‘New India’: Rhetoric versus reality
Is it a ‘new’ India where the prime minister promises to end bureaucratic and political corruption but where ‘local’ corruption and red-tapism still haunts the average citizen: India still ranks a lowly 79 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. And if you believe ministerial corruption has ended, just travel to my home state of Goa where ‘rates’ for legislators switching sides to form a government are freely discussed.
Truth is, ‘new’ India is for now at least an undefined but alluring futuristic dream, one which is being strategically spun by a leader who knows that the promise of ‘achhe din’ that won him the 2014 general elections could never match the vaulting expectations it threw up. Rather than being devoured by past hype, the prime minister is cleverly changing the goalposts by embarking on another feelgood journey to woo the gen-next voter. Which is why the ‘new’ India artifice is not offering instant gratification but sets a five year target of 2022 by which time another election will have, in all probability, also been won! Post-script: Despite the ‘invented’ fantasy of a ‘new’ India, an India Today mood of the nation poll forecasts that the Modi-led alliance could win close to 350 seats if general elections were held now. Clearly, the hope of a better India embodied in the charismatic Modi persona is still attractive. Unless a divided and dispirited Opposition carves out its own compelling counter-narrative.