New Delhi : While the Narendra Modi led NDA government has made its mark in the global arena and dispelled the negativism enveloping the country, it may be faltering in the management of the economy and the art of communicating well with common Indians.
This, in one line, is the summing up of the RSS’s assessment of the Modi government at the turn of its first year in power. Even though the Sangh bigwigs refrain from making direct comments on PM Modi or his cabinet colleagues, they have gathered feedback from all over the country and from different segments of society.
The feedback matters as much to the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor, as to the government, because the Sangh cadres worked as much or, perhaps, harder than the party to ensure a thumping victory last year. Many RSS affiliates have been openly demonstrating against the government’s policies like Make in India, the land Bill, labour reforms and FDI in insurance.
Besides the above, the RSS also feels that a status quoist bureaucracy may be hampering the PM from executing his vision. While the government has shuffled bureaucrats in several rounds, the RSS is still uncomfortable, sources said.
‘‘There can be no two views that the Prime Minister has established the authority of his position and the country now has a strong leader with a clear vision in power. But the government is facing a challenge in perception lately, a senior RSS functionary told this correspondent.
This functionary, who is part of the RSS’s decision making process, explained that the government may have been late in tackling the perception war with the opposition continuously trying to dub the Modi government as anti-poor and anti-farmer.
The RSS feels that a strong and effective communication strategy combined with one or two more amendments in the vexed land acquisition Bill could help the government repair the damage for good. One of these amendments relate to a clear provision in the Bill that fertile land would be acquired only as a last option. Senior ministers have been arguing that in case of infrastructure projects, land has to be acquired in a contiguous pattern and not in a piecemeal manner.
However, more than the land Bill the RSS is worried that the government’s communication machinery has to be more effective in highlighting the fact that the legislation is meant to kick start much needed infrastructure development in rural areas and pull kisans out of eternal poverty.
In a recent article, R Balashankar, ideologue and former editor of Organiser, argued that the land Bill had all the ingredients to make agriculture viable and at the same time help the villages to grow. However, there was need to drive home the merits of the legislation to counter the political propaganda, he felt.
Interestingly, Sangh ideologue KN Govindacharya on Tuesday slammed the Modi government at a press conference. He said even as the Modi government was about to complete one year, it did not look any different from its predecessor. ‘‘Let’s hope they fulfill people’s aspirations in four years,’’ he remarked.
