We’ve already seen the Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto and Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi’s own promises for the nation. But there are always more things to be done and many people to make demands, as Modi is discovering. Lengthy newspaper columns have been written and much digital ink has been spilled by Indians (and plenty of non-Indians too) setting out what they expect a Modi sarkar to do.
Some are specific (“The new government should begin by reducing the excess food stocks held by the Food Corporation of India”) while others are generic to the point of being unnecessary (“appoint [the] right people”).
Here are some suggestions that have been made so far.
Bring Ram Rajya
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has made it very clear what it is expecting from the Modi government. That item also features in the BJP manifesto: building a Ram mandir on the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. That’s not the only thing the VHP expects. At a press conference, VHP International President Ashok Singhal said he also expects the Ganga to be cleaned up, a law against cow slaughter and a way of protecting “enduring holistic culture” by incorporating its “vitals in educational curriculum”.
But the Ayodhya temple is key. “We wanted to come in such large numbers that the Ram temple is also built subsequently and no one dares to bring the temple down,” Singhal said.
Remove business irritants
The corporate world is practically salivating at the thought of a Modi government, with the expectation that – as promised over the course of the campaign – the Big Business-friendly Gujarat Model will be implemented across the country.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has asked for measures to address food inflation, a roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax by 2015 as well as roadmaps on job creation and national competitiveness.
Confederation of Indian Industry President Ajay Shriram, meanwhile, asked for Modi to remove certain “irritants”. "A huge thrust has to be on implementation since that yields results most visibly," Shriram said. "Then there are irritants like the Land Acquisition Act and the new Companies Act, which need comprehensive overhaul.”
Cut subsidies
If The Times of India’s unnamed sources are to be believed, a few ministries are going to do the impossible: tell the Centre that they want less money. A report in the newspaper suggested that bureaucrats in the finance, fertiliser and petroleum ministries — which, together, account for the lion’s share of the country’s subsidy bill — will tell the government that they should not be getting the handouts any more. Along with an end to the subsidies is the expectation that the ministries will be able to set whatever price they see fit for the products they control.
“The petroleum ministry is backing an immediate increase of around Rs 250 a cylinder for subsidised cooking gas, even as the monthly diesel price hike has been resumed so that the gap of Rs 4.40 paise a litre is bridged,” the Times reported. Oil and gas retailers themselves have been asking for fuel markets to be completely freed, which they claim will be good for the market and investment, but will also make it much more expensive to fill fuel tanks.
Investigate the Gandhis
Wade into the murky waters that the right-wing inhabits online, and you’ll find lots and lots of demands for the Modi government to finally take on the family that his fans believe are responsible for what they see as India’s downfall. But it’s not just the loony right that has asked for Congress President Sonia Gandhi to be expelled and Vice President Rahul Gandhi to be defenestrated.
Other too are hoping to see Modi take on the family that underpins the Congress. “Whether or not Sonia Gandhi becomes leader of the Opposition, how will the Gandhi family's perks be handled, in particular the dodgy real estate acquisitions of Robert Vadra?” Sunil Sethi wrote in the Business Standard. “Without being vindictive, as Mr Modi promised in his campaign, the rules bent and broken for Mr Vadra to amass his real estate fortune in Haryana and Rajasthan will have to be legally pursued.“
Freedom for films
Bollywood is going to be well represented in the Parliament this time around, and plenty of the film stars have won Lok Sabha seats. After years of competitive intolerance between political groups to demand bans on movies and books that they claim have caused offence, many are now demanding that Modi sarkar finds a way to prevent this.
Although Modi is not known as someone who appreciates dissent, Bollywood offers up an economic argument — that films are industry, as notified by the last BJP government, and deserve freedom. The ability to ensure releases of films even if someone is offended is also crucial, since it becomes a matter of law enforcement.
“If, say the Board censors a movie, the government of the day should do everything to ensure its screening,” producer Ajit Andhare told Mid Day. "If the government does not have the power to help a certified movie screen in cinemas, I’d say the law-and-order situation is fractured."
Southern second-in-command
The South is the only part of India that truly stayed away from the Modi wave, although the BJP managed to pick up seats in Karnataka, while its alliance partner did well in Seemandhra. This has prompted former civil servant Gopalkrishna Gandhi to put forward an interesting, if unlikely, proposition. “Mr. Modi, there is a southern deficit in your India calculus," he wrote. "The Hindi-belt image of your victory should not tighten itself into a North-South divide. Please appoint a deputy prime minister from the South, who is not a politician at all, but an expert social scientist, ecologist, economist or a demographer.”
Say no to America
Modi’s arrival on the big stage has piqued the interest of foreign offices across the neighbourhood and the world, with China being no exception. One newspaper in that country was so bullish on Modi that it bristled at the standard comparison to Japan President Shinzo Abe, insisting instead that he is more like former American President Richard Nixon, who famously visited China and established relations between the two during the Cold War. This has created expectations that Modi, who had been denied an American visa for the past nine years because of his alleged involvement in the 2002 riots, could be more firm with the US internationally.
“I believe India under Mr. Modi might become more India-centric and dare to say ‘no’ to the US when it comes to India’s strategic autonomy,” said Chinese strategic expert Lan Jianxue.
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Some are specific (“The new government should begin by reducing the excess food stocks held by the Food Corporation of India”) while others are generic to the point of being unnecessary (“appoint [the] right people”).
Here are some suggestions that have been made so far.
Bring Ram Rajya
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has made it very clear what it is expecting from the Modi government. That item also features in the BJP manifesto: building a Ram mandir on the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. That’s not the only thing the VHP expects. At a press conference, VHP International President Ashok Singhal said he also expects the Ganga to be cleaned up, a law against cow slaughter and a way of protecting “enduring holistic culture” by incorporating its “vitals in educational curriculum”.
But the Ayodhya temple is key. “We wanted to come in such large numbers that the Ram temple is also built subsequently and no one dares to bring the temple down,” Singhal said.
Remove business irritants
The corporate world is practically salivating at the thought of a Modi government, with the expectation that – as promised over the course of the campaign – the Big Business-friendly Gujarat Model will be implemented across the country.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has asked for measures to address food inflation, a roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax by 2015 as well as roadmaps on job creation and national competitiveness.
Confederation of Indian Industry President Ajay Shriram, meanwhile, asked for Modi to remove certain “irritants”. "A huge thrust has to be on implementation since that yields results most visibly," Shriram said. "Then there are irritants like the Land Acquisition Act and the new Companies Act, which need comprehensive overhaul.”
Cut subsidies
If The Times of India’s unnamed sources are to be believed, a few ministries are going to do the impossible: tell the Centre that they want less money. A report in the newspaper suggested that bureaucrats in the finance, fertiliser and petroleum ministries — which, together, account for the lion’s share of the country’s subsidy bill — will tell the government that they should not be getting the handouts any more. Along with an end to the subsidies is the expectation that the ministries will be able to set whatever price they see fit for the products they control.
“The petroleum ministry is backing an immediate increase of around Rs 250 a cylinder for subsidised cooking gas, even as the monthly diesel price hike has been resumed so that the gap of Rs 4.40 paise a litre is bridged,” the Times reported. Oil and gas retailers themselves have been asking for fuel markets to be completely freed, which they claim will be good for the market and investment, but will also make it much more expensive to fill fuel tanks.
Investigate the Gandhis
Wade into the murky waters that the right-wing inhabits online, and you’ll find lots and lots of demands for the Modi government to finally take on the family that his fans believe are responsible for what they see as India’s downfall. But it’s not just the loony right that has asked for Congress President Sonia Gandhi to be expelled and Vice President Rahul Gandhi to be defenestrated.
Other too are hoping to see Modi take on the family that underpins the Congress. “Whether or not Sonia Gandhi becomes leader of the Opposition, how will the Gandhi family's perks be handled, in particular the dodgy real estate acquisitions of Robert Vadra?” Sunil Sethi wrote in the Business Standard. “Without being vindictive, as Mr Modi promised in his campaign, the rules bent and broken for Mr Vadra to amass his real estate fortune in Haryana and Rajasthan will have to be legally pursued.“
Freedom for films
Bollywood is going to be well represented in the Parliament this time around, and plenty of the film stars have won Lok Sabha seats. After years of competitive intolerance between political groups to demand bans on movies and books that they claim have caused offence, many are now demanding that Modi sarkar finds a way to prevent this.
Although Modi is not known as someone who appreciates dissent, Bollywood offers up an economic argument — that films are industry, as notified by the last BJP government, and deserve freedom. The ability to ensure releases of films even if someone is offended is also crucial, since it becomes a matter of law enforcement.
“If, say the Board censors a movie, the government of the day should do everything to ensure its screening,” producer Ajit Andhare told Mid Day. "If the government does not have the power to help a certified movie screen in cinemas, I’d say the law-and-order situation is fractured."
Southern second-in-command
The South is the only part of India that truly stayed away from the Modi wave, although the BJP managed to pick up seats in Karnataka, while its alliance partner did well in Seemandhra. This has prompted former civil servant Gopalkrishna Gandhi to put forward an interesting, if unlikely, proposition. “Mr. Modi, there is a southern deficit in your India calculus," he wrote. "The Hindi-belt image of your victory should not tighten itself into a North-South divide. Please appoint a deputy prime minister from the South, who is not a politician at all, but an expert social scientist, ecologist, economist or a demographer.”
Say no to America
Modi’s arrival on the big stage has piqued the interest of foreign offices across the neighbourhood and the world, with China being no exception. One newspaper in that country was so bullish on Modi that it bristled at the standard comparison to Japan President Shinzo Abe, insisting instead that he is more like former American President Richard Nixon, who famously visited China and established relations between the two during the Cold War. This has created expectations that Modi, who had been denied an American visa for the past nine years because of his alleged involvement in the 2002 riots, could be more firm with the US internationally.
“I believe India under Mr. Modi might become more India-centric and dare to say ‘no’ to the US when it comes to India’s strategic autonomy,” said Chinese strategic expert Lan Jianxue.
