Some Important Legislative Acts Expected from Modi Govt

History spares none. Years, decades and centuries later when historians will analyse the functioning and performance of 10 yrs of Modi govt, there can be no doubt that every moment of functioning, governance and their prime responsibility of legislative business will come under scrutiny. Modi’s initial days of governance appeared promising when he included not only his political adversaries during 2014 oath taking ceremony but also the neighbouring heads of states. His entry into the Indian parliament was spectacular when he bowed at the steps of the parliament before entering it.

Unprecedented Development in all sectors

In the last 10 yrs, Modi govt has done several wonders that none could have thought of. The govt brought all-round development in almost all sectors at unprecedented pace. The infrastructure development has brought laurels from one and all, in all Indian States. Besides, tens of thousands of kilometres of border roads neglected for several decades got major boost along LAC as well as LoC. Today Indian Economy has become highly robust moving from the ‘fragile five’ in 2014 to the 5th largest in the world as fastest growing among major economies. Defence sector is the third largest gainer with Atmanirbhar plans with modernisation of all three services. Manufacturing sector of India too has gained a lot in several fields esp in Mobile phones, automobiles and Defence productions to name a few. In Transportation sector, Rail-Road, Airways & Waterways are many feathers in Modi’s cap bringing the North-East States under direct connectivity. I-way is another revolution in digital communication through purely indigenous and versatile payment gateways. This has also brought transparency in the informal economy.

Health & Family Welfares, Upliftment of poor and positioning India well high up on the global platforms through leadership in G-20, Quad, BRICS and other platforms becoming voice of the Global South are few such remarkable steps. India is also regaining its lost cultural glories through various religious and spiritual projects be it Kashi-Vishwanath, Kedarnath & Chardham, Buddhist-Jain Circuits, Somnath-Mahakal Corridors, Kartarpur Saheb, Vaidyanath Dham, Jagannath Puri and several others. Today, Ram Janmbhumi is the brightest of the shining spiritual projects of India that is going to bring glories to all Indians, both within and abroad. In short, there has been cultural revolution and Spiritual rejuvenation of Indian religions.

Initially everything looked hanky dowry BUT gradually lack of political inclusivity of the political adversaries into democratic values started acquiring monstrous proportion esp in the govt’s 2nd term (2019-23). More alliance partners left the NDA coalition than those joining it. Brick-batting with political adversaries & opponents have been a common sight on both roads & media although it was not necessarily the fault of the governing coalition. After the consecutive win in 2019 with even greater margins, desperation of Modi’s opponents were even greater. Although Modi govt has several laurels, clearly, despite being in clear majority, they largely failed to take the political opponents along in their march towards national development.

Opposition Practicing Hate Politics

Hate against Modi were glaringly visible in both words and acts of the opponents to the extent that some of them even talked in public/private of assassinating PM Modi. The reasons for it were varied. The most important was the astounding performance of Modi govt and secondly, lack of any ill doings/corruptions/scams which opposition could have exploited (read “What Makes Modi so Special for India?”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/what-makes-modi-so-special-for-india/ and Successes & Failures of Modi Govt”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/74th-republic-day-successes-and-failures-of-modi-govt/).

The political desperation of Congress party and the Communists after their crushing defeat in 2019 election was the root cause of various protests, disruptions and arsons. The first of it was in the form of Shaheenbaghs protest initiated by Congress party in their effort to appease Muslim vote-bank in 2019. Modi Govt failed to handle this anti-national movement with firmness which encouraged them to indulge more in Farmers’ protests, arsons against ‘Agneepath scheme’ and so on. Amidst declining popularity and rebellion within Congress party, Rahul Gandhi decided to start a ‘walk’ politics giving name of ‘Bharat Jodo’ that must have considerably slimmed his fat bank balance (read ““भारतजोड़ो”: कितनामिथ्याकितनासत्य parts 1 & 2 ?”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/bharat-jodo-protest-of-congress/ andhttps://thecounterviews.in/articles/congress-bharat-jodo-road-march/). Political pundits debate its outcome but he did come partly to be known as ‘Rahul Gandhi’ from his nickname “Pappu”. It is another matter though that by the end of elections in MP, Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh, he lost most of what he had earned. Worst of all, his reputation loss is just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Another reason for the increasing grudges were Enforcement Directorate’s actions against the corrupt opposition politicians that unearthed huge cash and assets thus defaming them (read “Bengal at the heap of corruption“; https://thecounterviews.in/articles/bengal-partha-ssc-cow-smuggling-coal-scam/; “I-N-D-I-A of Thugs” Parts 1, 2 & 3, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/i-n-d-i-a-of-thugs-part-1/; https://thecounterviews.in/articles/i-n-d-i-a-of-thugs-part-2/; https://thecounterviews.in/articles/i-n-d-i-a-of-thugs-part-3/; and “India diseased by three cancers”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/india-diseased-by-three-cancers-the-communalism-congress-and-communism/). It is a fact that amidst Modi govt’s glittering performance likely to be appreciated by the voters, opposition political party are under desperation to find survival instincts.

Legislative Obligations of Modi Govt

Making a legislation thru’ bills passed by both houses of parliament, is a hallmark of performance for any govt. In the last 5 yrs opposition parties of India have grabbed all opportunities to disrupt the parliament during various sessions through well-orchestrated and largely fabricated events be it Farmer’s protest, Pegasus snooping charge, Hindenburg report, demeaning Indian democracy from abroad, violence in Manipur or security breach in the new parliament (read “Security breach in Indian Parliament”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/lessons-from-breach-of-security-in-indian-parliament/).

On 21 Dec 2023 when both houses of parliament came to sine die amidst large numbers of the opposition MPs both from upper and lower houses were suspended for their ugly, unbecoming behaviours. This time too it was ‘I’-way or ‘my-way’ dictat by the opposition demanding statement by the Home Minister while security of the parliament comes under the jurisdiction of Lok Sabha Speaker. Similar trends were exhibited by the opposition earlier too when they demanded statement by the PM on Manipur violence that was under ambit of Home Minister. In the present 5-year term of the Modi govt, nearly 1 ½ year was lost in Covid19 pandemic and remaining 7 sessions doomed by opposition led pandemonium, paralysing the parliament for the major part of the sessions.

Although the govt has been able to pass most of the bills the major ones forming the part of their manifesto, large section of the citizens of India would have wished that the nexus of some of the major national and regional parties are broken with the practitioners of the ‘Vote-bank politics’. Some important legislation in this direction constitute population control, dealing with Pakistani terror and cutting the root of terror network within India. These issues are elaborated in later paras.

Accountability of Modi Govt in Parliament

The entire nation is now trying to gauge the functioning of the Modi govt it their legislative performance. In the important legislative business, despite the disruptions mentioned above, Indian parliament (both LS & RS) were able to pass a total of 224 legislations. Among many important bills, some major bills that concern all citizens, esp BJP election manifesto includes abrogate article 370, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), formation of NMC, reservation for EWS, a revolutionary Farm Act which the middlemen and rich farmers of Punjab/Haryana forced the govt to repeal through a long drawn protest supported by Congress & Communists. Modi Govt enacted another law to provide 30% reservation to women that had been dilly-dallied for last 35 yrs on various pretexts. The last landmark legislation was to repeal the age-old IPC, CrPC & Evidence acts of British era through a fully Indian version of justice against Criminal acts. 

Modi Govt cannot be fully absolved of the ongoing logjam and pandemonium in the parliament. It is invariably the tactfulness of the treasury benches to run the business of the houses. The minister of parliamentary affairs has to be accommodative esp when the opposition is hopeless after repeated drubbing both in Centre and States. However, this cannot be the reason for opposition misbehaviour, the govt of the day has been too lenient towards the opposition. The voters of India have been witnessing the hooliganism of the opposition in the parliament and the disrepute they have brought to the temple of the largest democracy of the world. They surely will remember it while voting the next time in 2024.

Missed opportunities of important legislations

Despite having majority in both houses of the parliament, Modi govt missed out on passing some urgent populist bills some of which include the followings:-

1. Declare Pakistan a Terror Sponsoring State. Amidst increasing threats of Jihadi attacks in India esp after the recent Taliban success in Afghanistan, Pakistan should have been declared a ‘Terrorist nation’ or a ‘State sponsor of terrorism’ sooner than later. (Refer ‘Golden opportunity to label Pakistan as Terrorist State’; ‘Is Indian Govt handling the Pakistan Terror Issues skilfully?’;(read www.thecounterviews.in; issues 3:01 and 3:03 respectively).
2. Recognising Hindu Genocide in Pakistan/Afghanistan/Bangladesh. The Hindu/Sikhs/Christians in Pakistan and Hindus in Bangladesh are being subjected to continuous genocides of which UN/UNSC/UNHRC should have taken cognisance BUT they didn’t. Questions are being raised as to why expect UN to ponder on issues which should have been first dealt by Indian parliament? Surely Modi govt overlooked it immediately after complete genocide of Sikhs/Hindus in Afghanistan in August 2021.
3. The Internal Issues. In addition to the above, there are several populist internal issues that Modi govt couldn’t encash. Some of these include the followings:-

• A bill on Uniform Civil Code as sought even by the Supreme court.
• A Population Control Bill to authorise 2 children norm to any man irrespective of religion.
• A Constitutional amendment bill for preserving the Religious Demography of India as well as identify and deport illegal migrants.
• Right to Employment commensurate with one’s education and skills was an excellent opportunity to enact thru’ Govt, private, Unorganised Sector, Self-Employment, Cooperatives or NGOs (read “Employment to all Indians: A Possibility”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/employment-for-all-indians-a-possibility/).
• Prevention of Radicalisation by controlling the Illegal foreign preachers, flow of Foreign Funds for Radicalisation, Amendment of Religious Books spreading inter-religious hate & intolerance etc.

Although there are several legislative issues pending and troubling the nation owing to Nehruvian blunders and neglect by the previous govts, all cannot be resolved within 2 tenures of the Modi govt. However, the present govt has surely missed out on several challenges to be addressed on priority (read “Urgent Issues being ignored in Indian parliament”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/urgent-issues-being-ignored-parliament/).

Conclusion

There is hardly any doubt that Modi govt has transformed India through its all-round development plans in almost all sectors be it Infrastructure, Economy, Defence, Manufacture, Health & Family Welfares, Upliftment of poor and positioning India well high up on the global platforms. India is also regaining its lost spiritual glories through various religio-cultural projects that no govt of past had the courage amidst pseudo-secularism they practiced.. World is compelled to take note of what ‘New India’ says today. However, BJP has not taken the political opponents along which is adopting desperate measures to name and shame the govt. This has manifested itself into non-cooperation resulting in several logjams in the parliament. It is unfortunate that most of the opposition parties have lost their credibility and are known as bunch of Chors, Thugs, Scamsters, Extortionists, Radicals, Jihadists and so on. Having excelled on several yardsticks, it was an excellent opportunity for Modi govt to further strengthened its hold on the voters by adopting some of the populist measures enumerated above.