Modi govt’s performance

The BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just completed two years in office — or shall we say that it has finished 40 percent of its five-year tenure?
But the report card of the government doesn’t look impressive at all and it seems to be getting sunk deeper into a political quagmire. The fact that no national alternative has emerged so far nor does it seem to be on the horizon provides no solace to PM Modi who is increasingly being hemmed in from all directions by foes and allies.
While the principal opposition party, the Indian National Congress, too hasn’t improved its stock in the larger public perception, the fact remains that the grand old party with just 45 members in the 543-member Lok Sabha has troubled the BJP far more than its poor numerical strength could suggest.
Politically, while the government is currently in the midst of a legal battle on the issue of imposition of president’s rule in Uttarakhand, it is facing heat in two other cases. One, from an ally and coalition partner in Maharashtra state government, the Shiv Sena, on the issue of student leader Kanhaiya Kumar whom the BJP government has charged with sedition; and two, from the Congress party on the issue of alleged Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.
All this when the Parliament session re-convened on April 25. Much to the discomfiture of Modi and his BJP, the Shiv Sena publicly disassociated itself from the central government’s hard-nosed policy on Kanhaiya Kumar.
Diplomatically, the government has blundered in the public perception in its foreign policy with Pakistan and China.
On Pakistan, the Modi government is still smarting under the pain and anguish over the issue of the Pathankot terror attack and its aftermath. The man on the street in India is still unconvinced about the Modi government’s move of allowing a Pakistani Joint Investigation Team or JIT, which included an ISI official, to visit the Pathankot base. On China, the Modi government has tied itself in knots by first issuing visas to Uyghur leaders, including Dolkun Isa, for attending a multi-ethnic religious conference in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and then canceling the visa to Isa. The message that this move sent to the Indian masses is that the Modi government bowed to China. Besides, there are problems galore on other fronts too, particularly economic. More than 300 million Indians are in the grip of drought. The insensitivity of the BJP-led Maharashtra government came to the fore recently when there was a public outcry over media reports that showed a Maharashtra minister in poor light.
The minister in question drew flak from the general public and opposition parties and allies like the Shiv Sena after media reports showed how over 10,000 thousand liters of water was wasted in the parched state for preparing the helipad for the minister to enable him to take an aerial survey of the drought-hit areas when he could have easily undertaken a road journey to do his job. Then there was another Maharashtra minister who took her selfies against the backdrop of the drought-hit areas!
Even a bigger worry for the Modi government, seen from the prism of the common man, is that the economy hasn’t turned around and that too when the international oil prices have been at a historic low since Modi came into power two years ago. The biggest problem for the government currently is that the job market continues to be as depressed as it was two years ago.
Modi still has three years left to perform or perish. Next one year will be most crucial for the Modi government to deliver on his tall electoral promises. The success or failure of Modi and his BJP will be tested in the make-or-break assembly elections in several states one year later.