Ache din kahaan Gaye?

Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally waking up to the huge responsibility this country’s 2014 mandate has given him? In the last two and a half years he must have realised that merely tinkering with the massive challenge of governance will not do. He is not merely a pracharak of the RSS but people expect him to tackle the myriad problems posed by different faiths, beliefs and regions that do not necessarily fall into ready-made slots. His latest initiatives on the troubled Kashmir, for instance, show glimpses of a statesman rising to the occasion like, say Atal Behari Vajpayee, to whom he will always be compared. His first meeting with the J and K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti at his residence in New Delhi is a pointer that a solution to the vexed Kashmir problem, on the boil for 50 days which has taken a toll of 65 lives by the time of going to press, should be on the way. It seems his earlier meeting with a delegation led by Omar Abdullah whom the Government had earlier kept out of the parleys, has worked wonders for him. This was followed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Kashmir. This time Singh was much more open to suggestions than even Chief Minister Mebooba Mufti who walked out of a press conference when tough questions were posed to her. His ready acceptance of the demand to replace pellet guns, besides a willingness to discuss the curfew bound Kashmir situation with all except Pakistan has provided the much needed healing touch. This bonhomie with the Opposition also made it possible for the country to get its much awaited and debated Goods and Service Taxes (GST) bill passed unanimously both by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. This whole process of statesmanship actually began with his performance at the Town Hall meeting on the lines of America. Whoever gave the Prime Minister the idea of holding a Town Hall must be basking in the success of the programme which Modi used to launch a frontal attack on the fringe elements in his own party. Having faced embarrassment over the activities of cow vigilantes in states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and latest in Una in Gujarat where dalits were stripped while they were skinning a dead cow, Modi said categorically that he was very angry with the activities of Gau Rakshaks, most of whom were anti-social elements. He followed it up with a more direct message to check atrocities against dalits at a public rally in Hyderabad where he told the self-proclaimed cow vigilantes , “If you want to fire at dalits shoot me first.” It is significant that he gave this message at Hyderabad where the suicide of Rohith Vemula had started a movement against the former HRD Minister Smriti Irani who was stripped of the portfolio in the latest reshuffle. And Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben was replaced by Vijay Rupani. Modi’s comments have not been taken well by many organisations and the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha declared war. Its national president Chandraprakash Kaushik said, "Narendra Modi is not worthy of being Prime Minster. He will return just like Vajpayee had to in 2004. Hindu Mahasabha is holding Buddhi Shuddhi Yaga across India to give better sense to the PM. However this is the second time the PM has used a question and answer session to send a stern message to elements in the Sangh Parivar who have been creating nuisance and diluting his promised agenda of development. Earlier he had given a warning to Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy through a programme on ‘Times Now’ where he warned him not to speak out of turn. Swamy had been sniping at his long time target Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by taking potshots at his advisers in various tweets. But the problems have become too complex for Modi’s two and a half year old team. He has a cabinet of seemingly competent and honest individuals but unfortunately they have not been able to deliver on most fronts. This government had taken oath on May 26, 2016 defeating UPA II headed by an economics wizard Dr.Manmohan Singh, who is also credited as the initiator of economic reforms in India in 1991. In a way he set the agenda for future governments of whichever hue. However by 2014 the UPA II had come to represent a system that had lost its way and in public perception it had become a government of scams. When Modi took charge of things he brought in lot of hope by what is popularly known as Jumlas or slogans. Promising the moon to every section of society, his most popular slogan was that now the ‘Achche Din’ were round the corner. Admittedly two and half years is too short a time to achieve all these goals and no one with a reasonable amount of common sense expected that all this would be achieved so soon. But then Modi should not have made so much noise about his economic achievements. For instance, the NDA had launched its skill development scheme in a big way to unleash the employment potential of the huge youth population that is literate but not skilled.