Modi And BJP Are Failing in Parliament

The end of the year should have been triumphant  for Narendra Modi . Government was running well and   electoral victories in  Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand  and  Kashmir  were  stunning.  But the Winter session in Parliament was not successful . The BJP has a  majority in  Lok Sabha . But in  Rajya Sabha,    BJP has no majority. In such  situations,  if  Government wants  a  Law  passed, it can  have a Joint session of both  Houses and get  Bills passed. However this is an extreme remedy and rarely done.  The BJP government wanted to pass many laws in Rajya sabha   to help the economy. The Opposition sensed this urgent need of the Government and started raising  difficulties, using  any pretext.

Prime Minister Modi and his foreign visits

Narendra Modi’s rivals have started attacking him for undertaking frequent foreign travel. Incidentally, Rajiv Gandhi was also criticized for his foreign travels. But Rajiv Gandhi achieved more by his foreign visits than he did in India. The Prime Minister is not a Chief Minister or a Zilla Parishad chairman. The main job of the Central government is safety, security and economic stability. These can be assured only through great diplomacy. Charles Talleyrand the French diplomat did more for France than Napoleon. Machiavelli did more for Italy than its Dukes.

Narendra Modi's first cabinet reshuffle

Instead of going into names of Ministers, their castes and regional backgrounds, it might be better to have a general over-view of the positives of Cabinet expansion and the limitations that Narendra Modi faced. Barely 5 months have passed and Prime Minister Modi had to go in for a major re-shuffle of his cabinet. There is nothing wrong for a Prime minister in a parliamentary system of government to re-shuffle or expand his cabinet. It is obvious that in the last 5 months some weaknesses have become obvious in the functioning of the government. The existing cabinet was in-adequate both in numbers  and quality to deal with the problems.

Modi's first expansion of his cabinet

Modi, Indira Gandhi and “Imposed“ Chief Ministers; The electoral victories in Haryana and Maharashtra of BJP has had two consequences. All the critics of Narendra Modi had to shut up. Then the second more controversial consequence is that Modi  has become an all powerful political figure in India and therefore can appoint anyone he likes as Chief Ministers. The selection of two total novices as Chief Ministers of Haryana and big economic state of India Maharashtra has caused shock and an anticipation that things will definitely go wrong. Who are Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana and Devendra  Fadnavis of Maharashtra? The BJP says they are new faces, clean and generally wonderful fellows. No one has heard of them before. Neither of them has any experience in running any part of a state government. Narendra Modi might like them. But is that enough to be Chief Ministers of two most important states, where the BJP has never formed a government?

Congress Should Avoid Mistakes to Survive

The surprising election results of Haryana and Maharashtra Assemblies have thrown Indian politics into confusion. The results are a great victory for BJP and terrible defeat for Congress. Both Maharashtra and Haryana have been ruled by Congress for a long period and are very important States economically. The BJP had never ruled either Haryana or Maharashtra. For the first time, BJP is going to rule Haryana and Maharashtra. The BJP will become a major force and the Congress will have to find new strategies to survive.

BJP had no Option but to break Shiv Sena Alliance

The elections to Haryana and Maharashtra are on October 15, 2014. The most un-expected things have happened. In Maharashtra, the 25 year old iron alliance with the Shiv Sena was broken.  This sudden situation has surprised everyone.  You see, the BJP did not act   as it was expected. The BJP refused to be insulted and refused to succumb to threats. The problem with threats is sometimes threats do not work.  

Ideally, BJP which is in power in Delhi needed to have Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to win state elections.  If the Congress party forms a government in these two states, it will be a major setback to BJP.

Narendra Modi and the USA

THE way peoples' fortunes change suddenly is astonishing. Just a 100 days ago, the USA refused to give a Visa to Narendra Modi. Now by Sept. 25,Modi is in  the USA as an honored guest. In fact Modi will be hosted by the US President Barack Obama. Who would have imagined barely a few months ago that Modi would be the Prime Minister or going to USA? Remember that prime minister  Modi was denied a US visa for 12 years.

Prime Minister Modi had met the Prime Minister of Japan, the Prime Minister of Australia, the President of China and the President of Russia at the BRICs meeting in Brazil. The only important person in the world stage  whom he has not met is President Barack Obama of the USA and this gap is being filled now.

Will Narendra Modi’s “ Make in India“ work?

Prime Minister had launched yet one more campaign on sept. 25, 2014, titled

‘Make in India “. The  objective is to encourage Indian industry and entrepreneurs to produce in India. Right now, manufacturing sector contributes only 15% of GDP. The objective is to raise it to 25%.

If manufacturing contributes 25% of our GDP, then obviously there will be the benefits of more employment and also higher incomes and reduced import bill. We may even reduce our gap with the Chinese which is biggest trade partner. The benefits are many. But can we achieve it ?

Hurdles to achieving the target of 25% contribution by manufacturing to GDP.

Pullarao Pentapati - Different friends : Japan and China

In the last month, India has seen our Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit Japan and completed a very successful tour. Immediately, we find that the Chinese President. Xi Jinping is in india and he also had a very successful visit. It has been rare to have two such events and visits take place rapidly in the same month .

Pullarao Pentapati - Is Prime Minister Modi Keeping Foreign Economic Advisers at Distance

Prior to the elections and the assumption of office by Narendra Modi, there was talk that he was a willing recipient of advice by diverse foreign-based economists.

Prominent among these names were Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia and Prof. Arvind Panagariya. The former London School of Economics Professor Lord Meghnad Desai was also viewed as a potential economic adviser. There were many other names too.

Pullarao Pentapati - New Telugu Governments damaging Telugu pride

There is a consensus that after 45 days Narendra Modi’s prestige has gone up and he is performing better than expected.  It is nearly two months since the two new States Telengana and Andhra Pradesh have been formed.   It is time to examine how they are faring.  One can definitely assess the two Chief Ministers and their interactions with Narendra Modi and his government and what Delhi thinks of them.

Pullarao Pentapati - The coming Budget on July 10, 2014

Within a day, we will know whether Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is any different from   Congress Finance Minister.  I would like to warn Narendra  Modi that he does not  have  5 years time.  Many advisers say that for two years there must be harsh measures and then after that, government can show progress and give people benefits.

Pullarao Pentapati - Land acquisition must be handled sensitively by Government

There is talk that the  Land acquisition Act of 2013 is going to be amended as state governments and industry eel that the law is too strict and  land availability  will become  severe hindrance for industry purposes .In my opinion, the new law of 2013 is actually anti-farmer. 

Pullarao Pentapati - The new Government and Foreign Affairs

When the new BJP –led government took over, there were instant apprehensions that it would adopt a muscular tone and would be very assertive. Initially, it was also expected that the government would send some cold signals to various countries. All trough the campaign, the BJO touched the feelings of most Indians that our foreign policy as not successful and the old methods and policies might have to change.  Indians generally felt that a country the size of India was not getting due respect from neighbors.

Pullarao Pentapati - Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Just a year ago, no one would have believed Narendra Modi   would become Prime Minister. There were many hurdles and no one expected that the BJP would win this election so well. Many politicians bet that there would be a Hung-Parliament and both BJP and Congress would not find numbers to form a government   and regional players would play the big role. A thing turned out differently .There was no room for manipulations and Narendra Modi became Prime Minister on May 26, 2014.  Ambitious Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalitha went humbly to Modi and bowed.   The neglected AAm Admi   and middle classes have the highest expectations.

Pullarao Pentapati - Can Modi avoid a Jumbo cabinet?

The entire country applauded Narendramodi for having avoided alarge cabinet at his swearing-in ceremony. There was satisfaction that a compact Cabinet will be there and it will be carefully watched and that there will be severe performance standards. It was expected that a non-performingminister will be punished and Ministers whodeliver willberewarded.

Pullarao Pentapati - Can Narendra Modi's Big Four in the Cabinet perform?

Narendra Modi has succeeded for the moment in having a small government. Modi has been consistently saying that he will give  " Minimum government.Maximum government ".

He has given a reasonably small cabinet. But it can be smaller definitely. However, there are now many worries on whether the Cabinet has the talent and shrewdness in meeting the erected and existing challenges.

Pullarao Pentapati - Modi Should Have a Small Cabinet

There are good signs that Narendra  Modi  will settle for a small cabinet. In the last 30 years, particularly since the fall of the Congress government in 1996, we have had gigantic cabinets. The maximum limit set by law is that the Government will not have more Ministers than 11% of the combined strength of the two houses of Parliament.

Pullarao Pentapati - Congress Helped Narendra Modi by its Mistakes

 After  10  years of un-challenged rule,  Congress stares at defeat. Defeat in politics  is a certainty for everyone . The   British politician  Enoch Powell  famously said  “All politics  ends in failure  unless they are cut  off midstream at a happy juncture, because that is the nature of politics  and  life “. There is a  lesson for Rahul Gandhi in this statement. Whatever excuses are made for Congress and Rahul Gandhi,  blame is at his door.  Along with Enoch Powell, Rahul Gandhi should also  remember  that the American president John Kennedy said “Victory has many fathers and  defeat is an orphan”.

Pullarao Pentapati - Narendra Modi's First Challenge

This is purely speculation and it might never come to pass that Narendra Modi will become Prime Minister. But if he does form a government, the first problem will be his Cabinet formation.

There are about 40 people who were Ministers in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government of 1998- 2004 vintage still around. They will expect to become Ministers. Then there are other seniors like Kalyan Singh who will expect to be made Ministers.