Do You Approve of Prime Minister Modi’s Job Performance?

I started this blog in November 2021. My first post was about Modi (read here), so I thought, let me write about Modi in this first-anniversary post.

In grade school, I learned to celebrate great political leaders. They were beyond reproach, at least so it seemed. When I grew beyond those impressionable years, I realized that these “greats” were as flawed as anyone else.

Political leaders whose strengths are vastly exaggerated and whose flaws are completely ignored are a rarity today. We should consider ourselves fortunate for that.

Leaders are widely scrutinized, criticized, and challenged 24/7 now thanks to the internet, social media, and armies of special-interest lobbyists. Narendra Modi is a child of this real-time nonstop evaluative environment.

His detractors scour the underbelly of society, politics, and the economy to uncover and exploit anything damning. As they should!

They raise valid concerns that he has centralized decision-making significantly, acts unilaterally, and steamrolls key legislation through parliament. He is polarizing and arrogant; he encourages a personality cult. He shuns the media and more.

I appreciate the contribution of Modi’s detractors. May their tribe thrive. But unlike them, I believe Modi is cut out to be prime minister. I will highlight three aspects of his performance that I appreciate.

Beacon of Hope

Many Indians have long had rock-bottom expectations of the ability and willingness of their political leaders to grapple with India’s seemingly intractable problems.

India ka kuch nahi ho sakta (India is unfixable) and its variants have been a lament for decades.

Modi recast and raised people’s expectations. He instilled hope in millions not only for their economic welfare but also for their non-economic well-being.

Many Indians, who felt their cultural and religious way of life was under siege, saw hope in him to restore pride in their way of life.

When Modi assumed office, expectations of him were unrealistic. He was accountable if your chicken crossed the road or your neighbor flirted with your spouse.

Over time, the initial euphoria faded, and expectations have become more realistic. However, trust in his ability to deliver is largely intact.

Output Oriented

Modi has a can-do attitude.

Consider the ambitious in-progress Har Ghar Jal (Water for Every Household) program. Assume a typical Indian, unaware of this initiative, is told that the government will provide clean tap water to all rural households in India in the coming five years. The person will likely dismiss the idea as undoable.

Har Ghar Jal is indeed about doing the undoable. This program and similar other programs, including the Covid-19 vaccination drive, have been powered by Modi’s can-do attitude.

The successful implementation of large-scale nationwide programs requires the total commitment of top leadership.

Modi has committed not through lip service but through championing the cause, the allocation of resources, and direct involvement in implementation.

As a Kashmiri, I feel compelled to cite the abrogation of Article 370 as an example of doing the undoable. I must qualify that you need to be a Kashmiri or a scholar of Kashmir to appreciate the audacity of abrogating this Article.

The GST launch exemplifies Modi’s focus on getting the job done without getting paralyzed by excessive analysis. We could spend a lifetime trying to perfect this elaborate program on paper and still face implementation hurdles.

The practical approach was to establish a rigorous working structure, implement it, and tweak it until it gets perfected.

Talk is cheap, especially in India’s raucous democracy. India does not need more debate; it needs execution, which is Modi’s strength.

Stemming the Electoral Caste Divide and Inclusive Development

Religion-based slicing of the Indian electorate is a staple of Indian politics.

For a long time, the Congress party strove for caste-based fracturing of the Hindu majority to grab a chunk of this vote and combine it with overwhelming support from religious minorities to ride to power.

The natural consequence is that someone consolidates the caste vote, which Modi did.

In the 2014 election, the BJP’s 71/80 tally in Uttar Pradesh, a bastion of caste politics, was stunning. More stunning was the 62/80 seats against the combined might of the two major caste-based parties in the 2019 election.

The partial breakdown of caste-identity voting in 2019 was an economic and political milestone. It happened because the government had improved the lives of the poor and downtrodden in ways people had not imagined.

But did the government selectively uplift its supporters and discriminate against those who did not support it, most notably the Muslim community? The answer is a resounding NO! Regarding inclusive development, this is where the rubber hits the road.

No political party can be everything to everybody. Many hot-button electoral issues have demographic correlates, so political parties invariably target voters based on income, race, religion, and the like.

While the demographic division of the electorate and the related rhetoric is an inherent part of political positioning, a ruling party should practice inclusive development, which is Modi’s mantra.

Person Vs. Performance

I value a doctor much more for the ability to treat than the quality of the bedside manner. I am unsure whether Modi is a nice guy; I think he is ruthless. But that does not matter. What matters is his job performance.

I am satisfied with his performance when I consider his strengths and shortcomings, hits and misses, and vision and goals for the future.

I hope he gets a third term.

What do you think?