences of religious discriminations, riots and persecutions against him. They will unleash a cascade of evidences from everywhere to accuse him of subverting justice at every level during the riot trials, extra judicial killings, Pandya’s murder, dissemination of sleaze CDs of Joshi, IPS officer’s persecution, wrecking the family of IPS officer who challenged him, Snooping on his one time protégé interior design girl, systematically stifling liberal voices among academics by destroying institutions after institutions by appointing hawks and cronies in key positions and despite the existence of corruption everywhere during his tenure in Gujarat as well, no one has ever been booked for corruption during his tenure or at least punished!
His opponents will jump into the fray with hyperactivity claiming evidences of religious discriminations, riots and persecutions against him. They will unleash a cascade of evidences from everywhere to accuse him of subverting justice at every level during the riot trials, extra judicial killings, Pandya’s murder, dissemination of sleaze CDs of Joshi, IPS officer’s persecution, wrecking the family of IPS officer who challenged him, Snooping on his one time protégé interior design girl, systematically stifling liberal voices among academics by destroying institutions after institutions by appointing hawks and cronies in key positions and despite the existence of corruption everywhere during his tenure in Gujarat as well, no one has ever been booked for corruption during his tenure or at least punished!
Simultaneously his supporters will be equally or more vociferous, pointing out that there has never been a big riot after the 2002 Gujarat pogrom. They will point out VHP since 2002 riot has never been allowed to function in Gujarat. Juha pura, the worst riot hit Muslim dominated area got their first nationalized bank during his tenure. Many people in the Muslim dominated areas of Ahmedabad after sixty years or more of their existence in those areas, got their house numbers: a basic necessity for any financial deals in India during his term in Gujarat. Above all they will claim he is instrumental in bringing overall growth to state irrespective of cast, creed and religion so on and so forth.
Strangely Mr. Modi will never own up any of these accusations or compliments but he also will never deny or decline it. As a chief minister he strategically used these accusations to cultivate a halo of fear around him: both for his supporters and opponents to reap much-desired political dividend.
If one is not politically biased, one will have to tragically accept that one will never be able to prove or disapprove any of these accusations and compliments. In this game of political chess, he remained lonely and mastered the lone savior acts of Indian epics, where Karmayogis are always persecuted. This was good till he was the Chief minister of Gujarat, but as an elected prime minister of a multi party democracy, multi culture and cultural understanding of narratives, for Mr. Modi this paraphernalia of suspicion is becoming highly counter productive. Outside Gujarat, although people may have elected him but they are yet to be convinced about him or at least believe him beyond their “hindutwa call”.
In any narrative, mysteries have to be unraveled at some point of time and it cannot always hide behind a complex text. This is the sacrosanct rule of story telling. No hero can afford to be as complex as they might be in their real life. They have to be affable and presented as transparent. Mr. Modi in his make belief system of lonely almighty warrior is loosing this game very fast. People who elected him and wanted to believe him are slowly but steadily becoming doubtful now. Along with his anti poor, pro- selective rich image, even after a year of becoming prime minister, he is yet to emerge as a statesman with a vision forward from a hawkish politician's image. In a multi party democracy like India, fear has its limits -it can never stretch beyond one’s political fiefdom. Sonia Gandhi’s hundred-meter walk with MPs on Land bill and its impact exposed this limitation to Modi. Whether he accepts it or not congress is now mastering this game under Rahul Gandhi of dispelling the fear from public imagination. He is breaching that fear factor that Modi assumes as his strength.
Capable colleagues
Another big crack in Modi’s brittle castle is the competency of his colleagues. Except a selected few, most of his ministerial colleagues remain only as the stapled notes on their ministry letterheads. After a year down the lane no one knows what one can expect from those ministries or ministers!. No one has heard from them: neither the vision nor the policy decisions. Classic case to be take as an example is the make in India campaign. Apart from the trumpet blown on make India campaign from PMO and some pussy feet efforts from ministry of commerce, we haven’t heard any direction or policy decision to support such an effort from ministry of industries, corporate affairs or technology who have to deliver these promises! As pointed out in an earlier paragraph, education ministry perhaps is yet to identify the issue of skilled manpower to achieve these promises.
Prime minister’s reluctance to invite experts on board to augment his arguments will cost him dearly in an immediate future. We have enough and more examples in our country’s history to prove the need for the prime ministers to grow beyond party affiliations to lead the nation. The first Nehru government that included all capable people from treasury and opposition benches in his ministry to translate the political freedom into nation building and the pragmatism of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s decision to invite a celebrated economist Mr. Manmohan Singh, a non-politician to head the finance ministry to save the economy from crumbling at the point of time are the classic examples in front of us. The time is certainly overshooting for Mr. Modi to lead a group of colleagues who are pragmatic and capable than being a collective of cribbing and whining bunch of arrogant cradle kids (about congress for every ill falls).
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