It is the flavour of the
season to write blogs/opeds on one year of the NDA but more popularly called
Modi Sarkar. I couldn’t resist the temptation.
I first refer to my blog http://rvasisht.blogspot.in/2014/11/the-new-bjp-government-current-status.html
written last year after this government
came to power and my views haven’t changed. So an appraisal after one year is
not exactly what I would call fair in politics but that is now how life works.
Appraisal is an ongoing activity.
Also no government can run by
itself and is a team with ministry, party, MPs, bureaucrats etc but it is invariably
defined by the leader. That is why we still speak of Nehru, Indira, Vajpayee
and more recently Manmohan Singh/Sonia depending upon who is speaking. These
are faces of the govt.
I divide the appraisal into 6 sections
as follows.
1. Foreign/
External affairs
2. Defence
3. Economy
4. Crisis
management
5. Parliament
6. Communication,
Politics & Others
Foreign/ External affairs:
Undoubtedly this is one area
where there is a success and if I may dare say spectacular success. Often the expectation of success is some big
bang deal/agreement or resolution of some vexed issue. Rarely is that true.
Such successes are the end result of a foundation built with painstaking effort
over time to address various shades of opinion, the fears and distrust, the
lessons from history etc. Foreign affairs
are somewhat akin to what in the engineering world is called process. Unless
the system is process driven the end results cannot emerge. By process it is
not protocol or paperwork but a relationship foundation that endures changes in
people, incidents and unexpected storms.
Over the last few decades,
especially the last 2 decades the foreign affairs strategy was more maverick,
personality driven and by looking at some specific outcome – often short term
couched as long term. As a result the
relationship with USA or Russia or Europe was always like the waves in sea.
High, low, crash into the shores and dissipate.
It did not help that quite a few senior most officers who led this
ministry joined politics and got the reputation of being wheeler dealers or
arrogant and each who actually believed to be bigger than the system. I don’t
question their capability but no man/woman however capable can allow the system
to take back stage.
The biggest failure in this
sector in the past was the utter neglect of the neighbourhood barring for
Pakistan where it was reactionary and tactical than strategic and focussed.
Travelling to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan meeting government
officials, businessmen, common folks like taxi drivers, hotel staff one found
the abundance of gratitude that China had while India evoked anger, irritation
and frustration because most of the people actually loved India. The common
feeling was the big brother high handed behaviour but yet neglected.
One evening in Sri Lanka the
taxi driver recalling my talk with him in the morning drove me across a road
over probably a kilometre or more and what I saw was this.
The driver proudly pointed out
how soon after the war China had swiftly reacted to help them while India did
not do much. That Chinese took contracts for ports and other strategic projects
is well known. All we recall is how India protested and expressed concerns.
Now it is also a fact that
China had money whereas India did not to make such donations. The mandarins in
the foreign ministry will tell you why they acted tough. But the bottom line is
that if relationships were transactional with mutual respect and caring the
angst would be far lower. Also we must
remember that each of these nations if at all they tolerated India it was due
to the fear of how the umbilical cord would be affected, not due to love or
caring or respect.
The reactions in other
locations were also not very different – the bottom line being one of
neglect. And when a country neglects its
neighbours, it cannot hope to succeed economically or in terms of security
since you have to keep looking over your back at all times.
Modi even before he took over
as PM invited all heads of state from the neighbours which was a master stroke of
diplomacy. He made them feel important and for the first time wanted with
respect. Soon after taking over his
first port of call was Bhutan and he followed that up with active engagement
with all neighbours.
Over the last few years
wherever one travelled globally the image of India had taken such a beating
that one felt ashamed to talk about India. Without blaming anyone for the
incidents or rapes or scams the reputation of India was so terrible that as an
Indian one wondered if our leaders were so insulated that they didn’t read/hear
anything about this. Be it media or
politicians or bureaucrats everybody seemed to paint India black and none
cared.
On the one hand a couple doing
a Asia tourist circuit tells that they skipped India because of security fears
and on the other a businessman at a international conference tells me that the
same set of officers meet him every year and say that his file is being cleared
in 2 weeks. This man joked – my wife thinks I have a wife in India and these
guys think I am jobless. Trust me it pains to hear such comments from people as
an Indian.
Modi worked to change this
dramatically. Media may call it hype, may call it fashion and may mock,
ridicule and say whatever but the image changing exercise was long overdue and
that there is success is evident.
Talking to an American I said that an issue is pending for approval from
ministry and he said – “I thought this ministry was honest and fast, so why is
it taking time?” I knew he was joking
because the request of this company to invest in India had ZERO progress over 3
years and had seen 75% process completed in 8 months. While getting an
appointment to meet key people was a chore earlier and even then one did not
get success, I was pleasantly surprised when during a crisis an email to an
unknown senior officer at 1030 PM elicited a response at 1100 PM in the night and
the work done by morning. I still don’t know the person.
Unless governments, investors
and tourists trust you, believe in you, see action on the ground even if slow
they will not want to engage with you. Modi’s biggest success is changing this
image of India and motivating these above to deal with India. Work on the ground will reflect in the
results over time.
After a slightly shaky and
uneasy start, including relationship with the PM and his bhakths online the
minister Mrs Sushma Swaraj finally seems to have carved a niche, made peace all
around and is now a true leader on who Modi can bank upon to lead the charge.
She has been brilliant and is one of the poster girls of this government.
On Foreign/external affairs
Modi govt deserves an 8 or 9 out of 10.
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