Know your PM candidate : Mr. Narendra Modi

With the general election less than a few weeks away, I'll be writing some posts about our possible PM candidates. Given that this election is mega in all aspects. There is a united opposition and with that there are a huge number of people wanting to get their hands on the PM's chair. I will try my level best to be unbiased while writing these posts. To begin with let me start with our current PM Mr. Narendra Modi.

Name : Narendra Damodardas Modi
State : Gujarat
Also famously known as : Modi, Namo, Feku, Chaiwala, Chowkidaar, Jhumlebaaz
Famous Dialogues : Mitron, Mere pyare desh vaasiyon, mere sava sau crore desh vaasiyon
Followers : Bhakts, Andh Bhakts
Opposers : Anti Nationalists.

Accomplishments : Has been the CM of Gujarat for 4 terms. Has flown around the world in his term as a Prime Minister which he couldn't do so before since he was banned in some countries ;)

Jokes apart. Mr. Modi's travels have yielded good results and has made our economy more stronger. He and his ministers have cemented INDIA's position worldwide and have also been instrumental in taking our country to new highs. From day one he has focussed on issues related to Sanitation (Swaccha Bharat), cleanliness, electricity, water, housing for the poor and also inclusion of every single person in the mainstream which have been ignored in the past. He has also been instrumental in revolutionizing the energy sector by setting an aggressive target for Renewable energy which has yeilded really good results. His vision for a digital INDIA is slowly becoming a reality, His ministers are always reachable through twitter, something that we never had before (One could argue that technology was not there before). His government has stressed more on infrastructure development and last mile connectivity. Many projects that were stuck in red tape for many years have seen the light of the day. Our defence spending has gone up and our armed forces are getting the much needed weapons that they've been asking for many years. After Indira Gandhi and Mr. Vajpayee, Modi has been one of the strongest PM's to ever represent the country. He's a good orator and a nationalist to the core. He has a vision for a strong INDIA and I believe he is executing it the right way. His foreign policy initiatives as well as his strong posture towards rogue nations has been evident with the surgical strikes across the border. The government has taken impressive economic reforms over the last few years and have been able to implement the GST (something that they were opposed to when Congress was trying to bring it). They've liberalized FDI in crucial sectors like Defence. The creation of various schemes for the poor like the Jan Dhan Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, Digital INDIA RERA, Gramin Awaas Yojana, Suraksha Beema Yojana etc have been widely accepted. Beti bachao Beti padhao, Selfie with Daughter have been able to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services for the girls. Startup INDIA, Standup INDIA, Make in INDIA initiatives have also gotten some traction in the past couple of years. Railways have been performing better than they were before and I see there is a lot of transparency and accountability today. Our Ease of doing business rankings reflect the change that our country has gone through in the last 4 years of this government. All of this has been possible because of a stable government with a clear majority at the centre. Something that we've never had for many years.

Failures : One of the biggest blunders that this government has done is Demonitization. Demonitization was the biggest failure as it didn't get the results that the government was hoping for. Plus to ban 500 and 1000 notes and to bring in new 200 and 2000 notes is simply foolish. The black money hoarders now do not need a much bigger space to hoard money because of the change in denomination. It had a severe impact on the economy and it witnessed sluggish growth. Another issue I've seen with this government is the protection of religious minorities. Since a right wing government is at the centre, many groups have sprung up to prevent religious conversions and for saving the cow. Some people have even lost their lives because of these stupid people. There is a sense of fear or neglect among these communities. The people have failed to accept this government even as Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas has been the governments motto. Ghar wapsis and Award wapsis was the highlight in the first couple of years of this government. Various bans also troubled many people. The government failed to control the Religious fringe elements and many of their ministers were grabbing attention for their irresponsible remarks and acts. The issues of gau rakshak (cow vigilantism), Love-Jihaad, hyper-nationalism were completely unwanted. Perception does matter. The minority communities need to be completely assured of their well being.
Non performing assets have been one of the grave concerns of our economy in the past few years as many rich industrialists have borrowed money and have been absconding. Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and many more have conned the banks and fled into tax havens. NPA's currently make up more than 150 billion in US dollars and most of the money was given by public sector banks. The promise of getting 15 lacs in every account is still a distant dream(Oh wait a minute. it was a chunavi jhoomla). Job creation hasn't taken up speed and there's no clear indication as to how many jobs are being created. Some ministers have even asked people to start selling Pakoras (fritters) as a way of job creation. Digital INDIA although heavily advertised has still not gained pace as still most of the transactions happening in INDIA are cash based and its very difficult to track them.
The government was unable to curb violence in the state of Jammu & Kashmir despite sharing power with PDP. There have been many killings and incidents of violence on our armed forces have also increased. I agree that many terrorists have been killed but we haven't done much yet on reducing violence and bringing about a change. AFSPA is still in force and there are no confidence building measures being taken.
The education sector still needs a boost and the government needs to increase its spending on Education and Research. They need to promote education and curb institutes that have just made education a business. The key to growth and development is literacy and we need to make sure to provide primary and secondary education to every single child in the country.
The government has also failed to curb pollution, Of the 20 most polluted cities in the world close to 15 are in INDIA and this has resulted in growth of many harmful diseases which has resulted in many deaths.
Creation of smart cities has just been a statement and I haven't seen any traction on that yet. 100 smart cities were promised but I dont see even one. (I agree cities are not built in a day but I don't see any effort being made in that regard.)

Long story short, I would rate Mr. Modi's tenure as kind of a mixed bag. Things have been good but they could have been better. One could argue that you cannot change a country in 5 years and I second that. They need more time to bring about a change and only time will tell whether Mr. Modi gets a second term or not.

I've tried to keep this post as unbiased as possible but feel free to post your comments and add your inputs. As always I would once again like to say that I do not belong to any political party or endorse one. I am not paid by any political party's IT cell and these are just my views. A common man expressing his common views.

As I end this first post, I would like to remind people that your vote counts and your vote matters. When you head out to vote, please vote for the right candidate, please vote for a candidate with a clean image, please vote for someone who talks development and can do development. Voting based on Emotions, Religion, Region, Caste and language isn't going to yield anything. Don't fall into their false propoganda, false gifts and false promises beacuse if you do and these people happen to win then you will lose. If you think none of the candidates in your area are good then press NOTA (None of the Above). People have started realizing the use and need for NOTA and have been actively using it the elections. Development should be the sole goal when we head out to vote. Let's believe in our constitution and believe that we can bring about a change.
Please exercise your right to vote.

Second post on Mr. Rahul Gandhi. Coming soon..

Jai Hind _/\_

#KnowYourPMCandidate #YourVoteCounts #GeneralElections2019