In the aftermath of the horrific Nepal earthquakes, the entire nation's attention seems to have been diverted away from the controversies that seemed to have engulfed the country only a few days ago. For the moment, the entire nation, irrespective of political affiliations, seems to be rallying behind the government as the priority is towards relief and rescue in our neighbouring country as much as at home.
Nothing sums things up better than this tweet by the Grand Old Party's vocal spokesperson - "PM Modi has been lauded in many quarters for quick relief efforts in Bihar & I agree. Credit must be given where due."
Knowing his emotions for Modi, God knows how he must have choked as these words came out of his handle.
However, given the short attention span of the public at large, it is only a matter of time before the focus shifts back to the domestic arena and the political mudslinging starts once again.
As the first anniversary of the NDA government draws near, so do their first real set of challenges. This government has had a dream start with crude and commodity prices collapsing, the opposition (read Congress) being in a disarray, and a phenomenal performance in state polls in Maharashtra, J&K and Haryana.
The honeymoon, however, is now over and the lack of political experience is showing up as harsh realities of Indian politics are coming to the fore. Impatient businessmen and investors, unwarranted statements by party members and affiliates, and some irresponsible reporting by a left-leaning media are only some of BJP's troubles.
The biggest threat to any political party in India is when it risks being labelled anti-farmer. Despite contributing to less than 15% of GDP, agriculture provides sustenance to over half of India's population. Hence, anything to do with agriculture is a rather emotional issue.
Pushed into a corner and fighting for relevance, the opposition has managed to latch on to the emotive land reforms legislation with great gusto. It has shrewdly used the generally sorry state of the Indian farmer (further perpetuated over 68 years of apathy post Independence) and made worse by unseasonal rains, to land some strong punches on the government even though the land reforms legislation has nothing to do with the condition of the farmers.
One of the opposition parties even tried to leverage the unfortunate death of the farmer from Rajasthan during a rally in Delhi recently, though that back-fired quite badly.
Having seen the original bill and the proposed amendments, I believe that the amendments are good for the country and for the farmer as well. And to that extent I am glad that the government is betting its house on this reform as they realise that without this change, it will be impossible for our large, rural landless population to get alternate employment, those with farmlands will continue to suffer the vagaries of the monsoons, roads and electricity in the villages will remain a pipe-dream, and creating new defence installations will be nearly impossible.
However, what befuddles me is that for a party which came to power riding on its unique ability to reach out to the large population almost in a tailor-made manner, the BJP seems to have completely lost the plot on communication. Rather than being on the offensive and deploying every possible resource at their disposal to communicate the genuine need for the land reforms amendment, they have instead found themselves fumbling for words and busy fighting the fires within in the form of allies, RSS and affiliates. Maybe they need many more Jaitleys than they have, considering that the PM has decided to keep himself above the debate.
What compounds the problem for them is the political arithmetic in upcoming elections like the Bihar assembly elections. The Modi-wave in the LS elections have made the impossible, possible. Laloo and Nitish have come together as two long-lost brothers. With 36.5% of the popular vote in the 2014 LS elections between them, they already are neck to neck with the NDA's 36.4%. Add to that a potential tie-up with the Congress and the support of the Left, subtract the Modi-aura which is unlikely to be as big a factor in a state elections and compound it with a possible anti-farmer perception, the BJP could be looking at a result very different from the 2014 LS.
Given the Delhi debacle, who's to say what a strong setback in Bihar may do to the strategy of the NDA government. The worst could be that the Right too decides to turn left and protect their vote base rather than continue the task of rebuilding India and setting it up for 10-20 years of unbridled growth.
That to me would be rather unfortunate for India and a huge problem for the future of its 125 crore expectant people.
Nothing sums things up better than this tweet by the Grand Old Party's vocal spokesperson - "PM Modi has been lauded in many quarters for quick relief efforts in Bihar & I agree. Credit must be given where due."
Knowing his emotions for Modi, God knows how he must have choked as these words came out of his handle.
However, given the short attention span of the public at large, it is only a matter of time before the focus shifts back to the domestic arena and the political mudslinging starts once again.
As the first anniversary of the NDA government draws near, so do their first real set of challenges. This government has had a dream start with crude and commodity prices collapsing, the opposition (read Congress) being in a disarray, and a phenomenal performance in state polls in Maharashtra, J&K and Haryana.
The honeymoon, however, is now over and the lack of political experience is showing up as harsh realities of Indian politics are coming to the fore. Impatient businessmen and investors, unwarranted statements by party members and affiliates, and some irresponsible reporting by a left-leaning media are only some of BJP's troubles.
The biggest threat to any political party in India is when it risks being labelled anti-farmer. Despite contributing to less than 15% of GDP, agriculture provides sustenance to over half of India's population. Hence, anything to do with agriculture is a rather emotional issue.
Pushed into a corner and fighting for relevance, the opposition has managed to latch on to the emotive land reforms legislation with great gusto. It has shrewdly used the generally sorry state of the Indian farmer (further perpetuated over 68 years of apathy post Independence) and made worse by unseasonal rains, to land some strong punches on the government even though the land reforms legislation has nothing to do with the condition of the farmers.
One of the opposition parties even tried to leverage the unfortunate death of the farmer from Rajasthan during a rally in Delhi recently, though that back-fired quite badly.
Having seen the original bill and the proposed amendments, I believe that the amendments are good for the country and for the farmer as well. And to that extent I am glad that the government is betting its house on this reform as they realise that without this change, it will be impossible for our large, rural landless population to get alternate employment, those with farmlands will continue to suffer the vagaries of the monsoons, roads and electricity in the villages will remain a pipe-dream, and creating new defence installations will be nearly impossible.
However, what befuddles me is that for a party which came to power riding on its unique ability to reach out to the large population almost in a tailor-made manner, the BJP seems to have completely lost the plot on communication. Rather than being on the offensive and deploying every possible resource at their disposal to communicate the genuine need for the land reforms amendment, they have instead found themselves fumbling for words and busy fighting the fires within in the form of allies, RSS and affiliates. Maybe they need many more Jaitleys than they have, considering that the PM has decided to keep himself above the debate.
What compounds the problem for them is the political arithmetic in upcoming elections like the Bihar assembly elections. The Modi-wave in the LS elections have made the impossible, possible. Laloo and Nitish have come together as two long-lost brothers. With 36.5% of the popular vote in the 2014 LS elections between them, they already are neck to neck with the NDA's 36.4%. Add to that a potential tie-up with the Congress and the support of the Left, subtract the Modi-aura which is unlikely to be as big a factor in a state elections and compound it with a possible anti-farmer perception, the BJP could be looking at a result very different from the 2014 LS.
Given the Delhi debacle, who's to say what a strong setback in Bihar may do to the strategy of the NDA government. The worst could be that the Right too decides to turn left and protect their vote base rather than continue the task of rebuilding India and setting it up for 10-20 years of unbridled growth.
That to me would be rather unfortunate for India and a huge problem for the future of its 125 crore expectant people.
