Since 2014, the geopolitical approach of India and the catechism of India’s ethos have undergone a significant change. That year was a turning point for many who climbed aboard. It comes to my surprise that in the last six years I too have covered my journey from completing my matriculation to my graduation. I will not deny that it was Narender Modi that got me all hyped and enthused about politics, a ‘chaiwallah’ becoming a prime minister. We were promised a dozen things which gave us a carousel ride but slowly and steadily the promises that were made started wiping off and the voices working for accountability fell on deaf ears. We were all shown dreams of owning condominiums but not even provided with huts. I believe that dreams are meant to be broken. Trying not to be an ideological hooker, swinging on prunes feel to my anguish that Goebbelsian promises were served to us in a platter. So to start off with the biggest economic disaster they committed by cutting a subscription to GST, demonetization, and banking reforms.
- Demonetisation – It was implied with the hope of reeling out black money stuffed deep inside pockets but failed miserably putting the whole country and its people in jeopardy. When exercised, even Dr. Manmohan Singh said that in the next 3-4 years the economy will barely stand and fall below 5% GDP, which we recently saw when the quarter GDP fall was worse than what the Britishers left us in 1947. We have a fiscal deficit that seems far from recovering in the next few months but the BJP did succeed in elevating in their blame games, from blaming Nehru to blaming God.
- Goods and Service Tax (GST) – It was a well-planned structural reform program but its implementation was poor. It was an idea borrowed from neighboring countries where India took the dart and threw it aimlessly without hitting the bullseye and it furthered the smog of confusion adding to paralyzes caused by demonetization. If it was implemented properly then many tax evaders, tax divisions and red-tapism would have been successfully dealt with.
- Banking reforms – I believe this was done as a means which further crippled the economy in a farsighted manner to shift focus from previous failures but this also dint reap good responses.
I still appreciate the few things which they promised and delivered like the Abrogation of Article 370, the victory on the disputed land in Ayodhya – Ram Mandir ( Babri Masjid ), Triple Talaq, reply to the terror activities at the LOC by terror groups having safe haven in Pakistan. They were also successful in creating a cult movement of blind followers in the name of religion. But far from this reality, every step taken is a step to bounce over democracy and secularism to become a Rashtriya Sangh of Sanghi’s. The idea of their ideals is what I believe is the plot of action here. A pipeline of hoax promises except for one which even Dr. Subramanian Swamy and many other mouths often speak is the uniform civil code (UCC) and the population control bill, which I believe is their silver chariot for their next five years in office.
If we take a perusal of the new life we were blessed with since 2019, I see unrest, turmoil, and suffering. We were promised jobs which we haven’t yet received. Jobs were further declined. A new concept of westernization has flown inside the Raisina Hills where they believe that capitalism is the soil and fertilizer to problems such as unemployment, economic stagnation, and recovery. But the failure of this idea is as fossilized as the idea of capitalism in the USA due to which the great recession started following which John Keynes had to devise a system of checks and balances to balance the odds.
The suffering faced by thousands of migrants when seven months ago the lockdown was announced saw many people walking back home, many died on the way and the people who reached had no work to do but rely on agriculture. Not to disagree that the secondary and tertiary sectors did take a hit but the agricultural sector saw a spontaneous growth during the lockdown. This government seems to be in a hurry to implement rules without proper management and coordination of essential services.
As mentioned the economy has taken such a hard hit that now taking a loan from IMF will not be sufficient enough to walk the country through the existing paroxysms. The country is like an old man who seems too weak and slugged to take support off the crutches to walk again. We were already in a slowdown following stagflation and we then eschewed a recession worse than India ever had in its modern history.
False flag violence and communal riots are the priding tools of the current government. I would not delve into the past as those are too ugly to even talk off but the riots which followed post the CAA NRC law was something Delhi had lately witnessed. A whole part of Delhi was into flames, blood, and tears from the aftermaths of the riots and the usual catalyst to this has been the ‘Hindus vs Muslims’ chronicle. Striking fear in the hearts of all minorities is how they triumph in their goals. Nihilism is the right-hand idea that might suffice to justify these sanctioned acts.
To be cynical without any optimism, I would like to conclude by quoting Dr. Tharoor that ‘One should have the moral atonements for the wrongs he’s done and as Indians, we have a very appeasing ability to forgive and forget which I believe is wrong’. We should forgive but not forget as it leads us exactly the same place from where we started and makes us appear as bimbos. As it said,
Democracy is better than a king,
A king is better than a bad king,
But a bad king is better than a Hitler,
Furthering that, everyone looks forward optimistically to the honest completion of the promises made by this government not only on theological grounds but also on socio-economic platforms as well.