NEW DELHI: The first 100 days of the Narendra Modi government have been characterised by three distinct elements—an economy on revival mode, a newly disciplined work culture and a functioning Parliament. Together they have given Modi the all-important feel-good factor needed to push through his agenda for the nation.
From the Independence Day speech to 1.8 crore bank accounts opened in one day under the Jan Dhan Yojana, it has been a well-laid out agenda. Also dominating Modi 100 days have been the decisive foreign policy moves—a peremptory putdown of Pakistan, a more purposive and focused Look East policy, with Japan, China and the Southeast Asian axis forming its many prongs. Throw in a BRICS summit, an endorsement by a visiting British deputy PM and an upcoming luncheon meet at the White House into the mix.
Completing the picture is the domestic political component. The three months after his resounding victory in the Lok Sabha victory have witnessed a near-complete takeover of the party apparatus by his core team, under the trusted right-hand man Amit Shah, the sidelining of the old guard and a politically -charged push for total success in the upcoming Assembly elections brought up the rear of it. An incessant stream of leaders lining up to join the party, a decimated opposition closing ranks in desperation, and even allies beginning to show signs of nervousness—all of it point to a juggernaut on the roll.
At another level is the micro picture of government: of the work ethic in public offices and bureaucracy. An unremittingly disciplinarian approach, very much in keeping with the image of Modi as a hard task-master, has been on display here. The diktat has gone down: everyone must turn up sharp at 9 am and log the complete work hours. To help enforce this, for the first time one has more than avuncular Gandhian lectures about national productivity: CCTV cameras are being installed all across government departments, to record entries and exits and active work hours.
Nor is this disciplining and admonitory stance restricted to the anonymous public servant. The Union Tourism Minister once found himself at the receiving end, being called back from his way to the airport for an international meet—for flouting a ‘dress code’! More recently, the hot rumour about Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son being reprimanded by the Prime Minister for being on the take, though denied by the PMO, was revelatory in more ways than one. It may have offered a sneak peek into the working atmosphere within Modi’s cabinet (between the colleagues, and not excluding Modi), but it did no harm to the PM’s own image of a no-nonsense man who is clued in at all times, and could draw his whip any time. The messaging is intense, and two-fold. Here is a man who would rid India of corruption, and there are no favourites.
In fact, one of the more significant pronouncements of the last three months had to do with that last bit. A big part of the criticism directed against Modi during the election, pertained to his proximity to corporate houses. By not upping gas prices four times, as he was allegedly bound to do, and holding off a decision on that front, Modi showed two things: that he was sensitive to criticism on that front, and he is capable of more sophisticated responses than is sometimes perceived. But this is no knee-jerk policy shift either: a plane-load of corporate heads, including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Azim Premji will accompany him to Japan.
If he manages to clinch the civil nuclear deal with Japan despite its stringent non-proliferation philosophy, it would be a feather that can rival former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s most ballyhooed achievement—the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
As one unpacks the ‘good news’, it’s possible to see Modi as much as a lucky beneficiary who arrived just in time for a bottoming out of a global and domestic trough as a driver of forces himself. However, there are some worrying elements in the mix too: a weak monsoon, whose effects may be visible in the coming season, and global events that impinge on crude price may yet again take away the current shine. Not to mention the decisive rejection of old structures like the Planning Commission and the Wild Life Board—these are interpreted favourably or otherwise depending on who’s doing it, but the fact is nothing has replaced these. Then there is the stasis on the big item of the last two years, the Lokpal.