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As the Modi government is completing one year in power, a battery of BJP leaders came together at an event organised by TV channel Aaj Tak on Thursday to speak about the government’s achievements in various fields.

The event was headlined by BJP president Amit Shah, who said the government has completely changed the atmosphere in the country after one year of being in power.

“A year ago, the youth of the country were frustrated and thousands of them were taking to the streets. When we decided to fight the 2014 elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi, those protesters started coming to his rallies. Because of the support we got, it was the first time that a non-Congress party got an absolute majority to form the government. In the one year that we have been in power we have completely changed the atmosphere in the country,” Mr. Shah said.

He said the dignity of the Prime Minister’s Office had been restored after 10 years. “In the UPA government, every Minister thought of himself as the Prime Minister,” he said. He said the government had made a new beginning in every field.

Mr. Shah said the NDA government had involved the States to a greater extent in policy, whether it was the setting up of the new NITI Aayog or consultations for coal block allotments. He said the government had been run in a transparent manner, and nobody could accuse it of corruption.

On the party’s upcoming electoral prospects, Mr. Shah expressed confidence that the BJP would win a majority in the Bihar elections to be held later this year.

In an interview given to Headlines Today earlier, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a battery that recharged itself while working. Mr. Prabhu refused to accept that the government had an image problem.

BJP president Amit Shah

Will Modi trot or knot?

That lone heckler from among Uttar Pradesh’s feisty MPs hasn’t triggered any muscle knot in his foot soldiers who are out to battle. No effort is spared to mark ‘The Sarkar’s’ first anniversary in office. BJP spokespersons nationally, after instructions from the Delhi brass, fan out to every corner and studio. Mantris will schlep it to their constituencies to repeat the same. Government goes into an overdrive to project achievements and everyone will vie with the other to overstate exaggerated targets. But beneath that hype what’s the lingering image of ‘The Man’?

Dilip Cherian. Photo: Vipin Chandran

The holographic images (which cost Rs. 60 crore) portended it domestically at election time, but today he’s global. From Myanmar to Mughal Gardens he schmoozes global leaders, and from Madison Garden to Shanghai he’s the darling of Modi-chanting Global Indians, who are expected to be the shining ambassadors of the less-lucky ones back home. Our Man is now actually everywhere.

This is a man whose image remains that of an unchallenged champion. He may slip or be on the back foot but is he ever going to admit it? Never! The Modi image does not include retreat or apology or even fleeting self-doubt.

Master of the Image game

The current avatar we have of Leader Maximus is that of a noticeably fairer visage, with carefully coiffured hair and never a stitch out of place (yes, yes, I’m coming to that too). Professionally accoutered, he choreographs appropriate hand gestures and an arsenal of clever acronyms and alliterations (that the fecund Mr. S crafts) peppers his speeches. You are watching a Master of the Image game.

He strode through his first year with amazing smoothness. A pace that goes well beyond what a brute majority commands. It’s his running style. He displayed it recently in the sudden springing of the Rafale deal during a slope through France. He cut a swathe through red tape and struck a perfect Gujju bargain. This is classic Modi. He reiterated it in China with an e-visa announcement that hurdled smoothly over what his spooks had set up before.

Illustration: Satwik Gade

There have, of course, been a few flubs. There are hints now of a subterranean shift in public perception of The Man.

A recent online poll shows Mr. Modi enjoying approval ratings of 74 per cent, comforting for any leader, even if it is lower than the 82 per cent he had 10 months ago before his Kejriwal trashing and the monogrammed suit bashing, and of course the unchecked braying of fundamentalists.

But he is still triumphantly at the top of the political heap. He may be hobbled by the Land Bill progress, but at least the jumla (pet phrase) about black money not having come home is firmly buried with his personally designed draconian money laundering bill. Rahul Gandhi depradations he shrugs away and for him the Opposition are pygmies.

The swift sprinter we saw on the election trail has now comfortably settled into the pace of a long distance runner. He handcrafts image personally through Mann Ki Baat radio talks and a multilingual but constant Twitter stream. Two dinners with scribes, at Mantri Arun Jaitley’s home, added a direct-to-home media strategy. His campaigns and branding are vibrant; be it ‘Swacch Bharat’ or ‘Make In India’ or ‘Jan Dhan’. The message stays steadily on ‘The Man’. Not even a hint that he’s part of any relay team.

But is everything really hunky dory? The Man’s sprinter-like persona and his effortless jumping hurdles in 18 countries in 12 months notwithstanding, people back home have questions about the arrival of the acche din. Mantris and their madaris are balking at his massive centralisation of power in the all-powerful Prime Minister’s Office. And the thin veil that separates a strong decisive leader from an unabashedly authoritarian strong man is now fraying at the edges.

The big inflexion point coming up is the Bihar elections. If it delivers the political equivalent of a double whammy (after the Delhi debacle) it could hurt NaMo’s serial-winner image; in which case expectations are that a new NaMo may be unveiled. Will the image segue from ‘man on the track’ to ‘pugilist in the ring’? Will it be closer to the more Dabangg-like Modi that Gujarat saw in the panic after the riots? At that time, mantris vanished, police ruled and diktat replaced democracy for many.

The upswell of anxiety in the last few months may be purely episodal. But those watching the trends, social as well as economic, tend to worry now. Minorities and farmers seem restive, whether one goes by the incidents of Naxal violence or farmer protests. The recent coal and spectrum auctions mean that costs, across a wide range of industries, are poised to climb. The run of good luck on global petroleum seems too good to last, as the weekend petrol price hikes augur.

What’s worse is that nervous FIIs are sitting on edge with hot money that may flee. Domestic capital is sulking, as black money inspectors crack the whip ominously.

India has defied doomsday scenarios before and Mr. Modi will have to break into a trot if he is to ensure that his Version of India keeps growing. If he wants the laurels of a leader who either won us the Olympiad (even if it is after 2024), or a Security Council seat, or even just the moniker of next ‘Global Superpower’, he will now have to break into a quick pace as Lap 2 begins. Image exercises alone won’t hack it.

(Dilip Cherian is founder of Perfect Relations.)

A strong show amid varied challenges

Coming to power in May 2014, the two most significant challenges faced by the Modi Government were a sharp slowdown in the investment cycle and a loss of faith in government institutions. In the face of such difficult circumstances, it has shown single-minded focus on development and growth, building its strategy around well-designed campaigns such as ‘Make-in-India’ and ‘Swachh Bharat’. Its economic philosophy has been to make India a stronger manufacturing base by easing business conditions within the country, and encouraging foreign investment.

These policies have shown results with investments picking up and the economy showing definite signs of a recovery. Industrial growth has turned around, and the stage is set for a spurt in industrialisation as our competitiveness has improved. Take the case of the power sector where the country has achieved significant capacity additions. Once transmission and distribution constraints are taken care of, industry will be able to reduce its excessive dependence on diesel generators. The entire process of e-auctioning of coal blocks has provided much-needed transparency to the coal allocation process while mining, in general, is expected to revive with competitive bidding being introduced following the passage of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Act.

Perhaps the government’s biggest achievement on the economic front has been its ability to tackle inflationary pressure. The sharp moderation in inflation should not be attributed purely to the happenstance of falling oil prices but also to determined policy action. These include using excess food stocks to cool down food prices and limiting the profligate increase in minimum support prices. Sticking to the process of fiscal consolidation has itself helped in curbing inflationary pressure. It is to be hoped that further reduction in subsidies and a move towards direct benefits transfer will help keep a lid on inflation, especially as oil prices have begun climbing up.

Chandrajit  Banerjee, Director General, CII

So far, the government has been somewhat fortunate in the external circumstances that determine the economy’s short-term performance. Thus, the sharp fall in the price of oil and other commodities has helped in moderating inflation and controlling the fiscal deficit. However, adverse weather conditions at home have dealt a blow to the country’s agricultural production and uncertainty about the coming monsoon continues to weigh upon the performance of the agricultural sector. This underlines the importance of investing in long-term assets so that dependence on rainfall is reduced, agricultural productivity is enhanced and the agricultural supply-chain is developed.

A key piece in the domestic strategy has been greater empowerment of States. It is increasingly apparent that key areas of reform ranging from labour to land and infrastructure lie within the domain of the States. States are also responsible for improving peoples’ access to critical social sectors including education and healthcare. The government has, therefore, increased the percentage of tax revenue transferred to States while doing away with their dependence on Plan-based fund transfers. This is a major advance in fiscal federalism wherein states will become responsible for their own development. At the same time, the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will introduce a uniform tax system in the country. The challenge for the government in the medium-term is to tackle the issue of creating livelihoods to fulfil the aspirations of people. It is by now well appreciated that while the Indian economy did well after the initial reforms in the 1990s opened it to greater competition, it has so far failed to leverage its demographic strength. Employment has remained a concern, and many young people remain locked into low productivity jobs. Enterprises in India remain small with various disincentives to growth. These include the large number of clearances and permits that are still required to start and operate a business as well as labour laws that kick in once an establishment grows beyond a certain size. The lack of well-developed infrastructure only adds to the constraints.

Policies are being drafted keeping in mind the need to remove such impediments to growth. Measures have been taken to facilitate infrastructure building on a large scale where the challenges are many. Significant new initiatives include work on high speed trains and modernisation of railways stations, focus on urban infrastructure through the smart cities programme and introduction of the hybrid annuity model for road building. The bill on land acquisition is critical for implementation of large infrastructure projects, as it aims to ease procedures in critical areas such as industrial corridors, PPP projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence. Ultimately, the provision of better infrastructure will be critical for the successful implementation of the ‘Make-in-India’ project.

What is heartening is that a clear direction has now been set for the growth and development of the country. Industry has found new energy to participate in programmes such as Smart Cities, Digital India and Sanitation of schools.

CII, for example, is working with its member companies to construct 10,000 toilets in government schools by March 2016. Much progress has also been achieved in developing a skill curriculum that is aligned to industry’s needs. Greater prevalence and acceptance of vocational education has made college students employable by industry.

With these developments, the partnership between government and industry has become one of shared responsibility towards building the nation.

(The writer is Director General, CII)