Firm and focused leadership keeps India on course
In all his years in power since 2001, he has kept using a language that establishes him as a straight-shooting, strong leader among his voters. Traditionalists may frown upon his style, but in a democracy, voters decide what’s acceptable or not.
Chain ki zindagi jio, roti khao; warna meri goli to hai hi." (Live peacefully, eat your bread; else you face my bullets). These words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broadcast live from the border district Bhuj, went viral globally. His detractors may insist these sound like a punchline from a film, but messages such as this one fill a large section of Indians with pride.
Was it a coincidence that it was the day Modi completed 11 years as PM of India? He completes the first year of his third term next week.
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On 9 June last year, when Modi assumed office, his opponents felt a golden opportunity was just around the corner to snatch power from the BJP as that party lacked an absolute majority on its own. A year later, that idea seems hollow and distant. Consider the Waqf bill. Despite reluctance from NDA allies, the Janata Dal-United (JD(U)) and Telugu Desam Party, BJP neither backed down nor toned down its aggressive stance. Modi has crafted his communication and administrative style assiduously.
In all his years in power since 2001, he has kept using a language that establishes him as a straight-shooting, strong leader among his voters. Traditionalists may frown upon his style, but in a democracy, voters decide what’s acceptable or not. What can be a bigger stamp of approval than that Modi hasn’t lost a single election to date?
But Modi doesn’t succeed merely through self-projection. As a Prime Minister, he has convinced citizens that he is committed to their welfare round the clock by initiating landmark moves such as the world’s largest food distribution scheme, a phenomenally expanded road and railway network, the indigenization of armament production, Gati Shakti and Ayushman schemes.
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Modi has his own “theory" to cut slack in governance. While working as an RSS pracharak and later as a BJP functionary, he always felt there was a serious lack of coordination between the organization, government and the bureaucracy. In the wake of the Bhuj earthquake of 26 January 2001, there was widespread destruction and chaos. Realizing that things were getting out of hand, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the then home minister L.K. Advani made Modi, a party veteran with vast experience working in the state, the chief minister of Gujarat.
Till then, Modi wasn’t even a legislator and had no experience in governance. Yet his priorities and focus were clear. He devoted his energies on rebuilding and rehabilitating the devastated areas. Resources were summoned, the distracted and dissipated energies of the state bureaucracy were channelled, and the victims of the tragedy were taken on board. If you visit Dholavira, 136km from the district headquarters of Bhuj, you will find tarred roads amid white sands of the desert, tanks for water supply, schools and electricity poles. Even in the remote desert areas of Kutch, soldiers are provided with tap water.
Once it was considered impossible.
He brought the same work culture to the seat of the central government in the South and North Blocks. Before him, the regional leaders would try to mould themselves to the standards of urbanity and etiquette set by the British-influenced Lutyens’ Delhi elite. Modi was a stark contrast, presenting himself as a symbol of Indianness and has been steadfast in his approach.
Modi’s style connects with Indians and creates a unique persona internationally.
Here, a question arises: Didn’t former prime ministers do any good? They definitely did, but never has the country been enamoured of a leader for so long. The reason? Modi knows it’s imperative to show a report card to the citizens periodically to maintain their morale. Many of his promises and initiatives have drawn much criticism. He’s accused of many other things, too, but in a democracy, there’s no harm if development and debate coexist.
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Recently a news appeared that India became the fourth largest economy in the world, leaving Japan behind; now it has to go past Germany to become the third largest economy. Some experts think that it would take some more time before we go past Japan’s economy, but does this nitpicking matter? A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report published later suggests we would remain one of the fastest growing large economies in the world.
It’s clear that India’s development story is on course despite many challenges, and we can’t deny Narendra Modi’s role in it.
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal.
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