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EVEN those not enamoured of the Narendra Modi government seem surprised by the rapid rise in the dissatisfaction index with the new regime. In part this may be due to the inordinately high expectations generated by the swearing in of the country’s first majority government in close to three decades. Finally, many felt, that the unhealthy days of fractious, coalition government were safely behind us and that under the decisive leadership of Narendra Modi, we would experience a period of achche din. Instead, what we are witnessing today is more than simple disappointment with the pace and direction of change. To most observers, the government appears unsure, hesitant and, often, at odds with itself, expectedly impacting both individual and collective performance.

There are, of course, those who argue that the carping is unfair and that six months is too short a period to remove the sloth and misgovernance which characterized the final years of UPA-II. They point to the many impressive electoral victories of the BJP/NDA since the parliamentary hustings, or the ‘successful’ foreign visits of the prime minister and the rapturous reception he received from the overseas Indian community. This, they claim, vindicates the fact that Narendra Modi has managed to change the national mood to one of hope and expectation, a far cry from the despondency and defeatism of earlier years. All that is needed is patience and faith.

Unfortunately, despite a rising sensex and lower inflation, that is precisely what seems to be eroding. Pratap Mehta feels that, ‘Modi seems to be trapped in his own echo chamber.’ Arun Shourie quips, ‘When all is said and done, more is said than done.’ And Surjit Bhalla despairs, ‘When can we expect to see the Modi we elected in economic and social policies, as we are seeing in foreign policy?’

It is, one suspects, insufficiently appreciated that barring diehard critics, few want this regime to flounder. Many feel that if despite a large mandate and a clear majority in Parliament, the Modi government is finding it difficult to deliver, then the country is in for bad times. Most analysts trace this to the prime minister’s overly centralized style of functioning with inordinate decision-making power concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office such that ministers, exceptions apart, are reduced in stature, unable to take decisions without prior approval from ‘you know who’. Coordination and consultation is welcome and essential; reducing everyone to ‘waiting for instructions’ is dangerous. The Union government cannot be run as a single person fiefdom.

A related problem is the obvious lack of expertise and experience in the cabinet, many of whom exemplify the ‘Peter Principle’ syndrome – elevated to positions beyond their levels of competence. Combined with the uneasy relations that most minister’s have with the bureaucracy, it should surprise no one that decisions are often delayed, when taken. The flurry of announcements of intent cannot hide the deep stasis affecting government functioning.

But nothing has damaged the Modi government more than his reluctance to rein in the hotheads – within his cabinet/party or fellow travellers from the Parivar – from vitiating the fragile social compact. Some flexing of muscles by the cultural nationalists was expected. We have seen a similar resurgence of a muscular, religio-cultural nationalism in countries ranging from Japan under Abe, Sri Lanka under Rajapaksa to Turkey under Erdogan. They feel they have waited long enough to see through their favoured agenda of righting historical wrongs, and reworking textbooks and pedagogy so that the country can shed its colonized mindset and regain, what they believe to be, its civilizational genius. And what better time than now, when one of their own, the Hindu hriday samrat is in power. Unfortunately, the moves on conversion and ghar wapasi; remarks such as Ramzade and haramzade; the plea to elevate the Gita to the national holy book; and worse, a worrying increase in incidents of communal tension and riots can hardly serve to showcase Modi’s claim of crafting an inclusive governance agenda.

Preoccupied more with election speeches domestically, and burnishing his image abroad, Narendra Modi seems in danger of missing the bus. For the moment, his position as unchallenged leader appears secure, helped to a substantial degree by the ineptitude and disarray in the political opposition. But, as the ongoing fracas in Parliament makes clear, the inability to craft a working relation with the opposition threatens his legislative agenda. Every big promise by the Modi government – on revamping infrastructure, tax reform, GST, smart cities, housing for the poor, education, employment creation – is being pushed to an indefinite future. Clearly it’s time that the regime moves beyond talking to delivering and, equally, that all of us start asking more and difficult questions.

Harsh Sethi