 "Narendra Modi, NISER campus")
Watching BJP's overeager spokespersons and its other leading luminaries on television channels is getting increasingly boring and, at times, exasperating.
Their reply to every problem is pre-recorded – ‘the opposition is not passing this Bill, they are obstructing the welfare of the economy, they are unable to accept the overwhelming mandate for Mr Modi…’ Guys, that is precisely what ‘opposition’ means. They will oppose everything, much like you did, when UPA-2 was in power.
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You got an overwhelming mandate because we wanted change. Now many of us are tired of this constant whining. We are not interested in your troubles with the 'opposition' or anybody.
We are quite aware of the problems of this country, the 'opposition' and other difficulties. When you sought votes, you ensured that we knew about these problems and promised us better, much better. Which is why you were voted into power. Now deliver. Period.
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When you plead 'not guilty' and say that the opposition is blocking GST because of the National Herald case, please remember the UPA had also accused the BJP of blocking GST because Amit Shah was jailed. If a Bill hasn’t been passed because of the opposition, we will blame you much like you blamed Manmohan Singh.
There has been change, though not much. Senior company officials say corruption has come down at the top but nothing has changed at ground level. “It is easy to get permissions from the top but at the level of execution, problems persist,” says a company head.
In fact in some instances they have actually worsened. A cabbie trying to obtain his annual clearance to ply on the roads said earlier, the inspector would charge a particular 'sum' (bribe) and pass it in a day. Now, the inspector doesn't seek money for fear of being caught but delays the process by several days. The result: the cabbie loses thousands in daily income.
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The lesson? You may want to do the right things but there will always be roadblocks in the form of the opposition, and in some cases, even civilians or bureaucrats. Removing corruption isn’t a day’s job much like Swachh Bharat – one has to keep on working on it for months, and years, sometimes, decades.
Similarly, the Right Wing’s desire to dominate the discourse does not mean breaking the back of the JNU or other institutions which are dominated by the Left, or arresting students. Institutions, spreading the Right Wing’s thoughts, have to created and built with credible people. This, again, will take years to achieve – time that the present government does not have.
Meanwhile, it is your job to create consensus and, not constantly confront, to ensure that these Bills are passed and work gets done. The CEO of a company can't give excuses if its books are in the red.
The present government’s woes arises from spreading itself too thin by fighting on all fronts. There isn’t a day when its spokespersons aren’t in television studios blaming all and sundry except themselves for everything. The winter session was a washout. The Budget session does not look too promising either.
It would do well to remember that the first NDA government, despite having one of India’s smartest and most congenial Prime Ministers in the form of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, failed to get a significantly long term as 'India Shining' failed to attract voters.
It’s true that 22 months is too short a term. But after the next 15-20 months, the party will be back in election mode, busy making promises and doling out sops. It’s the BJP’s choice – build strong political and economic capital or waste energy fighting ideological battles.
