Two decades of leadership: A moment to look back and forge ahead

Since then, he has never lost an election as the head of a government and taken on a national role as Prime Minister. On October 7, 2020, Narendra Modi enters his 20th year as the head of a government. It speaks volumes about his ability to win the people’s confidence over and over again, in greater magnitude every time.

However, electoral victories and popularity are phenomena that get noticed often. The tireless work and vision behind the victories are traits that make Modi what he is. Right from his days as CM of Gujarat, Modi stood out among his peers. At a time when power reforms meant political suicide, he took farmers into confidence, reformed Gujarat’s power sector, took electricity to every village and made it a power surplus state. As PM, he took electricity to every village and every household.

When even national level investor summits were rare, Modi started the Vibrant Gujarat investor summit in 2003. Similarly, as PM, he has ensured record FDI inflows. The famed Gujarat model needs no introduction. The state saw bumper growth in agriculture despite having semi-arid regions and rapid growth in infrastructure. Modi ensured freedom for farmers after decades as PM and India’s infrastructure, which has already grown under Modi, is poised to expand further. His emphasis on saving the girl child and educating her through Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has been appreciated. This was a logical extension of his Kanya Kelavani programme in Gujarat for girl child education, where the government, led by the CM, lived in villages and encouraged enrollment of girls in schools.

The reason for Modi’s longevity as an elected leader is his ability to challenge himself continuously, more aggressively than any outsider. He takes the risk of setting targets openly and audaciously. Despite inheriting an administration known for policy paralysis, Modi set specific targets for each of his flagship schemes, be it sanitation, rural electrification, housing for all, potable water for all or doubling farmer incomes.

He represents values that are beyond the layers of governance and politics. He appeals to the best in India and Indians, and manages to bring out the best from them too. He brought out the goodness in people and they made cleanliness a mass movement. In a nation where the prevalent political culture was about giving more and more subsidies, he inspired people to give up their subsidies so that the poor could get free gas connections.

India is a diverse and tolerant civilisation that, at its best, knows how to transcend identities. Modi, a Gujarati, representing a constituency from Uttar Pradesh, does not pander to any partisan caste, community, class or regional considerations. His appeal transcends these divisions and unites people across the nation towards just one purpose – India’s greatness.

The best of Indian tradition teaches stoic dignity in the face of hatred and calumny. It also teaches that such silent, steely and dignified determination powered by the truth eventually outlasts all negativity. That has also been the story of Modi’s rise. A whole ecosystem made him a marked man and has been out to damage his reputation for two decades.

Even a small indiscretion would have meant the end of his political journey. In the face of such intense - mostly unfair - scrutiny, he has gone about working towards achieving his goals for his state and later, the nation. His composure and focus made him unstoppable.

Often, those who are ‘big picture’ people are grand visionaries but cannot translate that vision to the relentless action necessary for achieving it. Then there are those who are good at achieving pre-set targets but cannot grasp the larger picture. However, Modi combines both in himself. He is both a visionary and a workhorse. He has the necessary mindset to come up with a grand vision as well as the precision and persistence to handle the dryness of quotidian tasks that act as steps to achieve the vision.

As he enters his twentieth year as the head of a government, staggering as his past achievements may already have been, his best is yet to come and it will be the making of an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.