Narendra Modi proved critics wrong and came through with a comfortable majority for his party in the last Lok Sabha election primarily on account of the public expectation his style and his promises were fuelling in all parts of the country. These were in sharp contrast with the staid ruling Congress with which disappointment set in for a variety of reasons even among some of the party’s traditional supporters. As the poll result showed, people cutting across class and regional divides seemed to have made up their mind before polling day to see Mr Modi as PM, replacing Dr Manmohan Singh, and in preference to any other putative Congress rival.
It was this which helped to rush Mr Modi to the PM’s chair in spite of the BJP winning only 31 per cent of the national vote, the lowest ever for a ruling party at the Centre. Evidently, the then Gujarat chief minister, aided by the media, had fired the country’s imagination, especially of the younger voters, in an unusual sort of way.
Truth is that this continues even after the first hundred days, the traditional honeymoon period for governments. The public seems more understanding of Mr Modi than it might have been of any other leader in his place. The charisma factor seems in place. There is no question that the momentum remains with the Prime Minister although actual developments on the policy plane are by no means new. The Jan Dhan programme, for instance, is an elaboration of the UPA’s financial inclusion package using the Aadhaar template with the direct benefit transfer scheme.
Meanwhile, some terrible things have happened on the ground that can potentially threaten social relations on account of the spread of the canker of the communal divide. There seems dissonance at the heart of the government, with seemingly strained ties between the PM and the Union home minister. The price situation, which hits people’s home budgets hard and has a negative impact on the macroeconomic situation, has not shown improvement. This was a key point in the election.
The government’s first Budget was widely criticised for making no new moves. Nevertheless, business and industry sentiment remains buoyant in the expectation that there might be hard takeaways for industry at a not too distant date, possibly by the time of the next Budget, which is only six months away. Market-friendly decisions might be easier to take if Mr Modi’s BJP does well in the upcoming Assembly elections. The foreign policy front has been a mixed bag. Relations with Japan, where UPA policies were extended, seem an impressive success following the PM’s visit. Pakistan ties have moved backward. China remains an enigma. On the whole, an average show with expectations still undiminished.
