by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Will Modi give a
Belchi, Bhindaranwale or Bofors moment to the Opposition?
Harish Gupta
Over-enthusiastic
journalists tend to link the present with the past, much like a sophomore parading
footnotes under his essay to impress the teacher. Thus Indira Gandhi’s
victory-after-defeat in December 1979 became her “return from Elba”, regardless
(or unmindful) of the irony that the French emperor had returned from his
forced exile in Elba to rule his country for
only 100 days.
Congress Vice
President Rahul Gandhi’s trip to Badayun last week to be by the side of the
hapless relatives of the two dalit teenage girls who were gang-raped and
murdered by a team of yadav country bumpkins, though commendable,
instantly became by the hack’s pen the “Belchi moment”, referring to Indira
Gandhi’s heroic elephant ride, following her post-Emergency rout in 1977, to a
village called Belchi near Patna where dalits were massacred by a gang
of kurmi villagers. There was little political mileage in it for the
Congress as the Samajwadi Party, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh and is
known for its lack of concern about gender violence, was its ally through most
of UPA-2 and even now.
But by far the
biggest difference between the Indira Gandhi years, and the leadership now, is
that the Janata Party that she fought against was a ragtag band of protesters,
led by Morarji Desai, an eccentric politician, whereas Narendra Modi, the Prime
Minister, has, in the very first week in office, left his mark of determination
and astuteness on the government at large. The Congress never tires of
projecting itself as the ‘party of governance’ and has generally wallowed in
the complacent conviction that nobody outside the grand old party had the skill
to run governments. It should take lessons from Modi.
It is doubtful
if any PM after Indira Gandhi commanded as much awe and respect as Modi in the
Raisina Hill bureaucracy. As he took a round of the PMO in South Block, he made
it a point to shake hands with all, and he told a peon that if he had anything
to tell him he was free to enter the Room No.1. He uttered these words in the
earreach of Nripendra Mishra, the newly appointed Principal Secretary to the
Prime Minister. Equally dramatic was Mishra’s selection. The Prime Minister
interviewed three retired bureaucrats, none of whom being known to him. He
liked Mishra’s ideas, and so the job was offered to him after three grilling
sessions. There was a glitch as the Telecom Regulatory Authority, which he
headed, wouldn’t have allowed its members to join the government
post-retirement, which is a provision in its governing law to maintain its
distance from the government which is often a party in telecoms disputes. But
Modi is not to be deterred by such niceties. An ordinance was immediately
enacted to get Mishra on board.
The Prime
Minister has so far avoided shifting bureaucrats from their existing postings
but everyone knows that the departments’ outputs are under close scrutiny. Nor
are the ministers any exception. The Railway Minister got a call from PM early
morning informing him about a railway accident and to proceed to the spot right
away. Prodded by Modi, the Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar began with
meeting with the Congress-ruled Maharashtra
chief minister in Mumbai to inquire about the large projects that had got stuck
due to non-clearance, with a clear assurance that the Centre would do its part
in providing the necessary clearances within the first 100 days of the
government.
The good news that
the new man at the head of the government means business is winging its way
across the economy and market. In months preceding poll results, the
30-share Sensex gained over 1,900 points, or about 9 per cent in anticipation
of Modi win. The foreign investors have pumped in Rs 60,000 crores since
January this year into the share market after getting definite feedback through
market research agencies of Modi coming. With stock prices moving up, there are
indications of divestment of a slew of PSUs, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
being ready to sell government’s residual stake in Hindustan Zinc and Balco
pending for years due to indecision. Instead of milking the PSUs, Modi wants
them to become competitive and participate in the GDP growth. There are
movements even of debt-ridden real estate giants, DLF being a prime example.
The abolition of 60-odd GoMs and EgoMs has been applauded by all as it will
fast-track decision making.
The signs of a
confidence build-up were evident from the swearing-in day, with a never-before
display of goodwill from the neighbouring countries, including Pakistan.
Friendly overtures are now coming in from Beijing,
Japan, Russia and the
Obama Administration, after spitting gall, is coming back to sense.
So what about the
opposition’s ‘Belchi moment’? Frankly, there is not much hope for that. It is
of course because Modi is a tough cookie who minds the store. He will try to
stay on course promised during his election rallies and not give an issue to
the dispirited Opposition (Congress, Left, Muslim League, AIMIM, JKNC, JD-U,
RJD, TRS etc). With Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK open
to “issue based support”, and the ‘Modi cyclone’ having already uprooted the
caste-oriented parties from their social base (SP, BSP & JD-U), the Prime
Minister has little fear of decisions facing logjam in Parliament, and laws
being rewritten many times over to please some termagant state leader. The TMC,
YSR Congress, INLD and several others are also ready to support Modi. He is
unlikely to gift “Punjab crisis” in 1982 or
“Bofors” on platter to the Opposition in 1987. He is unlikely to make
mistakes which most non-Congress governments in 1977, 1989 and 1996 onwards,
did. It is also unlikely that any of the bills and Ordinances will any
hurdle in the Rajya Sabha for lack of majority.
When Modi promised
“minimum government and maximum governance”, he perhaps meant to give a
government that worked without fuss. It also called for an electoral
victory that would be total, with nothing left of the enemy forces. He has got
it.
(The author is national editor
of Lokmat group)
