Eleven years of Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister is the hot topic of discussion nowadays. Every Union Ministry and several state governments are listing what has been achieved during this period. There is no doubt that Modi has introduced a style of governance that is quite unique and a significant break from the socialist dominated governance of the past. His has been an enabling approach for the economy and the nation’s infrastructure, which has brought India to the fourth rank in GDP terms. He has also not ignored the social welfare sector and taken numerous initiatives to focus and improve delivery, with the intent to raise incomes and bring people out of poverty.
The latest report of the World Bank has pointed out that the extreme poverty rate has dropped from 27.1 percent in 2011-12 to 5.3 percent in 2022-23, raising 269 million people above the poverty line. This is the Modi period in India’s political history. Nitpickers will, of course, seek to find fault with such reports and statistics, but the evidence of India’s multi-dimensional growth is visible everywhere in people’s lives. The actual story will, of course, be written some years from now when an objective approach will be easier to adopt.
This is not to say that everything has gone smoothly as desired – there have been many challenges, such as the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and the pace of growth. Also, the inability to implement necessary reforms in many sectors because of the strong resistance put up by vested interests. This has slowed down, even sabotaged the required change.
It may also be noted that Modi’s third term is somewhat constrained by the fact that the BJP does not have a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha. It is another matter that the NDA partners have stood solidly by his side and, thus far, there have been no differences in approach among the allies. It is also admirable that Modi has not allowed this factor to restrain his decision making. The clarity of vision remains, as became evident during the recent Operation Sindoor.
While it is not necessary for India’s opposition to be appreciative of the Prime Minister’s political vision, it is imperative that the members of his party and its affiliates understand this as deeply as possible. This is because, every now and then, the overeager following undercuts his policy through its anarchical approach. Whatever political and social pressure is being sought to be applied by such groups, it needs to be more sophisticated and there is no better role model to follow in this regard than Modi.
