Mr. Prime Minister please don't mess it up this time

When the BJP won a decisive majority on its own in the general elections of 2014, I was a little surprised. I wasn't surprised that NDA won the elections, it was quite clear that the government of that time had no chance to come back to power, but many didn't expect a clear majority for BJP as a single party. They won 282 seats on their own (with ~31% vote share) and NDA in total won 339 seats with ~39% vote share. Actually, it was good to see that a single party won the majority so the excuse of coalition dharma to justify any decision or lack of decision must disappear now. Many governments from 1989 suffered decision paralysis because of this coalition politics. There was one person largely responsible for BJP's impressive success, it was Mr. Narendra Modi. His presence made all the difference as other parties did not have anyone to counter the challenge posed by him, he rode on a wave of his popularity with enormous resources at his disposal to execute a very well-planned campaign to secure an absolute majority for his party. It must be noted that this has happened for the first time since 1984. In the 1984-85 general elections Congress won the election with an absolute majority under the leadership of the Late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. It was a landslide victory, they won 414 seats with ~49% of the vote share, it was the biggest victory margin for any party to date. I don't think that record is easy to break in the near future. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had the majority which no one enjoyed ever in the Indian parliament, many expected that he would bring much-needed changes in the style and functioning of Indian politics. But sadly, it didn't happen, a golden opportunity was missed. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi started on a very positive note and made very impressive speeches about bringing changes at the beginning of his tenure but somehow lost his way somewhere in between and ended his tenure with corruption charges (Bofors scandal), the Shah Bano case disaster, and Ram mandir issue. Rather than Rajiv changing Indian politics, Indian politics changed him. This was really sad, I really feel bad whenever I look back to this part of Indian history, it is not that his government didn't do any good work but the expectations that people had were not fulfilled. The defeat of the Congress party in the 1989 general elections started a new era of coalition politics, which resulted in many weak and unstable governments. So, after 30 years now we have another prime minister and party with an absolute majority in parliament. Like Rajiv, Modi also started his tenure on a very positive note, his speeches include all the right things, and people have a lot of expectations from him and his government. I hope he is serious about changing the ways politics and political parties work in India. I believe he wants to create a bipartisan style of political decision-making, bring more transparency to political funding, and reduce corruption.

Mr. Modi has a very unique opportunity in his hands, the same opportunity that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had and missed 30 years ago. Indians have waited almost three decades to get a government with decisive mandate. Hopefully, he remembers whatever promises he made during his election campaign. One thing that I am looking forward this government to implementing is a uniform civil code (not a Hindu civil code which RSS wants). India calls itself a secular country but there is a very complicated system of personal laws. Each religion has its own set of personal laws, especially in cases of marriage, divorce, and adoption. BJP has been talking about a uniform civil code for a long, and I think it is time now for them to implement it. I am sure the youth of the country across the party lines will support this. Mr. Modi has the majority on his side at least in one house of parliament and it is just a matter of time his party gets the majority in the other house as well. He should initiate this process to show his commitment to his party's promises. This one change can initiate a big social change. This is also a unique opportunity to change the long tradition of politicization of different institutions and government bodies. If the NDA or BJP keeps repeating the same mistakes that the UPA or Congress did in the past then what is the use of changing the government? If the current government behaves in the same way as previous governments then it is just a change of name not a change of governance style. Initial signs don't look that promising but may be they need some time to adjust and will get their acts together soon after initial hiccups.

I don't expect these changes to happen overnight or even during the first year of this government, but they have enough time to prove themselves. This opportunity came after 30 long years and if it is missed this time then I don't know how many more years Indian people have to wait to see this happen again. Delhi assembly elections showed that voters don't have the patience to wait, they want results and I hope Mr. Modi doesn't mess up this unique opportunity that history has offered to him. They are not going to get 60 years like Congress. Congress has already done its work to establish a strong democratic foundation for India, let's see not how the BJP builds on it. India's secular fabric has always been weak and I hope the BJP remains careful about not destroying it, after all, progress without equality and equity is not progress at all. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_civil_code_of_India
2. Uniform civil code: will it work in India?