Assessing Modi Led Government From The Grassroots

Assessing Modi Led Government From The Grassroots.

Aniruddha Jena

AB Fellow

The coming 26^th of May, Narendra Modi led NDA government (BJP + its allies) will complete its third year in power at the centre. It’s been three years when Narendra Modi led BJP become the first part in last thirty years to win the general elections with single majority, which at that time strongly suggested that how the people of India were desperate to change the face of the government and they had seen faith and bestowed their belief on BJP, which was fighting for the pro-poor government with a propelling and resounding slogan of “Achhe Din Aayenge”. The BJP government was very much deterministic and straightforward in its approach to deal with certain fundamental issues of the Indian society by then and its manifesto showcased a futuristic pathway, which will bring “Achhe Din” to the Indian society. The major highlights of BJP’s manifesto during 2014 general election was dealing with corruption, transparency and authenticity of governance and administration, pro-poor policies, vibrant and participatory democracy, quality life to the people of India and many more. And the party’s goal was Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat! And the way to attain that goal is through Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.

During the last three year, after Narendra Modi and his Party came into power, India and its people have witnessed many happenings and the government has implemented certain new implication and enacted certain new policies and forum to bring back the positive vibes for development. There are majorly certain happenings which has impacted and influenced the lives throughout India likewise Swachh Bharat Aviyan, Demonetisation, GST etc. During this time also, the government has also tasted some good as well as bad phases likewise BJP could able to form its own government in states like Maharashtra (2014), Haryana (2014), Assam (2016) Uttar Pradesh (2017) and Manipur (2017) and for the first in the history, BJP joined hands with the PDP (Local Party of J&K) to form its first coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir. It also came back to power in states like Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Goa. BJP also could able to ground supports from the grassroots by backing major seats in the in rural and urban local body elections, from state like Odisha to urban Maharashtra and Chandigarh. BJP also had to face the bitter taste of losing their ground in state assembly elections of Bihar and Delhi but in recently concluded municipal election, BJP has own the election quite emphatically.

The Narendra Modi led government had its own ups and downs during its last three years of governance to its people. Here is an assessment of Narendra Modi and the governance which his party has been practicing since last three years from the voices of the common individuals. To assess the government and its proactive majors to bring back the positive spirit of wellbeing to the Indian society, the field correspondent on a sunny morning visited a local market of Dhenkanal district of Odisha state to get voices from all walks of life. The voices are from different walks of life and their statements are mentioned below, while Prasant Behera, a street food seller in Dhenkanal Market was asked about the last three years of Modi government and how he is seeing the government’s policies and forum for the poor, he replied “The current Modi government is doing a far better job than the earlier UPA government and this government is trying to be transparent and authentic. Most importantly the government is against black money and corruption, which is a great thing in itself, because this step will bring many goods to the society and it will help the people of this country”. According to Prasant Behera, this current government is doing well in most of the terms. While asked about the same thing related to Modi’s three years of governance, Munna Jena, a localite from Dhenkanal stated “This Modi government is not helping the poor’s, rather some of the policies and implications have made life difficult for the poor’s and he supported his argument by giving example of demonetisation, in which he stated that most of the people from his own village had to stay in empty stomach for days due to the unplanned and unsystematic step by the Modi government.” According to him this government is not keeping its promises for which the government has been voted. A barber in the Dhenkanal Bus Stand named by Susant Barik said “ He was not pretty sure about what good this government has done for the poor people, but he personally has experience many problems due to the unplanned steps like demonetisation, he shared his own story, while he had only 2000 rupees and he could not able to eat, because nobody was interested to change that high denomination and he said this a kind of problem which most of his friends and relatives have faced during that phase of demonetisation. And he said there is no such big and impactful change, which has impacted him socially or economically during this last three years of Modi government.” While asking about Mode and it’s government, a lady sweeper in Dhenkanal Municipality named by Nini Behuria, she strongly replied “Modi government is doing nothing for Odisha and she is quite happy with the state government which is being led by Naveen Patnaik led BJD, she is not liking the modi government, because she feels the central government has no contact with people like them and their issues and voices are only limited to the state government.”

So from the above statements, it can be said that the current central government is getting a mixed kind of feedback from the people India, while there is a section of od the society, who are praising the steps taken by the government, at the same time, there is a section of the society, which is not very happy with the steps and that section of society is having issues with the current government like the it is not so close to the poor, even though they had mentioned in their manifesto that this government is a pro-poor government. People are claiming that the government had favoured the upper class in the last three years and it has able to keep the upper class wishes and it has ignored the wishes and demands of the poor, which is happening to be the majority of India’s population. This current government is left with another two years before the next general election in 2019, so the rest two years will be deciding the future of the current Modi led government  basing on the actions are going to be taken in the forthcoming days.