BackDial ‘G’ for governance
Beginning with its first Union budget, and the tweaks introduced in the new land acquisition Act, the new regime is clear it is committed to a market-based economy
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With the benefit of hindsight, it can be safely said that Narendra Modi cracked the electoral code in 2014. The record performances (in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last few months have proved the Modi-inspired majority verdict in the 16th general election was not an accident.
But with only one more state election left to conclude the current electoral cycle, it is inevitable that the focus will shift to governance. Presumably the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is similarly seized of its responsibilities, and mindful that it has staked its credibility by committing to restore the governance paradigm. To do so, Modi will have to, like he did as a campaigner, crack the governance code.
But this is easier said than done. Cracking the electoral code was relatively easy as there was a favourable constellation of circumstances. For one, there was a massive anti-incumbency build-up against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA); mostly because of its own infractions and partly due to the fact that any regime that has spent 10 years in office is vulnerable. Second, Modi was able to fit a new narrative woven around the promise of meeting the aspirations of a populace that was overwhelmingly young—65% of India is less than 35 years of age—through good governance and job creation. Thirdly, Modi could tap the energies of non-state actors (such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, non-governmental organizations, etc.).
Clearly, governance is a different ball game. Especially in a complex and diverse country like India that since the turn of the new Millennium has been undergoing such a fundamental, social and economic transformation. And all the more given that Modi is convinced the country desperately needs a new governance paradigm deeply wedded to the right-wing ideology (political and economic).
Undoing the governance edifice erected over six decades of trial and error is a humungous task. Vested interests—defined by the cosy cabal that ran New Delhi—are resisting the creation of the new order. The NDA has already got a taste of this dirty tricks department—like the whisper campaign that first spread the canard that the government was going to reduce the retirement age to 58 years (forcing Arun Jaitley to issue a statement in Parliament denying any such move) and later about how Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan was to be fired from the job for allegedly failing to be in step with the government.
Similarly, evolving a coherent right-wing ideology is something that has never been attempted. At least not overtly. The move to a market economy, first kicked off by Indira Gandhi beginning 1980 with the implementation of the Sixth Plan, was a case of reforms by stealth. Even when this process of dismantling the licence regime, slashing import tariffs and reordering the direct tax regime accelerated since 1991, the official line was more covert than overt. The first NDA regime, too, pursued a similar tack. But the NDA under Modi promises to be different: unabashed about its rightward predilections. Beginning with its first Union budget and, more recently, with respect to the tweaks introduced in the new land acquisition Act, the new regime has made it amply clear that it is committed to a market-based economy and to creating a business-friendly environment.
While the intent is apparent, the problem that the NDA is facing is the lack of intellectual heft. This is not surprising. The socialist underpinnings have tended to dominate intellectual conversation for decades (so much so that popular social thinking was that it was a crime to be in business). People with the pedigree of, say, an L.K. Jha (the key inspiration for Indira Gandhi to change course) are sorely lacking; demonstrated so clearly in the NDA’s plans to put in place a new institution to replace the Planning Commission—the substance did not match the rhetoric.
These top-of-the-line right-wing intellectuals may yet emerge. After all, it is the first time that a right-wing party has managed a majority. In the intervening period, there is a big downside to this lack of intellectual bandwidth. This space is being hijacked by fringe elements of the BJP, or wannabe opportunists, who are otherwise intellectually bankrupt. They have already inspired some totally unwarranted changes in school syllabus and misplaced religious zealots within the Saffron fold. So far they have been able to inflict only minimal damage. But if not reined in, they could well come to define the right-wing ideological space with disastrous consequences for Modi’s grand design.
Anil Padmanabhan is deputy managing editor of Mint and writes every week on the intersection of politics and economics. Comments are welcome at capitalcalculus@livemint.com
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