PM Modi completes one more year in power; BJP to mark day with welfare events

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 29

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will complete two years of his second tenure at the Centre. Otherwise, it has been seven years since he assumed power.

Unlike the first five years, the first year was tough for the BJP-led NDA government 2.0 whether the protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, or loss of political ground in states like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Delhi, and Haryana.

However, the past year is easily the most difficult for PM Modi ever since he assumed power seven years ago, with farmers’ protest against the three farm laws and questions over the handling/management of the second wave of deadly coronavirus by his government occupying the centrestage and the mind-space not just in India but across the World.

As PM Modi completes one more year in power amidst what has been described as a “once in a century pandemic”, the road ahead for him and his party is expected to get only tougher. In the past year, the BJP lost one state it been politically investing in for five years, West Bengal, and is now facing an uphill task in one of the most crucial states in the country—Uttar Pradesh.

The effects of the farmers’ agitation, the growing negative perceptions over his government’s “handling of the second wave of the Covid-19 virus” and the opposition’s build-up over “missing Covid-19 vaccines” is showing. In fact, the results of the recent panchayat polls in UP are, to an extent, commentary on the issues the PM and the BJP have been facing of late.

Improving the perceptions and confidence of people in him will be among his biggest challenges as PM Modi steps into the third year of his second tenure tomorrow. The future of the BJP governments in poll-bound states like UP, Gujarat, Uttarakhand depends upon how well he delivers on the issues concerning the people, healthcare, economy, and jobs, etc, and compensates those who suffered in the deadly second wave.

It will not be an easy job, say observers. The pandemic has exposed huge gaps, denting the reputation of the PM and the saffron party on the delivery front.  In fact, the Assembly elections next year will be a referendum on both the BJP and PM Modi. The Ram temple at Ayodhya will not be able to cover for the party now, they say.

The BJP is not celebrating PM Modi’s seventh year in power with its usual blitzkrieg. Instead, the saffron party has decided not to organise any public function. It has set a target of covering 100,000 villages, organising blood donation camps, and other welfare functions. Ministers have been told to visit villages and interact with people through video. The party will also organise welfare programmes for children orphaned by the Covid-19.

On the sixth anniversary in power, last year, the party released a video highlighting the achievements of PM Modi’s government like the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, abrogation of Article 370 to divest Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, and the passage of the CAA, etc.