Modi has already launched the election campaign of his party and is now trying to accelerate. Histactic is to stay a step ahead of the opposition as far as preparations are concerned. He, in fact, would like to take his rivals by surprise.
Addressing the nation on the occasion of 77th Independence Day Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized the opportunity to present his vision of India’s future with both hands. Aware that this was his best chance of communicating with the voters in a free and unbiased manner ahead of the 2024 general elections he made some grand promises like making India one of the top 3 economies of the world in the next five years.
In a style typical of him he said, “It is Modi’s guarantee that India will be among the top three economies in the world in the next 5 years.” The Prime Minister, who will be leading his party in the general elections and seeking a consecutive third term in office, said his government’s “reform, perform and transform” approach was changing the country and highlighting India’s achievements on the global front.
Modi also said that over 13 crore people came out of poverty to become neo-middle, middle class in the past five years. He also spoke about the crippling impact inflation has had on several countries around the world and claimed that India had managed to control it better than many other nations. At the same time,he emphasized the need for more steps to control inflation.
“India made all efforts to control inflation…We can’t be content just because our situation is better than the rest of the world. I have to take more steps to see that the burden of inflation goes further down on the citizens of my country. We will take those steps and my efforts will continue,” Modi said. The Prime Minister also said the government will launch the Vishwakarma scheme with an allocation of Rs 13,000-15,000 crore next month to support those with traditional skills.
It was an election speech for all practical purposes. But that was expected considering that elections are barely 8 months away. He has already launched the election campaign of his party and is now trying to accelerate. Modi’s tactic is to stay a step ahead of the opposition as far as preparations are concerned. He, in fact, would like to take his rivals by surprise.
Modi is also keenly aware of the advantages he enjoys. He knows only too well that people appreciate his bold style and that his moves like scrapping of article 370, demonetization and citizenship amendment act have added to his stature. He handled the COVID-19 situation so well that leaders from across the world heaped praise on him. His government’s vaccination programme left even the inoculation drive in the US far behind. India not only had vaccines for its own population but also exported it to other countries in need.
Modi is a Prime Minister on the go and always bubbling with new ideas to make the life of people easy. He is not someone who allows himself to be bound by traditional protocol as his intention is to deliver governance to the people at their doorsteps. With that goal in mind he has been removing the bottlenecks in the government that made the system lethargic. While some unnecessary laws have been abolished, new initiatives like DBT payment of subsidies have been introduced. He has always used technology to facilitate good governance and put many other ideas into practice. Introducing new ideas is always a challenge and takes a lot of courage but Modi is not one shrink away from taking up challenges. If such a person makes promises people are bound to believe him.
