Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s admiration of China is well known, so much so that he doesn’t miss any opportunity to emulate China’s penchant for superlatives like biggest, highest, longest and so on.
His love for China-style superlatives came forth during the first anniversary celebrations of his government. He has instructed his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold 200 rallies and 2,200 exhibitions across the country to celebrate the Modi government’s completion of one year in office.
Modi himself led his party and the government in addressing the first of 200 planned rallies. He did so in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, about 150 kilometers from the national capital, on May 25 the eve of his government’s first anniversary. Though India is expected to surpass China in terms of growth rate and become the world’s fastest-growing large economy this year, Modi the clever politician was mindful that most of his grandiose electoral promises are yet to become a reality and economic recovery still remains sluggish.
That’s why while he expectedly went on a self-congratulatory blitzkrieg, his speech at Mathura was notable for what he did not say: Massive job growth, acquisition of land for pushing big-ticket developmental and infrastructure projects, manufacturing, bullet trains and smart cities. His silence on all these, his pet electoral promises one year ago, was eloquent.
Even more eloquent was the muted response of the large crowd that the BJP had managed to gather despite an extremely hot afternoon with a 40-plus degree Celsius temperature. As his wont, he repeatedly asked rhetorical questions from the crowd like “Would the plight of India have changed if the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) were in power?” or “Have I not kept my promises...Burey din khatam hue ki nahin hue (Aren’t the bad days over?”
But the crowd wasn’t exactly electrified. There were feeble murmurs from some sections of the crowd but it wasn’t a roar. Last year, Modi the prime ministerial candidate had mesmerized the crowd at the same city and his every question was answered with a roar and his every onslaught at the then Congress-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was lustily cheered. But this time the Mathura crowd was unusually quiet.
The crowd did not explode into a rapturous frenzy even when Modi showcased his achievement that more than 120 million people today get gas subsidy benefits directly in their bank accounts. Perhaps the politically aware people of Mathura knew that this scheme was started by the Manmohan Singh government.
Having said that nobody can take away some of the commendable initiatives by the Modi government in the past one year. These include: Deregulation of prices of diesel and cooking gas, raising of limits on foreign investments in defense and insurance sectors to 49 per cent, opening over 125 million bank accounts under the world’s largest financial inclusion scheme known as “Jan Dhan” or people’s money and massive-scale auctioning of coal fields. However, the last two are mired in different problems and despite these being good policies the results are yet to show up. But that is a different and a long story.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, while the Modi government launched a massive publicity blitzkrieg to beat its own drum, the Congress, the principal opposition party, unleashed a frontal assault on the one-year-old government. The Congress party released a 12-minute video highlighting the Modi government’s umpteen U- turns and implementing Manmohan Singh government’s policies, which the BJP had opposed tooth and nail while in opposition.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala castigated the Modi government for being “anti-poor” and “anti-farmer” and sought to sum up the first year of the Modi government in four phrases: “Broken promises, boastful claims, shattered dreams — a nation betrayed”. In a bid to match Modi in hard-hitting one-liners, Surjewala remarked: “If you gather thistly and expect pickles, it is fool hardy. This one year has been a government of self, selfies and selfishness.”
The cruelest indictment of the Modi government on completion of one year came from Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who said while Modi had promised clean governance 30 percent of his ministers have acknowledged that criminal cases are pending against them — 17 percent of these facing charges for attempt to murder, incitement in communal disharmony and electoral violations.
Modi’s first year in office as PM has been a rollercoaster ride. His biggest achievement is that no scam has broken out since he took over. This is indeed creditable. But in an increasingly politically volatile country like India it is not enough. He will have to devote his second year in office to translating his electoral promises into reality and focus on creating millions of jobs. It is not going to be easy.
