In 2014 when the BJP-led NDA government was swept to power in New Delhi, one of its major campaign promises which struck a chord with the electorate was ‘minimum government, maximum governance’. Right-thinking people interpreted this promise as reduction of red tape and intrusion by government into the lives of citizens and sharp focus on the core functions of government, i.e, maintenance of law and order, easing the rigours of doing business, decreasing regulation of the lifestyles of citizens and autonomous academic institutions. Almost three years later, more than half way through the term of the BJP/NDA government, this promise of minimum government has been turned on its head. There is no discernible movement towards reduced intrusion in the lives of citizens. On the contrary, under the Finance Bill 2017-18 pushed through Parliament as a money bill, the power of income tax officials to intrude into the lives of citizens has widened. Soon, IT officials will have the authority to raid the homes and offices of citizens without judicial search warrants and seize books of account and documents, and “provisionally” seize the property and assets of suspected tax evaders and defaulters. Meanwhile in the country’s streets, cow protection, love jihad and moral police vigilantes with the tacit support of BJP governments at the Centre and in several states are running amok, imposing Hindu revivalist manners and mores upon the populace. And for a professedly right wing economics party, the BJP is curiously reluctant to privatise the country’s mammoth loss-making public sector enterprises (PSEs) to release resources for redeployment in human capital development, i.e, public education and health. Nor does India Inc report any progress on the ease of doing business under the watch of the three-year-old Narendra Modi government. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the priority of the BJP/NDA government is consolidation of the Hindu majority vote by keeping anti-minority rhetoric, Ram mandir and hindutva vigilantism in the media headlines. Moreover, by neglecting the vital issues of liberalising business and industry and free markets while indulging in pro-poor rhetoric, prime minister Modi is following in the footsteps of former prime minister Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) who squandered a huge electoral victory in 1971 by stifling private enterprise and introducing a slew of populist policies which released the genie of inflation and devastated the economy. Half way through his term in office at the Centre, this is a good time for prime minister Modi and the BJP to shift their focus to firmly improving the law, order and justice machinery, meaningfully privatise PSEs and slash red tape and improve the ease of doing business to enable job creation on a massive scale. The BJP/prime minister seem unaware that the national mood pendulum could quickly swing the other way. Indian society has lost its ethnic pride Shocking but true. the poison of atavistic colour prejudice which one would have thought had died a natural death in the globalised economy of the new millennium, seems to be spreading again in several countries around…
