Agnipath: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Nike model' just doesn't do it

From land acquisition to GST to Agnipath, the Prime Minister seems to put outcome ahead of the process

Until Narendra Modi became prime minister, it was generally assumed that political polarisation was something that happened to the uneducated masses who could be fooled easily.

But things have changed now, as the fuss over the much-needed service reform via the Agnipath programme shows. Educated, vastly experienced, and perfectly sensible people, too, are polarised now where one side thinks Mr Modi can do no wrong and the other thinks he can't do anything right. Facts have become irrelevant.

And this is because of the prime minister. His intent is right. His style of achieving that intent is bewildering.

Not just that. PM Modi has not learnt from four previous major fiascos over his attempts at economic reforms: the land acquisition ordinance, the labour code policy, GST, and the farm bills.

All were suddenly announced, and in all four cases, the government had lots of eggs on its face. In two instances — land acquisition and farm laws — much-needed reform has had to be postponed indefinitely.

Some people think it's because Mr Modi believes a large majority in parliament is enough reason to avoid discussion and debate. Others say he wants everything to yield political dividends for him and his party and therefore gets the process and timing of reform wrong. A third group thinks he is incompetent. A fourth thinks he is a dictator. And so on.

How can a person who genuinely means well do things so badly? Each of the reforms mentioned above was entirely in the national interest. Yet Mr Modi's government failed to prepare the country for them.

Preparation is necessary because all reform creates losers along with winners. The winner would have been the government in each of the above cases. The losers, therefore, have to be told why.

But it was only after protests that the government's social media machinery began explaining the reforms. By then, the damage had been done.

The change in Mr Modi

The most important reason for this, I think, is that after he became prime minister, Mr Modi has become more focused on outcomes and very impatient with the process. This is the exact opposite of how he approached things after 2007 after he decided to go for the top job.

I followed his Gujarat days closely and even had three very long conversations with him between 2010 and 2013. He never showed any haste then. Indeed, from all accounts, he doesn't even now.

Thus, when he was aiming to take over the leadership of the BJP, he didn't suddenly announce one fine day that he wanted to be prime minister. He prepared the ground for it very carefully. After all, it was Mr L K Advani, a colossus of the BJP; he was planning to displace.

It was a delicate and long-drawn process that began with his physical appearance and gradually marketed the Gujarat model. From the slow convincing of the party leadership that the rank and file wanted him, to ensuring that he was nominated for the prime minister's job, it was a very patient exercise.

Indeed, even after he became prime minister, he didn't do anything dramatic for the first few months. But then, one fine day, we saw an entirely different Modi. He suddenly brought the land acquisition ordinance. Six months later, he gave up the attempt.

2015 and most of 2016 passed uneventfully. Then in November 2016, he suddenly announced demonetisation. Then in July 2017, he introduced GST, which was still half-baked and for which adequate preparations had not been made.

And true to his newfound style in 2020, he surprised everyone with the sudden announcement of the new farm laws, which he repealed a year later.

And now we have Agnipath.