The ruling NDA led by the BJP is coming closer to a majority in the Rajya Sabha with the new rounds of polls to the upper house of Parliament from various state assemblies. A week hence, when more results stream in, the ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reasons to cheer. But, with this cheer there also comes a demand that the government should start performing better. PM Modi can no more say he is handicapped in the upper house of Parliament where bills got blocked.
The Modi government, through the past six years, is a mix of hope and hopelessness. Not many across the board would give it a pass mark. There were blunders as was seen in the Demonetization in November 2016. The way the GST legislation was left with many lacunae, and the scenario of a wholesale shutdown of the nation from March last over the Covid-19 pandemic, does not speak well of the Modi government. On the defence front, more should have been done. The economy is now caught in a very bad situation of negative GDP growth; a steep fall from a high.
Modi cannot hope to be on a charm offensive for more time without solid work on the ground. India lost precious years even as there has been political stability. A billion plus population is willing to go the extra mile granted that the leadership creates the conditions for positive action. Big talks alone will not take a nation forward; rather, a deficit of it will be better as nations like China or Bangladesh nearer home are showing us.
Systems in India are going for a toss. This is well-acknowledged. Vested interests including politicians and bureaucrats are taking full advantage. Corruption is growing by leaps and bounds, with hardly any checks. The agencies involved in tracking and punishing the corrupt are themselves corrupt to the core. Modi has been a silent spectator to all these. Even if he attempted to set things right, the systems took him for a ride. Those who virtually looted public sector banks by resorting to fancy NPAs found sanctuary abroad, they keep fighting cases through courts and are on a merry-go-round. There are those who scuttle such cases from within the system itself here.
Good governance requires that effective mechanisms are introduced to set things right. The majority that the government can now muster in both houses of parliament should prompt effective action to put the nation in forward mode. There must be an end to the present lull and to the sense of all-round disillusionment.