2014 was a strange time when India got a Prime Minister who was not even considered in the race a year before. It was also a time when the World was still trying to understand the best ways to use social media to impact lives. And here we had a leader who had mastered it.
My own reading of the situation was a little confusing.
I had seen and read many documents on the Gujarat Riots of 2002 and had followed them closely. The brutality and institutional patronage to rioters used to send shivers down my spine. And Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister then. Though there was no proof but it was common knowledge that what happened in Gujarat for 3 days was in agreement with his office.
But by 2014, Mr. Modi was riding on a wave of development which was even corroborated by a lot of friends and relatives of mine who stayed in Gujarat. I myself witnessed a lot of basic infrastructure development during my visit there in 2014. And this lead to the confusion in my mind as to what is the right representation of Mr. Modi as a leader – The Gujarat Riots or the Vibrant Gujarat!
As an entrepreneur, I am trained to think positive and I assumed that Mr. Modi would take the development agenda forward. And he also did so.
He accepted a lot of his mistakes and corrected them. First he took Aadhar’s implementation to the desired levels and then he adopted NREGA as one of the biggest welfare schemes; both of which he had initially rejected as biggest failures of Congress.
But then he took two biggest economic decisions of Demonetization and GST implementation which left a lot of us wondering. Both these decisions had severe flaws which I again assumed would be corrected over a period of time like Mr. Modi corrected his earlier stance.
But by now we had entered into the next elections and riding on the wave of popularity he was back in the office and even I believed that it was important for him to lead again so that he can work on improving a lot of things he needs to.
But his second term seems to have given him a confidence of political immortality. The mistakes are piling and now there seems to be no reevaluation and correction of the course. And his own attitude of correcting himself has taken a backseat now.
Abolishing article 370 in J&K, Expediting the decision for Ram Mandir, CAA-NRC and then ordinances on Farm Laws are strange precedents where Law was used in a manner to appease a small section of the population. The usage is such that it can neither be called illegal nor termed as oppression. But there is no denying that the manner in which this govt has introduced and implemented these initiatives is disturbing. People are out on streets for CAA-NRC and Farm laws and the govt representatives are using all kind of expletives against them. J&K has been divided and converted into a UT and leaders been on House arrest for more than a year.
The usage of UAPA, a draconian law where there is no evidence needed to lock one up has been used freely on any and everyone. The irony is that Indian’s had opposed a similar act “Rowlatt Act” by the Britishers in 1919.
Until and Unless Mr. Modi reverts to his original practice of identifying his mistakes and improving upon them, I find that there is no way that the country is going to move forward on the path of development.
Seems like we are witnessing the age old adage – Power corrupts and absolute Power corrupts absolutely!
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