Pratim Ranjan Bose
In his 10-year rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done much good for the country.
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Mega tax reforms, unprecedented focus on infrastructure
and defence strategic sectors, dramatic push to digitisation, make-in-India,
fast-forwarding defence hardware and space research programmes, energy
transition, and start-up revolution are part of that list.
However, to my mind, the biggest change has come in the way India has conducted its business both internally and externally over the last decade.
From my three-decade-long experience in tracking India’s
policy-making and policy implementation, I can tell, that this is the first
government that truly delivered.
It does not mean that all policies were equally
effective. What has essentially changed is the pace of making policy decisions
and time-bound delivery.
Together they made the BJP government far more
accountable and trustworthy, which is reflected in its astounding electoral
success.
Marked Change
This is a marked change from the past when India was
referred to by top editors and policy analysts across South and South East Asia
as “a nation that talks.”
I shared the podium with them in many international
seminars. The criticism was not pleasing. However, there was not much way to
counter it.
Leaving aside her international commitments, India was a
miserable failure in implementing projects even at home. Who would trust a
nation that once didn’t have enough toilets?
India took 20 years to build a strategic bridge in Assam;
sat on the plan to build a dedicated rail freight corridor for years and;
helplessly watched anarchic forces chasing away foreign direct investment (FDI)
from Odisha in the name of green protests and civil rights.
Thankfully, that era of non-performance is finally behind
us. Any realistic assessment will prove that India’s policy implementation rate
- be it in rural electrification or taking piped drinking water to rural
households - is at par with the best in the world.
During the pandemic, Modi promised to bring out homemade
COVID vaccines for 140 crore people and, he did. Naturally, when he promises to
make India a semiconductor hub in five years, everyone takes him seriously.
Non-nonsense democracy
That takes us to Modi’s second contribution.
Over the last 10 years, he has been successful in pushing
forward the idea of a no-nonsense democracy where the government cannot be
taken for a ride. Modi wants his government to be taken seriously, both in and
outside India.
Internally, that brought a paradigm shift from the
coalition-era experience - particularly during the Congress-led UPA rule
between 2004 and 2014 - that gave rise to mobocracy, indiscipline and anarchy.
The recent arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of
the Union territory of Delhi for money laundering and; a huge Rs 135 crore or
USD 16 million income tax recovery from Congress alongside fresh demands of
over Rs 3000 crore; are perfect examples of the changed fundamentals in Indian
democracy.
Both actions have taken place following due and prolonged
legal procedures. According to CNBC[i], Kejriwal ignored at least six summons from law
enforcers since October 2023 to cooperate with the probe and took recourse to
rhetorical politics.
Kejriwal thought that the Modi government would not dare
to take punitive action against him, ahead of the general election. He was
proved wrong. Kejriwal was arrested on March 21.
A division bench of the Delhi High Court first removed
his constitutional protection from arrest. On April 1, he was ordered[i] 14-day
judicial custody. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi is now
in serious trouble.
Congress[ii] was equally brazen in its attempt to take the
system for a ride. The party lost income tax exemption in 2018-19 due to
extensive use of cash in the electoral process.
India Today[iii] writes: The IT Department served its first
notice to the Congress claiming a tax outstanding of Rs 105 crore on July 6,
2021. However, no response was received.
A follow-up notice was issued on October 28, 2021,
offering the party an option to settle 20% of the outstanding amount. Congress
ignored it too.
In the fiscal year 2021-22, the IT Commissioner dismissed
the Congress's appeal against the IT Department's notice. Further notices
issued by the department in 2023 were also essentially ignored.
In May 2023, the party appealed against the IT
Commissioner's decision in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).
Congress lost the appeal in ITAT and moved to a division
bench of the Delhi High Court that upheld the order of the Appellate Tribunal.
The court had rightly blamed Congress for “sleeping[iv]” on the three-year-old claim.
Congress and AAP are now blaming Modi for the “murder of
democracy.” Rahul Gandhi of Congress went a step ahead in threatening[v] officials
of punitive action[vi] whenever his party returns to power.
Is Rahul Gandhi speaking in the language of democracy?
Remote control will not work
Some foreign powers - namely Germany and the USA[vii] -
came in support of Kejriwal and Congress and, went back home with an earful.
Washington Post[viii] writes: “U.S. and German officials issued
public statements gently reminding India about the importance of the rule of
law. The response from New Delhi was anything but gentle.”
The Indian foreign ministry immediately summoned German
and U.S. diplomats for a dressing-down. It lashed out at Washington for
“casting aspersions” and making “completely unacceptable” comments about
India’s internal affairs.
According to the American newspaper, “It reflected the
tough new brand of diplomacy embraced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
cheered by his nationalist supporters.”
The truth is, any well-meaning Indian would support the
emergence of a strong state that would not give in to undue pressures from
outside or inside.
***
[i] https://www.barandbench.com/news/delhi-court-sends-arvind-kejriwal-judicial-custody-april-15
[ii] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/recovery-of-rs-135-crore-from-congress-as-per-income-tax-laws-report-5335604
[iii] https://www.indiatoday.in/law/story/income-tax-department-case-against-indian-national-congress-comprehensive-breakdown-2505890-2024-02-22
[iv] https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/delhi-hc-dismisses-congress-plea-seeking-stay-of-income-tax-notice-for-recovery-of-over-rs-105-cr-11710322041874.html
[v] https://x.com/RahulGandhi/status/1773663481679458688?s=20
[vi] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/strict-action-against-those-trying-to-murder-the-democracy-rahul-gandhis-guarantee-after-congress-gets-i-t-notices/articleshow/108880553.cms?from=mdr
[vii] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/us-speaks-again-on-arvind-kejriwal-mentions-frozen-congress-accounts-5324508
[viii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/29/india-us-criticism-kejriwal/
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