Why I am disappointed with Modi

Like many others I also voted for Modi in 2014 with lot of hope. I also had been waiting for the “acche din” for the last 4 years. I am matured enough to understand that all election promises can’t be fulfilled. But the shortfall between promises and expectations is huge. Here I list down things where Modi has been a big disappointment.

1. Putting corrupt behind bar: 2014 election was all about corruption. We expected once Modi is in power, he will put many of these politicians behind bar. We knew that there is enough evidence in 2G, Coal, CWG and other scams to put politicians behind bar. However, its been 4 years and not one politician is behind bar. Even Raja and others from DMK have been released as CBI did not produce enough evidence in the court. We all know who controls CBI, this is an indication that BJP is looking to keep its options open for future political tie-up in Tamil Nadu or got a share in the loot. Rather than putting these corrupt politicians behind bar, BJP is welcoming them to join their own party. Narayan Rane, Naresh Agarwal, Mukul Roy, Yeddyurappa…the list is endless.
2. Banking bailout & no privatization: Every 4-5 years these banks are provided equity funding or bailout as loans to corporates become NPA. This is nothing but method of taking money from the pocket of middle class and putting it in the pocket of super rich business and politicians. We expected Modi to stop this bailout. We expected him to sell or merger public sector banks and limit the number of public sector banks to one or two. We expected him to take a firm decision that these banks would not get any bailout or equity funding from government and to survive they will have to fend for themselves. They can raise equity from public or other investors. Tax payer money should not be used to fund these banks.
3. Populistic measures like farm loan waiver: Every government when in power retorts to populistic measures like farm loan waivers to get votes. We expected Modi to be different. Today most of the BJP rules stated including UP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, MP are giving out farm loan waiver. We all know these farm loan waivers are frauds as these never reach the really needy farmer and always goes into the pocket of rich farmers, bureaucrat and politicians. There are ghost farmers and ghost loans on the books of cooperative banks and other banks which are created to get farm loan in future. Why not insist on Aadhaar linking before any waiver of farm loan?
4. Reservation & minority appeasement: We were sick of previous government because of minority appeasement. We expected Modi to bat for Uniform Civil Code which would mean all would be treated equally. The forefathers of Indian Constitution wanted reservation to be over in 1976, but it continued as all previous government wanted to appease minority. We expected, Modi would put an end to it. However, he also continued with the practice of minority appeasement. From Gujarat to Haryana more and more upper caste is now demanding reservation and BJP government is appeasing them. The only solution to this problem is to eliminate the reservation policy completely. But he didn’t have the 56-inch chest he claimed to have to take the strong stand.  
5. Bureaucrats / Government servants are still not working: Initially, when Modi came to power we heard he is making bureaucrats work. We heard that he has linked their attendance to Aadhaar and there is a fear that attendance record is available for all bureaucrats in PMO. But nothing has changed. Again, bureaucrats / government servants are not there in office, leave alone working. Earlier they used to sit on files now they move it around in circles. On more than one occasion, my complain to PMO has been closed after few months without any action.
6. Courts are still not working: One of the biggest problem with India is its judiciary. There is more nepotism in judiciary than even in politics. There are cases which are pending for decade including cases against politicians. We expected Modi to take some strict action, we expected him to use digital technologies to deliver justice faster. Courts continue to remain as slow as ever. Today only an idiot would file case in Indian courts and waste his time. In Indian there is no concept of justice. And that is the reason from politician to rapist, nobody has any fear of law.
7. Wasted energy on things like beef ban: With so many important things which should be getting his focus from infrastructure to education, from judiciary to bureaucracy, he and his team chose to waste time on issue like beef ban just to please his hardcore supporters. Even the richest countries in the world is struggling to provide enough resources to provide for the aging human population and BJP wants to waste resources on aging cows!!
8. Lack of execution on ground: Aadhaar linking with everything to cut corruption is a good idea but execution is left to government servants who treat citizens as their servants. The whole linking process could have been much more convenient. When bank account is linked why not the linked D mat account, insurance policy, stocks etc. is automatically linked? Why not link real estate with Aadhaar where we see the maximum concertation of black money? Many other schemes like digital India, startup India etc are great in theory but on ground execution has totally failed. Demonetization is a great example of the same. When overnight he can ban currency and ask people to go digital, why even after 1 year he can’t make it a rule for government organizations and government servants to only use digital payments?

Closing remark: Yes, I am disappointed with Modi but what alternative do we have? Is there any politician who is even promising to do what we are hoping for? All politicians are promising more loan waivers, they are promising more reservation. They are talking against digitalization, Aadhaar and want to take India back to no internet days. The only alternative to Modi today is a ‘Kichdi’ Sarkar. Why we don’t have better choice?

I was reading a Ruchir Sharma’s interview yesterday where he made an interesting point – anti-incumbency is an Indian concept and 66% (against the world average of 33%) of the time we Indian votes against the current government because we are disappointed. This also shows that we Indians have no good options and have to choose between two bad options. We have to choose the lesser evil. Why we Indians have such bad alternatives? Is there an inherent problem with our political system or our society?