A CHRONICLE OF INDIA'S MODIFICATION

The following has been extracted from 'The Modi Gambit: Decoding Modi 2.O' written by Sanju Verma. The excerpt is the book's Foreword and is written by TV. Mohandas Pai.

- T.V. MOHANDAS PAI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 with an overwhelming majority.

People voted him in with very high expectations of change and development which sixty-seven years of Independence had not yielded. And PM Modi and his NDA government delivered. Many Indians saw development - road connectivity, pucca housing, LPG cylinders, sanitation, electrification, and financial inclusion, come to their vicinity for the first time in their lifetimes.

The perceptible upliftment in citizens' lives prompted them to vote PM Modi back in 2019 with an even larger majority. Citizens had embraced the change, especially the previously underserved women and rural Indians.

They perceived the lack of corruption in the Modi 1.0 regime. They appreciated his prioritizing execution of development, above all else.

Several structural reforms of Modi 1.0 have positively impacted the economy. Demonetization has cleaned up the black money economy leading to increased tax collections and placing cronies under bankruptcy. The GST reforms have unified tax protocols and cleaned up the system. Despite the empty rhetoric of the Lutyens media that predicted PM Modi would lose badly, in 2019, citizens voted him back based on his strong performance record in the first term and expectations of continuity in the second.

Modi 2.0 started off with a strong impetus on continued development and empowerment. Access to clean water was one of the first priorities; the Jal Jeevan Mission was launched and has already impacted four crore households. Sociopolitical measures like the Citizenship Amendment Act and abrogation of Article 370 are addressing longstanding issues in India.