An opinion

Analysis – 3 years of BJP government

At the outset – am not a great admirer of Hindutva, RSS or its step brothers. Infact I would probably not vote in favour of BJP ever. But I have admired Vajpaayee, his orator-ship and his trying effort to reign in Hindutva. And when Narendra Modi came to power, I was not quick to judge of him, he spoke in length about the Gujarat model, development and clean governance. With the majority at this back, he has the right to show us what he can do. With over 3 years passed – I thought its ideal to look back and form an opinion. The BJP came to power on the pretext of development with job creation and corruption free governance at its core. People were fed with the pile of accusations against the UPA. Four years on we have witnessed phenomenal changes, vital changes taking the country to new heights. Gurgaon has been changed to gurugram, government has taken strict steps for cow protection when the farmers who own these livestock are struggling with incomes, are committing suicides cause of debt, agitating in MP, fasting in the roads of Delhi. The Prime Minister who works as a proprietorship enterprise, rolled out Demonetization, and with the traders yet to breathe from it, the hasty implementation of GST followed.

Am rather discomfortable speaking about demonetization because the narrative has been spun that everyone who questions this is a black money holder. But trying to figure out what went into the Prime Ministers mind while taking this decision, its just bad economics. The costs outweigh the benefits. Whether it’s the cost of printing the notes and the work hours spent on remonitization by bankers(when they could have made the commerce running), its obviously no way close to the assumingly black money that the IT dept may trace. Assumingly cause the ill staffed IT dept finds tough to handle showcause notices and tax queries in its normal workhours and provided the statute of limitations don’t run out. We do wonder how RBI accepted the decision; perhaps Urjit Patel thought more of his job than the autonomy of RBI unlike Rajan. Even then what transpired in the Finance Ministry, well the FM seems to not know that the new notes can’t be loaded into the ATM machines in a day, so he deserves the benefit of doubt for not knowing the effect of demonetization.

What followed was chest thumping, rhetoric and debates on being national and anti national and endless TV interviews of ministers calling it the move of the century. The government kept changing its milestones often from abolishing unaccounted income off the system to say that this was a step towards digital economy. And lets not even delve into the impact of farmers during kharif, the wages of blue collar workers and the people with hand to mouth existence who just lost all money in hand. Yet astonishingly people felt that this was a worthy hardship( I remember my maid saying Modi would deposit her account with a lakh after this exercise) – until things were right back to where they were. But this time with easy to carry lighter 2000 rupees notes for hoarders. Alas the economy is still recovering from it.

Then came GST, which I support cause the tax system in the country is cumbersome and it is easy to board a client or find funding than stay tax compliant at times. Well so did the Congress which suggested it, which the BJP opposed as what a responsible opposition does. Well it did oppose Aadhar, Direct benefit transfer, etc am sensing a trend here, lets move to GST. Simplified tax is great, eliminating multiple taxation is great, interstate movement of goods is great. But the implementation could never have been shoddier with the artificial deadline that the government set with crashing networks, changing slabs and nil exposure among tax consultants.

The government seems to have understood this somehow, though they don’t accept it publicly. Which is why vikaas was left in nivaas in the recent Gujarat and polls. But the Prime Minister did raise some sensational claims about an ex PM, ex Chief of army, ex diplomat plotting an attempt with Pakistanis to bring Ahmed Patel to power in Gujarat. But much like his earlier claims of an attempt to his life, he left us with no evidence to base. Who needs evidence for accusations when the PM speaks. But its ironic that a man with 56” chest and a million and half strong army and paramilitary fears for his life when all others trust him with it. More ironic that such threats only figure in election speeches with no investigation to follow.

Modi of all things I believe is a great puppet master and propagandist. The way he sold the Gujarat model, which is nothing more than a Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra with lower social development, lower healthcare spending and a higher illiteracy rate. Good roads and dedicated SEZs may attract investment but doesnot change the affordability of common man. But he did sell it and for a premium 334 seats too. However the authoritarian in him is unmindful of fact that council of ministers hold power in the central government. India is far big than Gujarat for two people to run things. With PM the face of everything whether its announcing a demonetization to inaugurating a flyover in Gujarat, the ministers are sitting ducks with active twitter handles. One wonder at times if they are all relevant, with the Home Minister having no idea on Naga accord or the External affairs ministry policy on Pakistan relations when Modi made his surprise trip. Diplomacy cannot be changed at the whim at fancy of elected leaders, it should be best left to the bureaucracy with boots on the ground to decide the course.

And beyond all this – worrying is the BJP turning on its Hindutva mode to full again – the unlikely choice of Yogi Adityanath for UP CM, whose credentials for the position are known only to them. And the brazen attacks by cow vigilantes and forming anti romeo squads in a state with a worrying law and order situation. What is more worrying is the PM tactful silence when it comes to these lynchings when he has time to congratulate birthdays and wish beauty pageant winners. And the meddling of BJP governors in state affairs has become the norm of the day, that it does not create the hue and cry of yesteryear.

All this discussions, not much of this makes it to mainstream media, as if there is an unofficial gag to speak against the government. In an era where information controls things, who controls the release of information. When The Wire broke out the Jay Shah case with his revenues jumping 16000 times after Modi sarkar came, not many followed suit. It was omitted or pushed to the inner pages. The reason- news channels said were unverifiable and didn’t want to jump to conclusions – that didn’t stop them in the 2G case. Those people who had been fried and convicted by news media are now acquitted. Is news media losing its autonomy or afraid of being in government bad debt? Worrying is that even during the height of emergency The Indian Express published a blank editorial to criticize censorship. Perhaps the promoters of news channels today don’t want a early morning IT raid in the premises.

The Prime Minister too is shy when it comes to face to face interviews – for someone who nicknamed Maun Mohan Singh, he did not even come near him on meeting the press. He prefers to choose the questions and answers with his “Man ki bhaat”.

The common man of this nation aren’t bothered about the changing names of planning commission, the global summit or the foreign trips…they are bothered about the changes on the ground. Today is testing times for who we are as a nation. We see new thoughts thrust on us on what s meant by secularism, what is anti national. We live in a beautiful yet diversified country, pluralism is a part of our culture, our identity. We learn Tagore and Kabir in the north but won’t tolerate imposition of Hindi in the South. The government has misconceived their mandate as a victory for communal or religious politics rather than as a call for change.