Tired of the large scale corruption in the UPA regime, the people of India voted Narendra Modi to power in 2014 with a thumping majority.
The Modi wave worked its magic and despite conventional media supporting the UPA as usual, the saffron brigade worked out an inimitable social media strategy that played a pivotal role in Modi’s victory.
What Modi had promised the people then was hope: People overseas would queue up for an Indian visa, black money would be recovered and deposited in the bank accounts of the poor etc etc. These are tall promises and undoubtedly tough to execute.
But, it was the purge of Muslims in Gujarat following the Godhra incident that actually helped Modi to win over a large section of the Hindu population to his side.
In 2019, however, there is undeniably an air of disappointment with the performance of the NDA.
Demonetisation has been their biggest failure whereas the GST although contemplated during the UPA regime, is facing challenges in execution still. But there have been positives also.
The discussions have centred on economic issues and not communal matters. This is a huge plus for any country.
Political stability also helped Modi take prompt action whether it be the surgical strikes or the response to the Pulwama attack. These acts have definitely boosted the image of Modi back home.
The UPA is hopeful that its proposed NYAY scheme will do the trick for it in 2019.
The Congress Party’s 2019 election manifesto has promised a ‘Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme’ (MIGS), formally called Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), to five crore ‘poorest families ’ covering 25 crore people by assuring them a guaranteeing minimum income of ₹6,000 per month or ₹72,000 a year. This will require Rs 3.6 lakh crore per year which is roughly around 1.9 percent of our GDP.
While raising the money for this scheme might seem feasible, there are hundreds of unanswered questions about the concept of lifting people out of poverty by giving them cash transfers instead of enabling them to gain meaningful employment.
Once accustomed to such kinds of cash transfers, will the beneficiaries give them up once their situation improves?
The NYAY scheme is just a synonym for ‘economic reservations’. How will the beneficiaries be determined in the first place? Will they include BJP voters as well? How does UPA intend to raise the funds for this scheme? So many questions!
In summary, the BJP which got a distinction in 2014 might scrape through with a ‘second or third class’ pass marks this time around.
While Pulwama might help them in this regard, the NYAY scheme might just take away a large chunk of their rural voters helping the UPA improve its tally over 2014.