Two years of NDA rule under Modi

The NDA government at the centre has recently completed two years in office under the leadership of Narendra Modi and judging from the prevalent mood it seems quite conceivable that this government will have a free run for at least another ten years. The Congress party is gradually shrinking because of it’s dynasty politics and about the left parties, the less we talk the better. As for the regional parties, they have a lot of catching to do after BJP’s recent regional successes.

Before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Narendra Modi famously gave a call to the people to vote for a “Congress Mukt Bharat’’ and that dream of his is close to fruition now. Congress has been decimated in all the recent elections and they have already ceased to matter and hence people will start putting onus on the BJP to deliver on their promises. There has already been a confidence booster for the Modi government as the GDP grew by a robust 7.9% in the March quarter and India cemented its position as the World’s fastest growing economy thus maintaining a lead over China. By saying that we must also address the present status of the much delayed Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST) which has been clearly a thorn for the BJP government as they have failed to get it passed in the Rajya Sabha where the NDA lacks the numbers to ensure its passage. Modi knows that GST Bill is essential to accommodate foreign investments which will alleviate growth in the economy.

Now the question is has the Modi government done enough to raise the standards of the poor people in the last two years or is he simply making fool of the poor by launching so many schemes. Fact is, the initiatives definitely have the potential to perform better than the previous government’s schemes but clearly the fruits of those schemes haven’t yet reached the people who need them the most. The centre has also failed to curb the inflation and rising unemployment continues to be the biggest challenge for Modi. But again we would be asking a bit too much if we expect the centre to clean up the mess of last 60 years in just 24 months. BJP claims that they have run such an effective government that even the opposition parties couldn’t make an allegation of corruption against them which is commendable. There has also been a 41 percent increase in FDI inflows and the government has already started work to provide gas connections to 6 crore people by 2019. The Jan Dhan Yojana launched by the present government has already brought crores to India’s banking system.

In fact, the time is quite ripe to ask whether any party is really capable of stopping the Modi juggernaut. The grand old Congress party is not the same as it was earlier and its leadership is in total disarray. Both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi refuse to come out of their shells and address the issues that are affecting the morale of the cadres. The Gandhis need to realise that the time is running out and they should communicate more often to raise the enthusiasm of the workers. The Congress desperately needs to find its mojo before much time has gone by.
As for the Left ,their very political existence is at stake as their vote bank has been slowly eroding and they need to do some serious brainstorming over the status of CPI(M)- led Left Front. They have repeatedly failed to gauge the mood of the people and faced horrendous consequences as a result of that. The Left having gone down from 60 seats in 2004 to 24 in 2009, had fallen even further in 2014 winning just 10 seats. The politburo members clearly need to evaluate what went wrong and why before they cease to be of any political relevance. Hence as of now, expecting the Left Front to pose a challenge for the Modi government is asking a bit too much as they will be more focused in revitalizing their own party.

The Bihar State elections in 2015, was a total gamechanger in Indian politics where three former foes; Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Rahul Gandhi; all joined hands together with an intention of defeating the BJP and redraw the political contours in Bihar. The BJP initially claimed that Nitish Kumar had dashed the dreams of socialist leader, Jayprakash Narayan, by joining hands with Congress, but Nitish had the proverbial last laugh when the results came out. The NDA suffered a crushing defeat bagging only 58 seats whereas the RJD and JDU won 80 and 73 seats respectively. This experiment of “Mahagathbandhan’’ was a huge success and paid rich dividends even to the Congress party who finished with its best ever show in Bihar in two decades. After the Bihar results many regional parties have started thinking afresh of forming a grand alliance on the lines of Bihar to defeat BJP. The plan of all “BJP opposing parties” to form a Grand Alliance on the pattern of Bihar to push the ruling party out of power in 2019 Lok Sabha elections has already started gaining momentum. The talk of forming a “Federal Front’’ got some impetus at the recently concluded swearing-in ceremony of Mamata Banerjee govt wherein Lalu Prasad had appealed to all the parties sharing similar ideologies to unite against the BJP saying this was the only potent solution to save India from any future disaster. Farooq Abdullah had also echoed his views and said that he was game for any kind of initiatives to form a “Federal Front”.

Now the notion of a “Federal Front” is quite viable, but whether it will be adequate to stop Modi in 2019 is highly questionable. The glue for the secular front’s longevity will depend on whether the main satraps will be able to check their egos at the door and get humble enough to start working in tandem. It’s too early to foresee whether Modi will be re-elected in 2019 but no one can deny the passion shown by this man to change the perception of this great country. What will happen in 2019 still lie in the wombs of the coming days....