Of course, there is a great deal of development!
Also, a great deal of anxiety and discomfort as well!
The BJP government led by a self-confident Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi in three years has done a lot of good work.
There is a transformation indeed in several sectors.
The economy is growing at respectable rate and the social sectors, education, health and social harmony, religious tolerance and other infrastructure sectors, roads, railways and civil aviation and some other services, including bureaucracy etc are on the growth path. This is the positive side. People are also fairly confident and optimistic about their future.
These are some of the obvious plus points.
Only when it comes to the larger political picture there are some grey areas. To list a few issues, there is still a sense of intolerance on the religious freedoms, on some of the liberal aspects of Indian society. Given the legacy of the Gandhi-Nehru tradition of a truly Western liberal tradition of the West has implicitly impacted the Indian society’s inherent tolerant civilisation and cultural tradition.
We have a liberal democratic political tradition in the Independent India’s evolution as we are today. Seen in this perspective, I would say and welcome to the success of the BJP party in the 2014 general elections. For the first time, our political system proved its basic democratic fundamental strengths. The BJP got an absolute majority in the general elections. This we have to recognise and welcome wholeheartedly by every enlightened citizen. So, this is Indian political philosophy’s unique character. But then there are many other issues that have also cropped up with the BJP winning power with just 30 odd percent vote and yet in absolute majority. Fine, we have come to accept the verdict of the people, also the flawless performance of the Election Commission. The whole world admires our EC and this is no small achievement.
At the common man’s level, there are so many issues. Issues of governance. There is no sense of ease, rather just the opposite! Many organs of the government are not functioning at the level of the people. Judiciary doesn’t seem to be comfortable. Litigation is an indigenous industry in itself, it seems!
At the bureaucracy’s level there are new anxieties. Bureaucrats are punished by courts while the public perception seems to be the politicians are left out. Though to the credit of Modi we have to admit that even the highly influential politicians are now brought to book.
But these cases also seem to be arbitrary and selective. Why not go for the formal institutional mechanisms?
Lokpal, Lokayukta seem to be the blind spots.
So also many other anti-corruption agencies. There is a lack of transparency in the areas of anti-corruption drives. With the result there is still high and pervasive corruption that marks Indian polity. The unleashing of violence, violent acts in dealing with issues as in J&K, also in other states when it comes to religion based social issues creates uneasiness.
A sense of religious intolerance marks the polity and we have to sort it out by various means. The very social background of the current ruling elite inhibits our freedom of thought and action, including the media and also the role for the Opposition parties. Opposition parties are also to be blamed.
For they have had the dominant role of the Gandhi-Nehru dynastic rule. So along with the other reforms, it is the political reforms, democracy in the functioning and funds of the political parties that cry for immediate attention.
So, we know what inhibits the independent character of the Indian polity is the inherent nature of the very many inadequacies in the existing polity. Democracy is an easy word to utter. What is really difficult is to understand the many dimensions of a democratic polity’s finer regulations and restrictions.
The guilty among the politicians needs to be brought to book and punished in the shortest possible time-frame. For this the judiciary must have unhindered freedom to function. This is one of the dark sides of the current reality!
We can see the many international agencies for our rank, be it the HRD or Global Peace Index in which we are just in the 141th place only! We have to recognise Human Rights record and also recognise the role of NGOs and many other independent voices. India is a secular polity.
No doubt about that. Already it is so and also our own long tradition of religious tolerance and social practices. I am a Hindu and a secular citizen and a liberal!
Our education needs great deal of radical reforms. As Mr.Modi completes three years in office, he has to look for very many talents. Some crucial ministerial slots remain unfilled, right?
Mr.Modi must realise that India of billion odd people can’t be governed by one man, however great he or she assumes themselves to be!
The government must woo new talents, experts and geniuses in the service of the country.
Too many bureaucrats are now floating around in too many areas, from economic planning to education, culture and what not. Only winning the next elections can’t be the dream and vision of a leader who imagines him to be unbeatable, right?
Anyway, some criticism, some dissent is always a healthy sign of a maturing democracy, right?