It has been well over three years now that Mr. Narendra Modi has been the Prime Minister of India. When one looks back at the three years, one wonders what has he achieved and what has he failed at. One could say that the has attempted to "Make India Great". The initiatives of "Make in India" and "Swach Bharath Abhiyan" are something that every Government in the past should have attempted, but never did.
Make in India
Setting up a manufacturing unit in India is still mired in bureaucracy. It can take months if not years to get the permissions. Once the Government gives permission the environmentalist and human rights people can then raise issues. These problems are non-existent in China where the authoritative Government crushes any dissent with no qualms. When one manages to set it up the labour unions create hurdles with their demands of leniency, which may not may not be justified all the times. These problems are again non-existent in China, thanks to the ability of the Government to snip of any such troublesome union in the bud with nary a care.
So despite the fanfare with which "Make in India" was launched it is yet to make a big impact. It remains only on paper and in the form of the statues of lion made up of gears and other manufacturing equipment scattered through the various chowks and airports of India.
Swach Bharat Abhiyan
As for the Swach Bharat abhiyan, the less said, the better. The common Indian as no sense of cleanliness or hygiene. They are smug and satisfied with their present condition. They continue to wallow in the unhygienic conditions that abound equally in the urban cities and rural towns and villages of India. No Indian seems to be interested in keeping their surroundings clean. They all seem to crave the ease of littering at every nook at corner.
Both the key attempts by Mr. Modi have failed to take off.
Economy
The two other big changes that Mr. Modi's Government has attempted are the demonetization and introduction of GST.
Demonetization
The majority of the common men was ready to accept the problems of demonetization given the fact that it was supposed to unearth the black money of the rich and powerful and was expected to break their backbone. None of this happened. The same corruption that helped these black money holders hoard the money in the first place, helped them replace the old currency with new currency. If at all, about 1% of the blank money, holders have been impacted due to the demonetization. It has only left a bad taste in the common man's mouth. Raghuram Rajan's statement of not having supported the demonetization has pushed the people who were on the fence with respect to the demonetization to becoming anti-demonetization. Only a few continue to believe that it was a good move. The government lost out in a big way by not plugging in the loops holes and by not pursuing the tracks that could have led to a real success of the exercise.
GST
It is too early to judge the impact of GST. On the face of it GST does simplify the taxation laws in India and makes is more transparent to the common man. At the same time there are enough challenges in the implementation of the same. This is aggravated by the fact that the smaller organizations are exempt from GST. This means that the larger organizations will not want to deal with these smaller organizations as they will not get an offset on the GST they pay.
Beef Ban and Gau Rakshaks
One aspect which has created a very negative image of the Government is the enforcement of the Beef Ban and the growth of Gau Rakshaks. While it maybe right to say that many Hindus are pained to see slaughter of cows, it needs to be borne in mind that none of them expressed this angst in the last 50 - 60 years. They were OK as long as it did not happen in front of their eyes. Was this an OK situation to be in. Very difficult to say. Irrespective of the animal rights activists and Peta and the whole lot it is difficult to ban breeding and killing of animals for human consumption. Given our selfishness it is very difficult to abruptly change the meat eating habits of humans (or for that matter any other long existing habit). Given this the Government should have not brought up this issue and should have let it lie dormant. But since the Government tacitly, if not explicitly spoke about this problem the overzealous population with nothing much to do was provoked by the leaders, who wished to enhance their standing, to take up arms. This has led to anarchy in the country.
This one aspect of the Government has had created a very negative image of the Government among the intelligentsia (or the literate citizens) of India. It has handed the opposition a large stick to beat the Government with. It has been helped by the Human Rights activists and the religious leaders in this beating down of the Government.
Mr. Modi should not have pursued this agenda or seeing this coming up should have nipped it in the bud. Not having done it he has to take a big smear on his face.
Hindutva
So far, other than the beef ban, the Government has steered clear of any other "Hindutva" agenda. This is a wise decision. It will not be surprising if the BJP or at least some of the leaders of the BJP pick up other points of the "Hindutva" agenda to stir up the the sentiments in the hope of winning the next election. It will be a very foolish move if they do this. It may work in some areas, but overall it will be a losing strategy for the BJP to follow.
Meddling with Education and History
Another controversy that is being stirred up by the Government is the rewriting of history in education. It makes a lot of sense to stick to truth. If the truth is ugly so be it. If Rana Pratap lost a battle so be it. Highlight the reasons (lack of unity and treason) which led to his defeat so that it becomes a lesson for the new generation instead of trying to prove that he won the battle and not let the generation learn the value of unity, honesty and bravery.
Similarly till 1992 one could point to the Babri Masjid and say, here stands a memorial of the Mughal atrocity. Now can we say that? Thanks to the overzealous right wing activists we cannot say that.
See how the Americans debate on whether the statues of the confederate leaders should be removed or left as is
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/opinion/confederate-statues-trump.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/news/opinion-why-i-feel-confederate-monuments-should-stay-ncna767221
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2017/08/confederate-monuments-stay-go/
While one set of people are protesting and asking for the removal of these, there are others arguing that these should left as a reminder of the "black mark" in the American history.
It does not make sense to rewrite history to make it appear all white. The black marks and the blots should be retained.
Conclusion
The way things are today, it does not appear that BJP and Mr. Narendra Modi have a bright future. It will not be surprising if we go back to a Government put together by cobbling together a set of parties of varying hues, each with its own agenda and direction. It is unlikely that Mr. Modi will be able to get an absolute majority the way he got it this time around. If at all, he may manage to scrape through as the largest party in the Government. He will have to put up with the likes of Uddhav Thackeray and possibly OPS and gang and few others of that sort. None of them are going to give him a whole-hearted support and will keep putting obstacles in front of even his best of initiatives.
But do we have an alternate? There seems to be none as yet. It does not appear there is any party which can provide a decent alternate to the current Government. Despite this Mr. Modi and BJP need to be very wary if they wish to come back with a good majority.
What can they do
1. Any positive initiative in the area of education will be well appreciated.
2. Simplification of taxes will be very appreciated.
3. Bringing down a heavy hand on the likes of Gau Rakshaks
4. Not resorting to any Hindutva agenda
5. Reaching out to the "minority communities"
6. Making genuine attempts to bring peace to Kashmir and Gorkhaland
These are some of items that should be on the agenda of the Government to try and resuscitate the party.
Make in India
Setting up a manufacturing unit in India is still mired in bureaucracy. It can take months if not years to get the permissions. Once the Government gives permission the environmentalist and human rights people can then raise issues. These problems are non-existent in China where the authoritative Government crushes any dissent with no qualms. When one manages to set it up the labour unions create hurdles with their demands of leniency, which may not may not be justified all the times. These problems are again non-existent in China, thanks to the ability of the Government to snip of any such troublesome union in the bud with nary a care.
So despite the fanfare with which "Make in India" was launched it is yet to make a big impact. It remains only on paper and in the form of the statues of lion made up of gears and other manufacturing equipment scattered through the various chowks and airports of India.
Swach Bharat Abhiyan
As for the Swach Bharat abhiyan, the less said, the better. The common Indian as no sense of cleanliness or hygiene. They are smug and satisfied with their present condition. They continue to wallow in the unhygienic conditions that abound equally in the urban cities and rural towns and villages of India. No Indian seems to be interested in keeping their surroundings clean. They all seem to crave the ease of littering at every nook at corner.
Both the key attempts by Mr. Modi have failed to take off.
Economy
The two other big changes that Mr. Modi's Government has attempted are the demonetization and introduction of GST.
Demonetization
The majority of the common men was ready to accept the problems of demonetization given the fact that it was supposed to unearth the black money of the rich and powerful and was expected to break their backbone. None of this happened. The same corruption that helped these black money holders hoard the money in the first place, helped them replace the old currency with new currency. If at all, about 1% of the blank money, holders have been impacted due to the demonetization. It has only left a bad taste in the common man's mouth. Raghuram Rajan's statement of not having supported the demonetization has pushed the people who were on the fence with respect to the demonetization to becoming anti-demonetization. Only a few continue to believe that it was a good move. The government lost out in a big way by not plugging in the loops holes and by not pursuing the tracks that could have led to a real success of the exercise.
GST
It is too early to judge the impact of GST. On the face of it GST does simplify the taxation laws in India and makes is more transparent to the common man. At the same time there are enough challenges in the implementation of the same. This is aggravated by the fact that the smaller organizations are exempt from GST. This means that the larger organizations will not want to deal with these smaller organizations as they will not get an offset on the GST they pay.
Beef Ban and Gau Rakshaks
One aspect which has created a very negative image of the Government is the enforcement of the Beef Ban and the growth of Gau Rakshaks. While it maybe right to say that many Hindus are pained to see slaughter of cows, it needs to be borne in mind that none of them expressed this angst in the last 50 - 60 years. They were OK as long as it did not happen in front of their eyes. Was this an OK situation to be in. Very difficult to say. Irrespective of the animal rights activists and Peta and the whole lot it is difficult to ban breeding and killing of animals for human consumption. Given our selfishness it is very difficult to abruptly change the meat eating habits of humans (or for that matter any other long existing habit). Given this the Government should have not brought up this issue and should have let it lie dormant. But since the Government tacitly, if not explicitly spoke about this problem the overzealous population with nothing much to do was provoked by the leaders, who wished to enhance their standing, to take up arms. This has led to anarchy in the country.
This one aspect of the Government has had created a very negative image of the Government among the intelligentsia (or the literate citizens) of India. It has handed the opposition a large stick to beat the Government with. It has been helped by the Human Rights activists and the religious leaders in this beating down of the Government.
Mr. Modi should not have pursued this agenda or seeing this coming up should have nipped it in the bud. Not having done it he has to take a big smear on his face.
Hindutva
So far, other than the beef ban, the Government has steered clear of any other "Hindutva" agenda. This is a wise decision. It will not be surprising if the BJP or at least some of the leaders of the BJP pick up other points of the "Hindutva" agenda to stir up the the sentiments in the hope of winning the next election. It will be a very foolish move if they do this. It may work in some areas, but overall it will be a losing strategy for the BJP to follow.
Meddling with Education and History
Another controversy that is being stirred up by the Government is the rewriting of history in education. It makes a lot of sense to stick to truth. If the truth is ugly so be it. If Rana Pratap lost a battle so be it. Highlight the reasons (lack of unity and treason) which led to his defeat so that it becomes a lesson for the new generation instead of trying to prove that he won the battle and not let the generation learn the value of unity, honesty and bravery.
Similarly till 1992 one could point to the Babri Masjid and say, here stands a memorial of the Mughal atrocity. Now can we say that? Thanks to the overzealous right wing activists we cannot say that.
See how the Americans debate on whether the statues of the confederate leaders should be removed or left as is
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/opinion/confederate-statues-trump.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/news/opinion-why-i-feel-confederate-monuments-should-stay-ncna767221
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2017/08/confederate-monuments-stay-go/
While one set of people are protesting and asking for the removal of these, there are others arguing that these should left as a reminder of the "black mark" in the American history.
It does not make sense to rewrite history to make it appear all white. The black marks and the blots should be retained.
Conclusion
The way things are today, it does not appear that BJP and Mr. Narendra Modi have a bright future. It will not be surprising if we go back to a Government put together by cobbling together a set of parties of varying hues, each with its own agenda and direction. It is unlikely that Mr. Modi will be able to get an absolute majority the way he got it this time around. If at all, he may manage to scrape through as the largest party in the Government. He will have to put up with the likes of Uddhav Thackeray and possibly OPS and gang and few others of that sort. None of them are going to give him a whole-hearted support and will keep putting obstacles in front of even his best of initiatives.
But do we have an alternate? There seems to be none as yet. It does not appear there is any party which can provide a decent alternate to the current Government. Despite this Mr. Modi and BJP need to be very wary if they wish to come back with a good majority.
What can they do
1. Any positive initiative in the area of education will be well appreciated.
2. Simplification of taxes will be very appreciated.
3. Bringing down a heavy hand on the likes of Gau Rakshaks
4. Not resorting to any Hindutva agenda
5. Reaching out to the "minority communities"
6. Making genuine attempts to bring peace to Kashmir and Gorkhaland
These are some of items that should be on the agenda of the Government to try and resuscitate the party.
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