The Challenges Ahead For NDA 3.0 As Modi Takes Oath Today
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-06-09 01:17:03
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
Narendra Modi will take
oath today as Prime Minister for the third time. Sources have reported that 30
ministers will also take oath today, with the TDP getting four berths and the
JD(U) 2. For the first time in 10 years, Modi will be heading a NDA government
in which the BJP does not have absolute majority in Parliament and is dependent
on unreliable allies - mainly Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP and Nitish Kumar of
the JD(U). Contrary to all expectations and expert views, the BJP performed
badly in its strongholds and in direct fights with the Congress. It failed to
secure a majority on its own. Instead of its professed aim of having a 'Congress-mukt
Bharat', the party saw its foot print getting reduced in states like UP, Bihar,
Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bengal and the North-East. The gains in Odisha
and other states were not enough to take the party beyond the majority mark of
272.
Although Modi has talked
of a new spirit of competitive cooperative federalism and sarv dharm sambhav (like the sabka saath, sabka vikas slogan in 2014) and has also warned allies that he
is not known to bow down to pressure, it is clear that his wings have been
clipped and the dictatorial tendencies, which marked his first two terms, will
be less visible now as the opposition is strong and his own government is
shaky. The INDIA alliance has said that it will move at the right time (which
means it will try to explore government formation with breakaway allies of the
NDA) and Mamata Banerjee has warned that governments in the past have fallen in
just one day.
Even without speculating
on how stable the new government will be, it is clear that Modi will have to
tread the path with caution. He will have to press the pause button on the
controversial (like UCC) items on the BJP agenda and instead focus on
development. He will also have to deal with increasing demands from Naidu and
Nitish Kumar as both have hinted they will need special favours for
their states Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively. With inflation not going
away and job creation not picking up, Modi has a tough task on hand. The
bright spots are that the economy is performing well and the monsoon is likely
to be normal. Still, it is evident that NDA 3.0 will not have a smooth ride.
