By Lawrence Pherliam Sumer
Mr Narendra Modi minus the 2002 riots is the need of the hour for our country. Putting economic development and poverty alleviation at the centre of the debate serves NaMo well. Here is a man who means business. Gujarat’s economy has nearly tripled in size during his time at the helm of affairs in the state. It’s GDP has grown by 10% a year, faster than India as a whole and roughly equivalent to China. Even with only 5% of India’s population, Gujarat now accounts for 16% of its manufacturing and about a quarter of total exports. Two decades ago 43% of Gujarat’s Muslims were poor, a bit better than the national average of 51%, according to a study by Arvind Panagariya and Vishal More, of Columbia University, using a definition of poverty similar to that of the World Bank. Now only 11% of them are poor, compared with a national average of 25%. Central-government welfare programmes have played a part in this, but only a part.
NaMo boasts that “24-by-7, 365 days uninterrupted three phase power is available to each and every village in Gujarat. In 2003 he broke up a deeply indebted power company and split supplies for farmers (who get power for 8 hrs a day) from other consumers (who pay a market price but get electricity all day). He clamped down on illegal access to the grid and made it a police priority. A reliable grid with profitable electric supply companies is not the only infrastructural success; Gujarat has good gas supplies too and NaMo says there is a broadband access in every village; its roads and ports are in good repair. NaMo has managed to increase capital spending even as he has reduced government debt as a proportion of GDP. This helps to attract investors both from India and abroad.
As for keeping government clean and effective, NaMo likes to boast that with no family to favour he must be honest. He prevents corruption in others, he says, through a mixture of leadership. His credo is, “Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results.”
The record from Gujarat suggests he thinks hard about policy, has clear ideas of how he would promote higher economic growth and social development and would prefer to bolster overall wealth creation than promote social welfare schemes.
As the new PM of India, it is too early to make any substantial judgment but at the same time we cannot ignore his early achievements, controversies notwithstanding. First and foremost his planned approach and clear vision with regards to international diplomacy, inclusion of minorities, poverty elimination, foreign direct investment, containment of inflation etc and also his efforts to unearth Black Money by forming the Special Investigation Team (SIT) are good initiatives. His austerity measures communicated to his ministers about not buying a new car and to get approval from the PMO for any expenditure above Rs one lakh are commendable.
Two things I see in this man whom I never imagined I would come to admire and this purely on the development achievements as the CM of Gujarat:
Modi is a visionary leader who works with imagination, insight and boldness. He presents a challenge that calls forth for the best in people and brings them together around a shared sense of purpose. He has drawn a clear path of where he wants to see India in the next few years and as such he has asked the people of India to give 60 months to prove himself (which is fair enough time). This has generated a positive effect on his follower outcomes, resulting in high trust in his leadership. NaMo does possess certain personality attributes and cognitive skills; in essence he has the ability to think in long time spans. Besides, he also has an excellent communication skills and never fails to communicate the vision continually and tailor the vision to specific audience.
A charismatic leader, NaMo knows to sell himself well. He also engages in several rhetorical techniques that serve to increase his persuasiveness by using metaphors and the animated, confident and dramatic communication style. He has the knack to motivate his team to embrace change. Sociologists (Eisenstadt, 1968), Political Scientist (Dow, 1969; Willner, 1984) and Organizational Behaviour theorists (Bass, 1985; Conger & Kanungo , 1987; House 1977; Nadler & Tushman, 1990) have defined charismatic leaders as those who break with traditional institutional authority and persuade followers to embrace innovative or revolutionary ideas. These definitions imply a motivation to change the status quo which NaMo has seldom shied away from such as coming down heavily on the dynastic culture of the Gandhi family .
In Proverbs 29:18 it is said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The question is when do we get to see a visionary leader at the helm of affairs of our State. Who will inspire us to work towards a concrete vision that will revolutionize our minds and our work, which in turn will trigger overall development? When do we get a CM who will be humble enough to take constructive criticism and work steadfastly with close monitoring to improve the work culture in our State? When do we see a leader who would maximise productivity through the existing mechanisms of the State? When will we have someone at the top who will dare to change the status quo and stop giving perks and sops to the nugatory political appointees?
We do have amongst the present crop of leaders, parties notwithstanding, some who have shown early promise but the question is will they survive the political vendetta? Keeping our fingers cross, we hope they do and we are following them closely because the future of our State rests on them.
(The writer is an entrepreneur)