Narendra Modi government at 12: Milestone in history, long road to future

In its own words “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas” is the animating spirit for the Narendra Modi government that crosses a historic milestone today — Modi is now the longest continuously serving elected Prime Minister India has known. “Sabka vishwas” is especially resonant. It frames both the achievement and the challenge. After all, a three-term prime ministership would not be possible without public trust that is sustained and renewed over 12 years and counting. That, too, in an environment brimming with rising aspirations and shifting engagements, impatient choices accelerated by disruptive technologies. But “sabka vishwas” is also a reminder of an unfinished journey, a challenge yet to be fully met. Be it finding a language to address the restlessness of the young, which has come to the fore in recent weeks because of a compromised examination system, or showing them the light of opportunity as headwinds batter the economy, or breaking a longer silence to assuage minority insecurities — a government that has made room for itself to reach out and do things that may even defy its own political script, needs to make the circle of trust more encompassing.

In many ways, the Modi government broke with a past that had congealed into the status quo and reaped the benefits. It put in place an architecture of welfare benefits that harnesses new technologies to streamline delivery, designed social safety nets — from health insurance to foodgrains — that have ensured stability even in times of great disruption like Covid-19. On the world stage, it has navigated a new, confident course for India in a time of war and flux and Trump tariffs. Politically, at home, it has shifted the centre of gravity to the right, while implementing its “core” commitments, from building the Ram temple to scrapping Article 370, to finding new flashpoints like “ghuspaithiya (illegal immigrant)” to keep the momentum going. Tired old favourites have been relegated, across sectors, from freeing the Padma awardees of darbaris — and there are many crowding that line — to the fading of old personnel and priorities. Twelve years on, however, it may be time for a reset. A politics of polarisation is rising, and the new elites nurse a permanent sense of grievance and, more disquietingly, a winner-takes-all policy. The government needs to send a message that it is open to talent, and that it will resist the reflex to label and domesticate it.

The crumbling of Opposition parties, one after another, in the BJP-dominant system, also speaks of shrinking spaces. Many of these parties – including the TMC – are beset by internal weaknesses. They are unable to withstand confrontation with an organised and fleet-footed adversary. And yet, a government that has won three terms must know that it will be judged not just by what it says and does, but also by whether or not it is listening. The government must talk to the people, of course, but it must also talk with their representatives across the aisle. Not to lure them across, but to engage them in conversation that helps redeem its pledge of sabka vishwas, as Nehru had put it, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.