dailyO
Politics

Three years of Modi government owes a lot to zero Opposition

Advertisement
Rajeev Sharma
Rajeev SharmaMay 26, 2017 | 20:06

Three years of Modi government owes a lot to zero Opposition

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just completed three years of his five-year tenure – or 60 per cent of his incumbency. As of now, he looks good to win another five-year tenure whether the General Elections are held when they are due in May 2019, or before that.

The reasons for the up-vote for Modi are just the same what they were in the April-May 2014 General Elections – the down-vote for the opposition, particularly the Congress party. The two waves that coincided in the last General Elections – in favour of Modi and against the opposition – are still continuing unabated. In fact, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are going from strength to strength while the opposition continues its downside.

Advertisement

This is amazing and unprecedented. Never before in the past seven decades, independent India has seen a government that continues to soar high on public perception charts even after completing 60 per cent of its tenure. Normally, the governments battle mid-term blues around this time, and the public euphoria subsides, if not vanishes.

Only one man is responsible for this magic – and yes, it’s nothing short of magic. That man is PM Modi himself and no one in either the BJP or the opposition is in any doubt on this score.

rahul_042617103942_052617075521.jpg
Modi has been winning because the opposition has been in absentia and unable to force issues.

Actually such is the level of the Modi euphoria, despite his very many glaring mistakes, failures and under-achievements, and despite Congress-led opposition parties hauling him over coals, that nothing matters to the man in the driver’s seat. He is the man of the moment and this moment, already an eternity for the rudderless opposition, is going to last for years.

It doesn’t really matter if the Modi government has grossly under-delivered on the most important yardstick of judging whether "achhe din" or good days are here or not – employment generation. Modi and the BJP had boasted of generating 100 million jobs in five years or 20 million per year. But the fact is that not even half a million jobs have been created in past three years. And yet the Modi government has been beating its 56-inch chest to say that India has achieved far more in past three years than what it did in all previous governments since independence.

Advertisement

It doesn’t really matter that the electoral promises of Modi, as the PM candidate — bullet trains, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat, turning India into a manufacturing hub (Make in India) and an inclusive government (Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas or government with all, development for all) — have remained a pipe dream even after three years.

It doesn’t really matter that Pakistan and China are not behaving. Modi, as the PM candidate, had ridiculed the foreign policy of the humble and reticent Manmohan Singh by questioning his tactics and advised a two-pronged tactic: deal with China by looking at the dragon with red eyes and deal with Pakistan by killing its 10 soldiers if it kills one Indian soldier.

Everyone knows what the ground situation is today. India's relations with the two neighbours, the only ones with whom it has fought wars, are at the lowest ebb and both the neighbours continue to poke India in the eye every now and then. China is determined to carry on with its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and pour $62 billion into Pakistan’s economy or 25 per cent of Pakistan's GDP.

Advertisement

Pakistan, for its part, has remained as defiant, intransigent and provocative as ever. Indian surgical strikes and punitive strikes on Pakistan have not really left the western neighbour with its tail between its legs!

But forget China and Pakistan, which are nuclear-armed. Even Nepal has been cocking a snook at India. No, it’s not just China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) alone. In any case other neighbours such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives too have embarked on the BRI bandwagon, apart from, of course, Pakistan. Nepal hasn’t stopped playing the China card with India despite PM Modi visiting the country twice.

But all this doesn’t matter really. Nor does it matter that cows appear to be more safe in today’s India than the common man.

But stop here for a moment. Why bother about the scorecard of the Modi government’s three years​ in office when it has been winning elections from state assemblies to municipalities to village panchayats and looks set to continue its winning streak in the foreseeable future also?

Modi has been winning because the opposition has been in absentia and unable to force issues.

Therein hangs the real tale. Normal parameters like economic progress, infrastructure achievements, creation of jobs, foreign policy performance or defence capability are not applicable to the Modi government for the simple reason that this government has ruled successfully where it matters the most – the minds and hearts of the people. No other Indian politician did it so well apart from India Gandhi who was so popular that it led to coinage of the slogan “Indira is India and India is Indira”.

But now it looks like that Modi has surpassed even Indira Gandhi. The deflated opposition will do well to decode how Modi has done this if it wants to get back to winning elections.

The opposition must understand that blaming Modi for his failures, non-achievements and under-achievements, actual or perceived, won’t help their cause. Winning the all-important battle of public perception will.

Last updated: May 26, 2017 | 20:06
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy