Prime Minister Narendra Modi sticks to his guns on key policy moves

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s January 1 interview to a news agency makes a reference to the Ayodhya issue, suggesting that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government will take an appropriate action only after the Supreme Court disposes of the property dispute between the supporters of Ram Janmabhoomi temple and Babri mosque. It is to be hoped that this will not cause any party to take precipitate action as we head into the Lok Sabha elections later this year.

The interview revealed Mr Modi as a leader who is sticking to his guns on key policy moves that he made in the last five years. The Prime Minister is also not impressed with the critics of demonetisation — no matter how eminent — or the faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax regime, and continues to see merit in both. However, for the first time, Mr Modi gave the faintest hint that the economic growth of the country had dipped on the account of demonetisation, though he sought to mitigate the impact of this observation by saying that the train slows down when it changes tracks.

In a combative manner, the Prime Minister criticised the farm loan waivers announced by the Congress governments of the three Hindi heartland states, which have been wrested from the BJP recently. Mr Modi called this a propaganda. In his understanding, most farmer-debtors took loans not from banks but from sahukars, or moneylenders. The Nabard data of August 2018, however, shows that 52.5 per cent of farmer households are in debt. Of them, 42.5 per cent took loans from banks — mostly public sector banks or rural banks — to meet their agricultural needs.

The Prime Minister pointed out that a great many of his government’s measures had been undertaken to help the middle class. In support of this, Mr Modi spoke of making LED bulbs accessible and opening medical colleges. However, the middle class, which backed the BJP for a long time, has been vocal in its criticism for the lack of income-tax relief or the high petrol prices, which were kept artificially high in spite of lower international prices. The Prime Minister also did not refer to the question of unemployment and the loss of jobs, which appears to have angered the young voters.

Mr Modi said he disapproved of cow-related violence and deaths, but asked if these had occurred only after 2014. Data suggests that of all the cow-related violent acts since 2010, 90 per cent were post-2014. The PM’s critics noted that his government did not crack down on the violent groups. On the controversial Rafale deal, the Prime Minister said the Supreme Court had given his government a clean chit by rejecting a plea for ordering a probe into the matter.