Beginning Of Modi Era - The First 100 Days

The idea of showing achievements of a new government in its first 100 days in office is credited to famous American President FDR Roosevelt. He set this benchmark for himself in 1933.Since then many Presidents and Prime Ministers world over have followed this political ritual. India, a country of rituals, is no exception to this. The Govt led by Narendra Modi which took over the reins of power on 27^th May 2014, after a landslide win in the last election will be completing 100 days next week..

Early Days

Narendra Modi got off to a flying start. His gestures of bowing down and touching the ground with his forehead at the entrance of the Parliament on 20^th May 2014 or placing party and senior leaders above himself in his emotional address to party leaders in his first speech in the Parliament house or inviting SAARC leaders for his swearing-in ceremony were unconventional yet pleasant and improved the atmospherics after a bitterly fought election. His small cabinet, composed of both seasoned and hand-picked first-timers, evoked good response.Once in PM's chair he did not take much time in toning down the administration. Heralding a new ' work culture'  Ministers and senior officers were directed to keep their Ministries building clean, weed out obsolete records, maintain punctuality in their offices and undertake exercise to do away with archaic laws. To discourage nepotism Ministers were advised not to appoint their relatives as personal staff.  Setting up a SIT headed by Justice M B Shah to unearth black money was Modi cabinet's first action. His direct talk to country's top bureaucrats was a bold and rational move. He shared with them his discomfort with red tape and procedural delays and his firm belief in the concept of "Minimum government, Maximum governance" and mantra of transparency, accountability and implementation. Who will know better than him that an honest, competent and fearless bureaucrat, an endangered species, is worth his weight in gold and needs to be protected, empowered, encouraged and tasked for good governance? 

Economy

Corruption and development were two main planks on which last election was fought and won by Modi and his team. For this reason, Budget 2014 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was expected to be a trendsetter for Acche Din (Good days). But in the backdrop of poor economic parameters and likelihood of a deficient monsoon he thought it prudent to continue with what was good in earlier dispensation and bring some pragmatic changes Giving tax relief to senior citizens /middle class and continuing with welfare schemes for poor people, he has also accepted challenge to bring down fiscal deficit to 4.1%.To strike a balance between growth and inclusive development he has prepared a Pro- poor and pro-biz  cocktail with main ingredient of foreign investment -  FDI in railways (100%),  in defence (49%) and relaxing FDI norms in real estate sector for low cost housing. as Govt needs infusion of massive funds to create infrastructure and service welfare schemes for poor.

Administration

    Since taking charge on May 27, 2014 Modi Govt has moved with policy formulations to bring down food prices, reduce inflation, curb corruption and improve security to women. Passage of National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) bill to ensure that only people with merit are appointed as judges to higher courts and   proposal to set up 1800 fast-track courts to speed up delivery of justice are such steps. Similarly, online green clearance for industrial and infra-structure projects and online monitoring of industrial waste will reduce human intervention and bring transparency. But real game-changers would be a slew of ambitious ventures like  ' Sagarmala ' (String of ports) project for development of India's ports, creating Special Economic Zones, providing rail, road, air, waterways connectivity with the hinterland with linkages of cold storage and warehousing facilities,  'PM Jan Dhan Yojna’ to help the poor open a bank account with debit card facility and insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh and several other benefits,  ' Digital India' aiming to connect 2.50 lakh village panchayats with high speed broadband connectivity by 2017, creation of 100 'Smart' cities, rejuvenation of ' Heritage Cities' and 'Make in India' drive to boost manufacturing sector. For quicker and inclusive growth  and to translate his great vision of  Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (Together with all, Development for all) into reality such job-intensive mega projects with enormous potential to provide direct benefit to millions of poor and middle class are better options than UPA government's dole-based and corruption- ridden welfare schemes like MNREGA, Mid-day meal which should be either restructured to plug 'leakages' or discontinued to save tax-payers money.

Independence Day Speech

Modi is a great communicator with people and took full advantage of this skill in his address to the nation from the ramparts of historic Lal Qila (Red Fort) on 15th Aug, 2014 His extempore speech delivered in a crisp, credible and home-spun language touched on many unpleasant issues plaguing India like rapes and women's safety, female foeticide, cleanliness and sanitation, communalism and casteism etc and would have won millions of hearts. Although some of his diehard fans may have been dismayed by the absence of belligerency in his speech, he rightly chose to speak the language of consensus and reconciliation by complimenting all previous governments, Prime Ministers and even State governments for country' development and assuring everyone that " he wants to move forward not on the basis of majority but on consensus". Calling himself a Pradhan Sevak (Prime servant) he praised bureaucrats for their calibre and competence and opposition members for their cooperation in the smooth functioning of Parliament. No show of bravado but plenty of confidence. His open confession - “I am an outsider to Delhi but got an insider view in last two months" added a dash of humour. 

Foreign Relations

Narendra Modi's first visit as PM to Bhutan (June 15-16), our friendliest neighbour, helped in cementing India's ' unique and special relationship' with her. He stated that ' strong and prosperous' India can help smaller countries in the region. His visit to attend 6th BRICS( Brazil,Russia,India,China and South Africa) summit in Brazil (July 15) gave him first lesson in the multi-lateral diplomacy. Chinese President Xi Jinping in his first meeting with Modi remarked cryptically that “when India and China meet the whole world watches". During his meeting with Russian President Putin, Modi hailed Russia as “our country's greatest friend”. Putin reciprocated by saying that both countries are “in full consensus on working together on the international stage and on matters of economic and defence cooperation" among others. But the crowning glory of the summit was creation of NDB(National Development Bank) by BRICS nations with an initial capital of US$ 50 billion, headqurters in Shanghai, an Indian as its first president and no veto power. On his Nepal visit (Aug 3- 4), first by an Indian PM since 1997  he made a positive impact on its people, leaders, and more importantly opposition Maoist leaders, eliciting tongue-in-cheek remark from China's state-run Xinhua Agency  that " although Modi's visit was successful and generated lot of goodwill but the soft loan of US$ 1 billion is insufficient".But the real expectations are from his forthcoming visits to Japan and USA and Jinping's visit to India all in a matter of four exciting weeks. Economic diplomacy is close to Modi's heart and he will get enough chance to earn his spurs during these crucial visits  An interesting month of diplomatic opportunities for all four countries. Let us see who gets what and from whom. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has proved to be a great asset to Modi and had fruitful visits to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam.

Future

A fast learner Modi loves to convey his ideas through catchy phrases on special occasions. Sample these - 3 D’s (Democracy, Demography, Demand), the 3 S’s (Skill, Scale and Speed) and 5 T’s (Tradition, Talent, Tourism, Trade and Technology). He is also very methodical and his ' method' mannerisms look as real and convincing as the 'method' acting of famous Hollywood actors like Marlon Brando, De Niro and Daniel Day-Lewis. He may be grappling with hundred of complex issues but has uncanny ability to overcome them with the help of  dedicated bureaucrats and effective ministers and fulfil his promise of developing India on a war footing. Elevation of his confidant Amit Shah as the party's youngest president has given more power to his elbow and brought both the party and government on the same page.  Critics may scream, detractors (both inside and outside) may whine but Modi's grip is now stronger than their gripe. Unlike his predecessor he has both absolute power and total accountability. Coming back to governance, his government is doing well  by laying out a viable road map for all-round development and pushing hard for their completion at a break-neck speed. However,the real challenge lies in tackling the spectre of corruption. He will have to crack down on it with all power at his command. The earlier the better. Stinging judicial verdicts in big-ticket corruption cases involving crony capitalists,greedy politicians and corrupt officials give him a strong handle to deal with this social cancer.He is eminently suitable to accomplish this seemingly insuperable task for three reasons- his reputation as an honest and incorruptible politician, no family,friends or relatives to promote and his agenda to see a clean India, literally and metaphorically Come what may he has to keep his promise made in Kargil on Aug 12,2014 ' Na Khaoonga, Na Khane Dunga' ( Neither will I eat,nor I will let others eat) and move India from a low 94th rank among 177 corrupt nations to around 50 in the next 5 years.That will be a matchless achievement.  

The promised 'Happy Days' may not be here yet but his first 100 days in office  have been 'Mood Changer' and created an ambience of 'Happy Hours’ for millions of Indians. Things will look much brighter in a year or so.

Democracy's Grand Carnival: Indian Elections 2014

The largest parliamentary election in human history for which  814 million people, larger than Europe's population, including 23 million in the age group of 18-19 years are eligible to vote will come to an end next week. This mammoth exercise spread over 9 phases from 7 April to 12 May to elect 543 members for the 16th Lok Sabha is being supervised by India's Election Commission with the help of nearly 10 million civilian and security personnel, 1.4 million EVM (Electronic Voting Machines) at the 930,000 polling stations across the country.

        Though a record number of 1674 political parties including 6 national and 47 regional are in the race, the main electoral battle is between two formations NDA and UPA led by BJP and Congress respectively. As of now the Narendra Modi-led BJP, the main component of NDA seems to be far ahead of other parties in this electoral battle. If various opinion polls are to be believed, he is the star performer for the party getting support from a wide section of society except the minorities. Minorities rarely vote for BJP but projection of Modi as their Prime Ministerial candidate has been like throwing the cat among the pigeons to the largest minority in this country. Muslim clerics and Christian evangelists who have no love lost for Modi appear to have exhorted their followers to vote more resolutely against BJP in this election. Muslims have significant number of votes (ranging from 11% to over 35%) in over 218 parliamentary constituencies and it is generally assumed that since 1990's they have preferred "tactical voting" going for the best possible candidates from the so-called secular parties who could defeat the BJP candidates. In a similar vein, those rooting for Modi have made concerted efforts to consolidate anti-corruption and pro-development votes particularly among country's youth, upper castes, non-yadav OBCs and urban middle class in BJP's favour. Heavy polling in crucial states can be attributed to both the polarization factor and enthusiastic first-time voters.

        There has been palpable difference between the campaigning styles of main parties. The high-pitched election campaign spearheaded by Modi seems to have swamped his opponents. He has come a long way since the days of his slip-ups on history in Oct/Nov 2013 looking more confident, more relaxed. A dedicated and well-knit team of technocrats, researchers and stage managers, many of them from his home state have worked diligently to create "Brand Modi". His brilliantly choreographed speeches and interviews with friendly TV channels portray him as someone who, though, of humble origin yet risen so high on the sheer strength of his vision, incorruptibility and good governance. In the process he has acquired a pan-India image becoming first among the equals in his own party and captured the eyes of millions who think he can eradicate corruption, revive economy and fast-track development projects. His promise to create millions of jobs appears enticing to unemployed youth. Since becoming BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate in Sept 2013 tireless Modi has crisscrossed 25 states in the country, addressed 437 public meetings, 1350 innovative 3-D rallies/road shows and over 4000 ingenious chai pe charcha with Namo campaign, collecting groundswell of support for himself. A phenomenal accomplishment! His larger-than-life projection on a grand scale has certainly boosted the electoral prospects of NDA's rainbow coalition of 29  parties.

        A weak and uncharismatic leadership made things difficult for the ruling party haunted by economy's blue devils and djinn of corruption. Its supporters were disheartened when many sitting members declined to fight election and chose the safe route of Rajya Sabha. Inability to stitch fruitful alliances in UP, AP and Tamil Nadu increased its isolation. Priyanka's late entry in the election fray to protect the family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli showed desperation. But the biggest mistake was to engage Modi in a hand to hand fight by launching personal attacks on him. 

        This election will be remembered not only for the innovative use of digital technology on a high scale and money's overpowering role but also for the brazen abuse of 'freedom of speech'. Rabble-rousers cutting across the party lines disgraced themselves by bringing down the political discourse to an unprecedented low level. There was plenty of vitriol in their shallow speeches but very little room for a gentle barb, sharp wit, light humour or even plain decency - so essential for healthy political debates in a parliamentary democracy. Mud-slinging, character assassination, name-calling and all possible weapons of dirty politics were used to blacken one's opponent and whole country watched in utter disbelief. The ugly face of politicians and their controversial theatrics displayed on visual media lifted their TRP ratings and increased viewers disgust. There were very few politicians who didn't indulge in the game of muckraking. According to famous Greek dramatist Aristophanes (446 BC - 386 BC) the characteristics of a popular politician include "a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner". A majority of campaigners did even better.

        Coming back to the elections, whatever may be the final tally on May 16, Modi-mania generated on the promising slogan of development and corruption-free governance will prevail over Modi-phobia created by the votaries of secularism. Congress would be lucky to score a century of seats while their main rival BJP would be well-placed to score a double century enough to ensure Modi a place in the sun. Among the other stakeholders, TMC,  AIDMK, TDP, TRS and BJD will improve on their 2009 performance while SP, JD(U), NCP and DMK  will  shrink. The new entrant AAP should get good votes for their gutsy style of campaigning but very few seats. By all reckoning, NDA will form the next government even if they fall short of the magic figure of 272 as more parties would love to jump on their bandwagon.

http://rksingh167.blogspot.in/2013/11/destination-delhi-2014.html

AAP's Music: Symphony of Hope or Cacophony of Despair

        AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) led by tenacious Arvind Kejriwal arrived on Indian political horizon with a bang on Dec 8, 2013 winning 28 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections finishing behind BJP who got 32 seats. The vanquished party (Congress) in a tactical move, not liked by many Congressmen offered them unconditional support and Arvind Kejriwal became 7th Chief Minister of Delhi embarking on his maiden legislative journey amid great excitement of his supporters and grave concern of detractors.

        Getting to the chair was the easy part, it seems now, as problems started cropping up in quick succession mostly owing to their callowness, over-confidence and on few occasions  sheer insolence. The antics of Kejriwal and some of his ministerial colleagues suddenly elevated to power and drunk on the heady cocktail of ambition, arrogance and inexperience created a near mayhem in Delhi for two weeks of their rule and the media had a busy time. Bizarre incidents of travel by metro for oath ceremony, Janata darbar fiasco, controversy on Kejriwal's accommodation and security, vigilante-style functioning of his ministers, sitting on dharna by Chief Minister took the shine off from its stunning electoral debut. Reports in media of fake members joining the party and expulsion of a MLA who was denied ministerial berth further tarnished the fledgling party's image and may dissuade potential members.

        Leaving behind those nightmarish episodes, Kejriwal should focus on administration so that he can showcase his achievements of first 100 days in power- the usual honeymoon period allowed to a new government. As he does not have a magic lamp, he should set a modest target and focus on those items from his extensive laundry list which are less complicated and can be done within a short period. Apart from water, power and public transport, issues affecting the lives of common man like Govt hospitals/schools, roads, women's security, rain water harvesting should be on his menu. Rather than tinkering with the existing system, he could open up the system itself and show its functioning to the public using modern IT tools, something like an open kitchen. But he should refrain from conducting official business in maidans and stadiums instead of  Assembly and  Secretariat. Resorting to acts of symbolism, populism and gimmickry will not fetch his party extra votes and he may become all hat and no cattle. Unguarded comments (on Kashmir and Maoists), sweeping remarks (on corrupt politicians), indiscriminate announcements (on Khap panchayat) will spread confusion and bitterness. He will be lost in the warren of narrow vision if he tried his hands at too many things. Kejriwal would do well to remember the golden saying, "One thing at a time and that done well, is a very good rule as many can tell".

        A word about the man of the moment - Kejriwal started his career in 1989 with Tata Steel after finishing IIT, joined IRS in 1995, founded an NGO Parivartan in 1999 while still in Income Tax Department which he left in 2006, was associated with RTI, Jan Lok Pal movements, participated in Anna Hazare Movement in 2011 and parted ways to form Aam Aadmi Party in Nov 2012. He is young, courageous, street smart and media savvy but the way he fell out with his mentors like Aruna Roy and Anna Hazare and former comrades like Kiran Bedi betrays his individualistic streak.

        Kejriwal is not an 'Anarchist' and after becoming CM, he is no longer an 'Activist'. He should also not dream of bringing a political revolution in India because he lacks the vision, stature and charisma of intellectual giants from Trotsky (Permanent revolution - 1905) to JP (Total Revolution - 1974) who exhorted the masses to bring a revolutionary change in people's life but failed to bring the new dawn. Even movements like Arab Spring (2010) and Anna Hazare (2011) which engendered mass protests and generated great hope could not succeed in improving the living conditions of common man. As a full-fledged politician his priority should be to provide a clean government, devoid of functional anarchy, in Delhi. It would not be easy as both his unwilling accomplice (Congress) and those who missed the chair by a whisker (BJP) will make things difficult for him.

        To replicate the Delhi experiment in other parts of India, he would require a cadre-based party which may take years to build but that is the right way to go. A proper screening would eliminate fake members and prevent those trying to leap on its bandwagon. Past experience has shown that political leaders and parties take time to grow and mature. Today's strong regional parties like SP, BSP, AIDMK, TMC, TDP, BJD and their leaders have been in existence for decades. Drawn into the vortex of real politics, always a treacherous terrain, Kejriwal will need patience and nerve to play a long innings as in a 5-day test match rather than its shorter version of T-20. If AAP can win even a dozen seats in 2014 elections and about 5% popular votes on its own, people will forget its cacophonous beginning and hope for an amazing symphony in 2019. Failure to do so will merit soul-searching and taking AAP back to basics or disband it altogether and rejoin the biradari of activists. 

Also see: The Kejriwal phenomenon