In a few days from now, the central government shall complete a year in office. The mandate is for five years, but one year is certainly good time to take stock of the direction in which the government is heading and whether it can fulfill the promises. After building up huge expectations of the country, in the area of good governance, accountability, good economics and bringing back illegal money stacked aboard, the central government resembles a poor mirror image of the previous government. It has precious little to show case in any of the areas. The government has attempted to wipe out the stamp of Nehru from the national psyche while appropriating national leaders like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for BJP and reducing Mahatma Gandhi to a cleanliness icon.
The buildup of Narendra Modi to the centre stage from a regional platform was possible due to a section considered to be the conscious keepers of the political ‘right’. Arun Shourie and Ram Jethmalani who stood by Narendra Modi are highly critical of the way the government has functioned particularly on the economic front and black money issues close to their hearts. On the black money issue Jethmalani terms the government stand to be unpardonable betrayal.
The passing of the controversial National Judicial Appointment Commission, insurance, mining and the coal bills is the what the government can boast of. The proposal to devolve more resources is welcome. The greater devolution of money to the states would certainly empower the states giving greater flexibility of utilizing the resources and enhancing efficiency. The economic survey presented at the budget time this year shows inflation having come down, foreign portfolio having stabilized and economy growing with the crude oil prices having declined more than 50% since the new government took over in May 2015. The oil price fell from 110 dollars per barrel to around 57 dollars per barrel. (The common man however did not get the benefit due to hike in excise duties on petrol and diesel). The declining of the oil prices has been a boon to the government as oil import bill has drastically come down and the pressure to provide subsidies to the oil companies has been reduced. But, look at the performance of the government. The government has not been able to build up on these lucky breaks.
Arun Shourie rightly states that the government has only managed headlines without putting polices in place. But how can policies be in place when the government is unsure of what it wants to achieve? What the government promised is Amartya Sen’s social security and Jagdish Bhawati’s growth in one pakage deal. They promised the moon to the people and now say it is election ‘Jumla’. Which way the government is taking us can be noticed from the reduction in corporate taxes from 30% to 25% which benefit (to the tune of eight thousands crores) shall be available yoga gurus, off shore fund managers, while mopping up additional revenues of Rs. 23,000/- crores through increased indirect taxes which burden will certainly be on the common man.
There can be no two opinions that the present government’s politically ‘right’ approach cannot function without being complemented by foreign investment and as Arun Shourie puts it ‘the investors require stability and credibility’. Economics, politics and society are not mutually exclusive. If investments has to grow social and political climate has to be conducive. On the social front the second line leaders are propagating hate in their adventure of polarization through issues like ‘ghar wapasi’, ‘love jihad’, ‘beef ban’ and attack on religious institutions of minorities with monumental silence from the first line leadership who have tasted the fruits of a polarized polity.
With manufacturing sector failing to take off and farmers in distress, the government is busy manipulating constitution on the land acquisition issue to show a pro industry image as though land acquisition has been the only alibi for its one year of non performance.
The Prime Minister’s Jan Dan Yojana and Swaach Bharat Abhiyan provided the headlines at the relevant time. Nobody is bothered of the results. In the critical area of governance there are number of disturbing issues that need a mention. The promulgation of ordinance and closing the Rajya Sabha session only to repromulgate the ordinance is a clear manipulation of a constitutional provision. Lecturing the Supreme Court judges over ‘five star activists’ getting reliefs is a clear case of threatening the judges. The government that came to power by harvesting the civil society’s movement on accountability has done nothing in providing to the country the much hyped accountability mechanism called the ‘lokayukta’. The civil society which created a fertile ground for the downfall of the previous regime is itself intimidated. The non-governmental organizations like green peace foundation and hundreds of such organizations which have been working a ground level in opposing the government on various issues are facing closure of their activities with enforcement directorate and other departments unleashing a reign of terror.
But there is silver lining – the performance of the prime minister has been excellent. After the election Jumla we are treated with high decibel showmanship for almost a year. If 15th August address from the ramparts of Red Fort caught the imagination of the people, the monogrammed suit while standing by the side of president Obama on 26 January showed the other side of our Prime Minister. The prime minister’s performance at Madison square garden in New York, All phones arena in Sidney and recently in Toronto Canada has provided the country with a diet of speeches-not heard of since the days of Indira Gandhi. How long can the country survive on such a diet?
(The writer is practicing advocate, senior faculty in law and political analyst)
