Modi’s poll pragmatism & revdi culture

AS Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi was dead against individual beneficiary schemes. He even berated the employment safety-valve programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). As Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ran a blistering campaign, most stridently in 2022, against providing cash and other free benefits to people, contemptuously terming them freebies and ‘revdis’.

PM Modi then gradually turned more tolerant towards the freebies and ‘revdis’, particularly those distributed by his party and ally chief ministers, including the Ladli Behan (Madhya Pradesh), Ladki Bahin (Maharashtra) schemes. He also quietly moderated his rhetoric against the ‘revdi’ culture.

On September 26, PM Modi transferred Rs 10,000 in the bank accounts of 75 lakh women under election-bound Bihar's scheme, the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana (MMRY). This programme promises cash assistance of Rs 2 lakh to more than 1.5 crore women and is likely to ultimately cost the government Rs 3 lakh crore! Undoubtedly, the MMRY is the mother of all freebies. How has this total transformation come about? Let me relate the story.

I joined as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in July 2017. At that time, PM Modi's strong views against populist expenditure by the states, the MGNREGA and other benefits programmes were widely known. Yet, I was taken aback when the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) wanted the draft Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) proposed by the Finance Ministry to be modified to include an unprecedented ToR that deprived funds to states spending money on populist schemes before elections.

While the sentiment was understandable, it was not the job of the FC to use such a factor for determining the shares of states in the sharable pool of Central taxes. I managed to figure out a compromise solution to accommodate the PMO’s directive. A measurable, performance-based incentive scheme was designed for incentivising and disincentivising states. It had nine criteria, including control or lack of it in incurring expenditure on populist measures.

In 2022, PM Modi launched a blistering attack against the prevalent populist and freebies culture, using the 'revdis' metaphor. He castigated governments led by opposition parties for “indulging in the revdi culture to secure votes” and patted his own back by highlighting that "the double engine government is working towards creating new expressways and rail routes." He lamented that the revdi culture would take "India towards darkness."

Modi's lead was followed by party functionaries and sympathetic narrative-builders. PILs were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the practice of political parties promising freebies during elections and requesting directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to "seize election symbols and deregister political parties that promise to distribute freebies using public funds during election campaigns." The mission against populist expenditure, freebies and revdi culture went full blast.

The opposition parties, most unabashedly Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, were stridently in favour of delivering freebies to the people —both in kind (eg free electricity) and cash (direct transfer to beneficiaries).

The Congress promised many freebies, pushed as guarantees, in Karnataka and Telangana, which seemingly helped it to wrest power in these two states. The Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh also embarked on many populist schemes for the poor, government servants, unemployed and others before the 2023 elections.

Worried about a Karnataka-like impact, Modi dropped his ideological opposition to freebies and launched a long list of Modi Guarantees, which were nothing but a copycat version of opposition parties' schemes. Ladli Behan was launched in MP. The people perhaps found PM Modi's guarantees of freebies more credible. The freebies/ ‘revdis’ guaranteed by Modi helped the BJP romp home in the elections in all the three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Modi's anti-revdis rhetoric started disappearing from his speeches and the BJP campaign. Instead, the creditworthiness of his guarantees began to be highlighted.

Subsequent state elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand confirmed that PM Modi had adopted ‘revdis’ as the big instrument of winning election politics, in addition to the Hindutva agenda.

The freebies became the centre of a cut-throat competition between PM Modi, the BJP and its allies on one side and the Congress and other opposition parties on the other side.

The ‘revdis’ promised by the ruling party tend to appear more credible to the voters unless there is serious anti-incumbency against it. In Haryana and Maharashtra, the ruling BJP (with Shiv Sena) won; in Jharkhand, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won.

Bihar's MMRY is the mother of all ‘revdi’ schemes. It is also a classic populist scheme, launched just before elections. The scheme promises a payment of Rs 2 lakh over a period of time to every Bihar woman who registers with the government, promising to start some 'rojgar'. On registration, she gets Rs 10,000 in her bank account. The rest (Rs 1.90 lakh) has been promised to be delivered after the elections. The declaration of elections in Bihar is only a few days away. Reportedly 1.5 crore women have registered already. Rs 10,000 has been paid in the accounts of 75 lakh women. On October 3, the remaining registered women will get Rs 10,000 each.

The Bihar MMRY is a state scheme. Yet, PM Modi delivered the transfer of Rs 10,000 in the accounts of 75 lakh women. These women will be casting their votes soon. Modi used the occasion to launch the ruling party alliance's election campaign in Bihar.

Prime Minister Modi is distributing ‘revdis’ now. What will it mean for India's politics? Time will tell is a favourite cliche. Let us see.

Subhash Chandra Garg is former Finance Secretary.