The Special One

If I were to tell you the poor little boy serving you tea would become your Prime Minister, would you believe me?

Well he did.

And he became the most powerful force in Indian politics since Indira Gandhi. 

Narendra Modi is coming up towards the end of his term now. He faces a crucial test of iron this year as the 2019 Indian General Elections take place. Many would not imagine this current scenario. 

Some couldn’t imagine someone from his background being PM. Others could not see Modi himself, who many consider a bigot and fanatic, become the PM of the world’s largest democracy (They seethe even more considering there were no major riots during his rule as to validate their hatred of him). Others are surprised that Modi’s aura of invincibility has waned, and that he now has to tenaciously battle against a cockney of opponents who are desperately trying to devise a mahagathbandhan – a Grand Alliance devoid of any clear ideology or policy except one: Dethrone Narendra Modi.

I want to make this very clear – in the context of an independent India’s history, Narendra Modi is The Special One. As the infamous football coach Jose Mourinho anointed himself this title (and did earn it), Modi’s performance as Prime Minister and the situation surrounding him has made him deserving of this accolade. He is not one without weakness and failure, but Modi has profoundly changed not only the Indian political arena, but the minds of individual Indians themselves.

Context

For 70+ years, India has been dominated by one party – the Indian National Congress Party. The party of independence that was supposed to be disbanded in 1947 but continued by the will of Jawaharlal Nehru against the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi.

This party has been controlled by the Nehru-Gandhi family for the same period of time. So effectively, India, its government institutions, judiciary, media, and academia have been molded and abused by one family for 70 years.

Enter 2014 elections. The ruling Congress Party has been caught in a practical orgy of scams. Social media has burgeoned into a powerful independent check against an increasingly compromised Indian media. A man named Narendra Modi touts his Gujarat model of governance and success. He comes from a poor chaiwala and lower-caste family and positions himself as a common man up against elites. He wins in a landslide. The greatest electoral victory in decades.

Modi was the first Indian PM born in an independent India. And in many ways, people saw his victory as the true beginnings of an India free from colonial inferiorities and a resurgence of indigenous thought.

Core Policy

Development, anti-corruption, and Hindutva (Hindu-ness or the idea that all of India shared a common heritage in ancient Indian spirituality and culture) were the planks of Modi’s campaign.

The overwhelming theme of Modi’s first term has been focusing on the fundamentals. Financial inclusion, infrastructural integration, and welfare have been integral areas of focus for the administration. 

This focus on the basics is exactly why Modi will be viewed in a much more positive manner in hindsight. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, known as India’s Warren Buffett, labeled Modi as a “distilled socialist” who wanted to expand the economic pie through capitalism first so that all Indians can benefit within the market with welfare if needed.

Financial Inclusion

Modi’s financial inclusion initiatives will have massive long term ramifications for the poorest of Indians in the future.

Some of the most prominent initiatives and their impacts:

• Jan Dhan Yojana – 99% of households have at least 1 bank account
• Direct Benefit Transfer – Synergizing with Jan Dhan and Aadhar (Indian Government ID system), DBT cut the corrupt middle man from government benefit transfers and puts benefits directly into the bank accounts of those in need
• MUDRA – Micro-financing for 120 million people to encourage entrepreneurship and small businesses. 90 million of the beneficiaries were women
• Ease of Doing Business ranking jumped from 142 to 77 in 4 years

Poor households now have access to financial savings, monetary security, and business opportunity – something that has alluded them for decades since India’s inception. The compounding effect of wealth creation has been buttressed by a direct deliverance of welfare, which has been hampered in the past by corruption.

Macroeconomic Reforms

Modi’s effect on the country has also been paralleled on a macroeconomic level. High level reforms have had a knock on effect to the GDP (one of the fastest growing economy in the world), inflation (reduction from ~10% in 2014 to ~2% in January 2019), and a reduction in fiscal deficit from 4.5% in 2014 to 3.5% now. The most amazing part of this story is that this occurred concurrently to the greatest infrastructure investment in India’s history. Construction in highway, railway, and electrification has been conducted at a blistering pace opening the veins and arteries of an economic powerhouse. 

However, Modi’s top level economic reforms would be controversial and painful to large swathes of the populace. Still, they have yielded improvements with time and are forward facing initiatives. The main ones include:

• Demonetization – A drastic currency removal in November 2016 to combat black money, encourage tax collection, financial inclusion, and digitization. The informal sector was no doubt hurt by this, and the battle against black money was negligible long term; but tax collection, financial inclusion, and digitization skyrocketed after.
• GST – Goods and Services Tax; again another painful but necessary reform. By setting a unitary VAT tax across all Indian states, business was streamlined while tax collection went up versus the old system of different VAT rates for different states.
• IBC – Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code; a revolution in India’s banking and credit culture which gave the government an effective method to combat NPAs (Non-Performing Assets ie bad loans), bankruptcy, and provide a just credit system towards powerful companies who had no fear of bankruptcy prior.

These backend reforms solidify India’s transformation to a formal economy and provide strong foundations for future economic growth and accountability.

This formalization has had a domino effect on corruption as well. Coupled with the mass efforts of digitization, corruption has been dealt a blow across India.  However, most notably one must point out how high level corruption is completely absent from the Centre. While perhaps the greatest exercise in fake news  – the Rafale aircraft controversy – has been screeched constantly by the dynast of India’s “First Family,” Rahul Gandhi; much of India has been unmoved as all government branches and agencies have cleared the procurement process as clean. Modi’s incorruptible image stands in stark contrast with a motley crew of scams trailing the Mahagathbandhan. 

Welfare

With lessened corruption and the DBT system, welfare to the poorest Indians has been much more effective and expansive than the past. Modi’s welfare schemes have aimed to improve Indians’ everyday lives. These along with his financial inclusion schemes have sought to integrate India’s poorest into the market economy in order to gain wealth and health.

Of the numerous schemes, 3 stand out the most:

• Ujjwala Yojana – 60 million households provided with Liquid Petroleum Gas tanks to replace dangerous and polluting traditional fire/cooking methods
• Swacch Bharat – Millions of toilets built and an increased emphasis on sanitation and anti-littering messages have transformed streets and directly combatted the harmful practice of open defecation.
• Ayushman Bharat – Possibly the grandest of all of Modi’s initiatives. Modi’s forever mark on India and a life-changing initiative for 500 million of India’s poorest who now have health insurance.

India’s poorest were viciously stuck in a cycle of despair and poverty, but the above 3 initiatives have given them opportunity and health. The ability to climb from poverty and not worry about the bill from getting sick or hurt. To be able to go to the bathroom in peace. To live a clean life. 

Foreign Affairs

In foreign affairs, Modi has expanded India’s reach – a balancing act when strengthening relations with the USA and Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, Israel and Palestine, as well as various other countries. Modi has reduced terrorism in India drastically compared to the UPA years while striking back at Pakistan through recent surgical strikes in addition to economic and diplomatic isolation. 

The most recent airstrike at the Balakot complex housing Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists was particularly a game changer. Indian jets had bombed territory in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ie Pakistan proper, not Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Modi has repeated moved the red line forward into Pakistan for its terror sponsoring, something few Indian Prime Ministers have ever done. On top of this, various nations came out in support of India’s right to self-defense, while none supported Pakistan.

Indian military pressure became so terrifying to Pakistan, that its airspace has been closed for days in addition to reduction in naval shipments. The airspace has yet to fully open even till this day. This economic strangulation is the real danger to Pakistan as it literally raises the price of sponsoring terror.

Time will tell if Pakistan will succumb to international as well as Indian pressure to truly crack down on its terrorist apparatus instead of paying lip service a few years by falsely banning “militant” outfits only for them to rename and strike India again. 

Modi has also brought climate change to its rightful global stage. As head of the International Solar Alliance, Modi has spearheaded clean energy efforts that aim to create a global effort to combat this menace. India has lead from the front as it has exceeded its Paris Agreement targets and is aggressively pursuing green energy solutions.

The Case for Modi

Modi has given hope to India’s downtrodden and elevated India on the world stage politically, economically, and culturally. While other parties are commanded by leaders from a prestigious family and wealth, Modi comes from neither.

He is the every man. His story connects with all Indians. He has felt the pain of hunger, poverty, and discrimination throughout his life. India’s problems have been his problems; and now India’s solutions have become Modi’s solutions. Modi is indeed a testament to India’s democracy, descended from the ganarajyas of ancient times.

Modi wears his Indianness with pride instead of with shame as many of the English speaking elites do. He believes in an India that is as old as human history, not one born of Nehru’s words in 1947. He believes in an India where unity is adorned with diversity instead of divided by it. He believes in the oppressed, the ordinary, and the entrepreneurial. He believes in a civilization moved by science and spirituality. He believes in India, and India should believe in him; as he is indeed, The Special One.