As the Narendra Modi government has has just completed its first year in office the date has sparked off heated debate essentially primed up by the ubiquitous,omnipresent electronic and social media. There have been heavy doses of criticism coupled with some sane and balanced views by well informed personalities but a bulk of the opinion polls veer around the hypotheses that the government’s performance has been good or very good. The noise that is being generated however, is from a enlightened heir obvious to the Nehru Gandhi dynasty back after a mysterious sojourn but appearing invigorated like never seen in his ten year parliamentary career – the people regain to hear him more often now though most of it is repetitive and often seriously short on facts besides the moot point is whether he can sustain it or not. From a citizen’s perspective absent from the sound and fury of the media has the Modi government delivered on its pre election promises? The acknowledge here would definitely be a mixed bag but the majority of citizens are willing to give the Prime Minister a very long rope, and considering India’s voters are often accused of wanting instant solutions to their problems,and even forgive him for some of the over the top campaign rhetoric and promises. On the ground the overall mood in the country has turned from one of gloom to sunshine and hope. Food inflation particularly vegetables has been controlled somewhat, though pulses are raging, and by the government despite unseasonal rains in large parts of the country and core inflation has been tamed because of a combination factors some due to international developments and others because of some good financial management. However,inflation continues to impact the people at large and the government needs to do much more on this front. There is no denying the fact that the Modi government inherited a legacy that was abysmal, and since then the government has launched many schemes including renaming and better focussing some of the UPA schemes which were floundering even under the UPA dispensation. The over the top criticism by the Congress may actually boomerang because it is also driving a sympathy wave towards the Modi govt largely because the Congress party has such a heavy baggage and umpteen number of skeletons accumulated from a decade old rule that every time it targets the Modi govt the obvious counter point is a given in towards open dialogue – what did the Congress party do while they were in power? And that is the biggest albatross around the Congress party’s bloated neck despite lining some of the best speakers in the countryside in its attack on the Modi govt and defence of the various scams and policy paralysis that haunted the UPA. Besides in a head to head comparison across various parameters Rahul Gandhi is just not a patch on Narendra Modi’s political or administrative skills, and Modi can rattle of details without batting an eyelid whereas the Nehru Gandhi scion would only close up batting his eyelids in confusion. Democracies are messy business and governance is extremely complicated particularly in a multi party federal system of 29 states and 1.25 billion people to boot. Besides the old Raj culture has still not disappeared from India with those elected behaving like ‘rulers’ and usurping the system by denying some basic rights to the people in the process the bureaucracy and the police force in the various states become the first victim to the political party,and their undisciplined goons, in power often severely compromised to conduct routine citizens benefit activities. In this context for critics to expect the Modi govt to fix all that is wrong in India within a year of assuming office just because of election campaign rhetoric exposes an inherent bias towards a possible outsider to the known power structure. Besides in Indias independent history the bureaucracy has been famed to derail the best laid policies by the most visionary politicians and the fact that the present Prime Minister hopes to circumvent this by running a very PMO centeric dispensation with civil servants calling the shots both macro and micro managing is an attempt to fast track policy making and execution which besides is the Achilles heel for any government in India. A significant portion of those surveyed hoped that Modi would lead India to better days though a quarter believed that the good days have already arrived. The reality is it is hope that is the driver primarily because of a decisive leader at the helm unfortunately the God and satan is in the details and Narendra Modi’s success tale even though largely digitally dependent has to for the time being rely on the very same human hands caught in India’s legendary red tape to perform and deliver. WILL MODI DELIVER? ALL INDICATIONS POINT TO THE FACT THAT NARENDRA DAMORDASS MODI AND HIS GOVERNMENT WILL NOT DISAPPOINT THOUGH THE ROAD IS STREWN WITH CHALLENGES AND OBSTACLES WHICH IS WHY SUCCESS WILL DEFINITELY BE MORE LASTING AND SWEETER.
Source: cnn.com