The most important miss is the economy.
Several indicators including the slump in the auto sales, rail freight,
consumption of petroleum products, domestic air travel and also in imports,
clearly showed the slow down.
The Narendra Modi government completes its first 100 days on
September 6. How is its performance so far? What are the hits and misses during
this period in his second term? While there are many hits, there are also a few
misses.
Politically, Modi has emerged much stronger after his party’s
stunning victory in the 2019 polls. This has given him enough boldness to carry
out his reform agenda in several areas. The pace of reforms is also much faster
going by the budget and the vision he had revealed in his Independence Day
speech. His team was already in place and he has also been making plans for his
second term even before the 2019 polls, confident of his victory.
At the party level, Modi 2.0 has achieved most of the core
agenda of the BJP. Triple Talaq bill is a message to the Muslims that they
should not hide behind religion and have a different law. "If we can take
steps against 'Sati' custom, female feticide, child marriage and dowry, then
why not against instant triple talaq," he asked.
The abrogation of Article 370 pertaining to the special status
of Jammu and Kashmir and the related Article 35A were indeed bold steps. It was
the surprise element and meticulous planning, implemented by Home Minister Amit
Shah, which worked in his favour.
Modi has resolved a complex issue, which many of his
predecessors had been grappling with unsuccessfully for the past 60 years.
However, the biggest problem will be to restore normalcy at the earliest. Once
the local leaders, including the three former chief ministers, who are now
under arrest, are released it is not known which way things would go.
On the legislative side, the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha
has created record in many ways, as legislation relating to many areas has been
passed. A total of 30 bills had been passed in a most productive session so
far. On the security side, anti terror laws have been tightened. Labour
reforms, enacting strong laws against frauds, death penalty for child sexual
assault are other measures. Modi has been able to divide the opposition and get
even controversial bills like Triple Talaq, Article 370 etc. passed even in the
upper house where the government is in a minority.
On the Foreign policy front, if it was the SAARC leaders who
attended his swearing-in ceremony in his first term, it was the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
leaders who were invited in his second term.
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