Critics of Modi think that he is losing the goodwill of the people and would be rejected by the people in the next elections. Modi has taken a gamble but it is going to backfire. British Prime Minister Theresa May also took a gamble. The implication was that Conservative Party barely managed to eke out a victory.
There has been a lot of debate over how Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has fared during the last three years of his rule. While Modi’s supporters point to lack of scandals and his drive to make India clean and free of open defecation there has also been a lot of criticism of the Prime Minister. There are those who say that mere lack of scandals does not necessarily mean that corruption does not plague the society or that the people are happy. As far as his cleanliness drive is concern the situation in several cities of the country including Bhubaneswar would make one hang his or her head in shame.
And then there are those critics who think that Modi is losing the goodwill of the people and would be rejected by the people in the next elections. “He has taken a gamble but it is going to backfire,” said one of them citing the example of British Prime Minister Theresa May. The implication was that like May, whose Conservative Party barely managed to eke out a victory the BJP led by Modi would also flounder.
For this many argument are being forwarded. One of these is the growing discontentment in Uttar Pradesh over Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s handling of law and order situation with focus on rape and molestation incidents being reported almost every other day. Then it is being pointed out that India has not been successful in tackling the Kashmir situation where things are going from bad to worse.
Critics also remind you of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s critique of the economy following which he found himself pitted against his own minister son, Jayant. Sinha (Sr) finds the economy floundering and the finance minister blundering.
As if Sinha’s diatribe was not enough a horrific stampede took place at a Mumbai station killing 23 people reflecting the poor state of Indian railways which finds itself in news invariably on account of accidents which had led former railway minister, Suresh Prabhu to offer his resignation. His replacement, Piyush Goel also finds himself struggling to put things in order.
Modi should remember that his opponents would use video clips of people struggling, jostling, pushing and dying on the railway bridge in one of the worst stampedes in recent times. This would be campaign material in Gujarat and also some other states. All this should be cause for worry for Modi and his lieutenants including BJP president, Amit Shah
On the economic front there are some very urgent problems crying for redress, perhaps the most pressing of these being the complex and time-consuming nature of filing GST returns. This is killing small business because they do not have enough human resource to file returns.
The overall tax structure, too, has become more complex and middle class for the first time is feeling the pinch. Ask any member of this class and you will find him complaining against the way things are going. Modi should remember that this class is the opinion maker and he cannot afford to ignore it. It was this class that brought him to power and can unseat him as well .
