The BJP-party is celebrating nine-years of effective completion in the Govt. at the Centre (i.e., from May- 2014 to May- 2023). This is an occasion to review and highlight the achievements of this government. In this nine-year governance, there has been a sea-change in the politico-social milieu of the country. This Government kept its major- core-ideological promises. They were all once looked inconceivable, but now have been realized to the fullest. The big achievements are:
1.Ram Temple at Ayodhya: It was the dream of many Hindus in India. Now, it has been realized, in the prime minister Modi’s era of the BJP. The big grand Ram temple is about to open for darshan to all devotees. But for the efforts of the present ruling (of course, the supreme court had given the verdict favorably), it would not have been possible. The Congress party, had it been in power, it would not have expedited the case in the Court (as the present BJP did), to get the verdict or bothered to care about the sentiments of the Hindus, at large. The call of the BJP: Mandir Wahi Banayenge …hasn’t been a mere slogan anymore. The P.M. Modi himself performed Bhoomi puja to build Ram temple, to the delight of the people in the country. Now, it is a slap on the face of so-called secularists, who day in and day out, shouted that it was a hollow promise and it would not happen. Therefore, the impossible has now become possible.
2.Article-370, an emblem of appeasement politics and a bone of contention between J&K and the rest of India, has been scrapped. Another congratulatory deed! Again, the impossible has now become possible. At present, J&K and Ladakh are two union territories. By and large, J&K is normal and it eventually gets statehood. Tourism has improved in the state indicating that it is on the path to progress.
3.Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was welcomed by the majority of the people in India. It was soon followed by NRC that agitated the minority, in spite of the assurance given by the Govt. of India, that it would not hurt the Indian minorities in any way. Yet, the agitation continued to stall the Act. Anyhow, the leadership of this BJP-government, is proved to be decisive and risk-taking in policy-measures.
4.On the media front: earlier, in the Congress regime, only secularists have had a say. The Hindu point of view was never entertained. In fact, the Hindu ideologues were not invited to speak. Their voices were shut and their views were swept under the carpet. The so-called secularists, who always spoke in extremely sophisticated English, pushed down their opinion in others’ throat, as if it was some elixir. Freedom of speech was only limited to them. For other voices-no platforming!
5.On the languages front: the present BJP rule is encouraging all indigenous Indian languages-as a policy measure. The undue and lop-sided importance that was given to English by the earlier Congress regime, is now diminished. Even on national English channels, most of the conversations, dialogues and discussions are in Hindi, a de facto national language now. The dream of our national leaders to make Hindi the national language, has been realized. This has been a major transformation!
6.On the economic front: India has become the fifth largest economy in the world. Forex reserves increased. FDI swelled. Indian IT and Pharma-sectors have got world-wide renown. The Govt of India’s LED bulb scheme has saved household power bills. The Government subsidy on Rooftop Solar plants for renewable energy, again saves power in households. Similarly, the Government introduced Electric vehicles for pollution control.
7.India Globally: India as a country, is playing a pivotal role geopolitically. The US needs India’s support to counter China, in Asia. India is also seeking from the US technology-transfer. India is a partner of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue commonly known as QUAD and I2U2 (India, Israel, the US and UAE group). India does not like unipolar or bipolar world order. The present Government stands for multipolarity, in which, India plays a key role. The present G-20 presidency is increasing the growing stature of India.
8.Indian Infrastructure: Indian highways are now transformed like the U.S. highways. There is a rapid progress in highways in this regime. Similarly, in airways and railways, specially, the Metro Rail Projects for urban connectivity and the new trains like Vande Bharat Express, are note-worthy achievements. These changes make people’s lives easy. The military infrastructure is also upgraded. The inauguration of the new-parliament building by prime minister Shri Narendra Modi, ushers in a new era for India.
9.On societal front: The biggest once in a century Covid-19 Pandemic that brought economic downturn in the world, was faced by this ruling, with all its might. For a country as large as India, free-vaccination was provided. It was a huge task. Free-ration for the poor that started during the pandemic is still continued to millions of people.
The poor got Ujjwala gas-cylinders, drinking-water through Jal Jeevan Mission, Toilets and for farmers- the Prime Minister Kisan Samaan Nidhi and many more schemes, in which all the poorer sections/ communities are the beneficiaries. On the health care front, affordable generic medicines are made avail of. For critical heart-care, cheap and affordable stents are brought-in, by the Govt. of India. These are only a few to name with.
The poor of the country, for the first time after independence, opened bank-accounts in nationalized banks. Earlier, they were not entertained to open, as they, being poor, do not transact much. Now, the Govt. of India is depositing money under various schemes into their bank-accounts that are all Aadhar-linked with no distribution loss. This is what is: Direct Cash Transfer (DCT). Earlier, in the former P.M. Rajiv Gandhi’s rule, only 10 paise used to reach the poor, when the government spent one rupee on a person. The middle-men took commissions before it finally reached the poor person.
The minor hiccups: there was occasional social unrest during the agitation against CAA-NRC. The farmer’s agitation against-the reformist-farm laws, once again tested the governments on-ward progression. At present, the Wrestlers Federation is posing its problems to solve. In all democracies agitations/strikes do happen. Success of a democracy is always slow compared to autocracies. India cannot be an authoritarians state like China. In India, people have all freedoms. With little introspection on Karnataka-election result, by tweaking the people-oriented policies, the BJP may readily face the 2024-big battle.
