Narendra Modi - Then and Now

Modi in his first term adopted a centrist approach. In politics, centrism is a political outlook or specific position that involves acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy, while opposing political changes which would result in a significant shift of society strongly to either the left or the right.

Most of the votes in any election come from the masses who have a centric political view. Modi played smart when he got elected the first time in 2014.

Most governments get into election mode in the last year of its term. Narendra Modi’s government is different. The current dispensation has remained almost permanently in election mode, with the Prime Minister personally being involved in many state elections, with BJP often fighting these in Modi’s name, often without declaring a chief ministerial candidate.

With Ayushman Bharat, Swaach Bharat and Digital India he pleased the centrist masses. With this strategy, the BJP assured that it wins the seat, the second time, where the real cards were played. The duo's agenda from the start was to radicalise India. However, if Modi would have played the cards of CAA and Hindutva in the first term, it would not have come into power the second time.

Free LPG cylinders:

Women in villages now have access to cooking gas under Ujjwala Yojana program. That has health benefits as well as economic benefits. With almost 50 per cent going to SC / ST households, over 60 million free LPG connections have been made.

Digital transfer of subsidies:

It has shut out most (though not all) intermediaries who have systematically siphoned off huge amounts of money because of the poor. In December 1985, when addressing the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Congress, Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, had famously said that only 15 paises out of every rupee in subsidies meet the poor. With digitised transfers that figure has probably risen to 75 paise.

Rural electrification:

The Modi government’s push to provide last-mile connectivity to hard-to-access rural clusters has been fairly successful. However, several villages cited as connected to the electrical grid still have households without power. Part of the problem is that some villages lie in areas controlled by Naxalites while in others the terrain makes access difficult.

Sanitation:

The Swachh Bharat Mission has built toilets at an unprecedented pace. Since October 2014, over 92 million toilets have been constructed, covering nearly 500 million households in one of the world’s largest operations of its kind. Cultural habits, however, mean that open-air defecation remains endemic. Many newly-built toilets lack sewage facilities; others are being used as storage rooms. Nonetheless, a beginning has been made.

Infrastructure:

Construction of roads, highways, and metro networks as well as housing for the poor has seen a steep rise. These initiatives are long-term but the benefits are already visible. In 2013-14, 12 km of highways were built, according to the fact-checking sites. In 2017-18, the pace more than doubled to 27 km a day. In Mumbai alone, coastal roads, a new airport and a large subway network could transform public transportation in India's wealthiest city, which has long been poor in infrastructure.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code:

The legislation, implemented in December 2016, is the silver bullet for solving India's persistent non-performing asset crisis. Banks have started restoring debts that seemed to have gone irreparably evil. "Phone banking" is at a standstill. The above policies won the hearts the of middle class and the corporates too. This paved the way for Modi's victory for the second term in 2019 when true rightists agenda were executed. Modi and Shah very well knew that India would not accept its radical ideology in the first term. The first five years were used to buttress the people and the second term to make the kill.

- Dharam Vora

#BJP #MODI #Politics