An Agenda For Modi: Development And Emotional Connect With People

Modi government will complete two years this May. Has the government done enough to lay the foundation of a transformation that India so badly needs? Has it done enough to return to power in 2019? And what should be its agenda for the three years it still has in office?

The primary task of the government is to create an enabling platform and opportunities for the private enterprise, while ensuring that precious natural resources are well taken care of. The government does seem to be working in this direction. Platforms such as the JAM, Rural Electrification, eNAM, Stand Up India, Start Up India, and Rural Roads, have large transformational potential.

Winning 2019

To win 2019 comprehensively (which he would need to deliver on his longer term economic & social vision) Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to engage people in three ways- by creating clearly identified personal economic benefits, by driving emotional engagement and, by nurturing a positive sense of community.

The bad news: Without a growth in its core vote share, BJP risks losing many state governments. With it comes the constant threat for obstruction and slow adoption of transformational initiatives, driven by vested interests. More importantly it can eat into Modi’s authority within the party.

The good news: Congress doesn’t look like it has learnt one bit from its 2014 defeat. It has done nothing in the last two years to recreate the capacity to mount a serious challenge to the Modi government in 2019. And because it is the only likely centre of gravity for a possible alternate government, Modi isn’t yet at risk of a 2004 style debacle.

The Three Year Agenda

Modi government seems to be doing a lot for benefiting individuals at a personal economic level - life Insurance, access to cooking gas, skilling programs, farm insurance, and so on. But the government seems to be falling short on emotionally engaging the people and building a strong sense of community. The economic benefits can be promoted and pushed alongside three hitherto unexploited channels for emotional engagement - history, temples, and sports.

Temples and festivals have always been at the centre of economy, culture and community for centuries in India. It is time we rejuvenate them and strengthen those linkages. The minimum the state and local BJP governments can do is to undertake measures ensuring cleanliness and improving facilities to make these places popular again, including to the young who should be persuaded to view this from a socio-cultural lens rather than a religious one.

The lack of pride, confidence and emotional connect with our traditions, community and land, makes our people easy prey for the mongers of hopelessness, fear and defeat, in other words people who play the politics of entitlement, poverty, caste, regionalism and division.

To win 2019, Modi will need to combine his development agenda with private participation in the economy and right emotional levers in the society to connect people.