Modi is a brilliant and seasoned politician although he is slightly new to the governing game in the national/international
context but he is learning fast. His roots beckon him and the fact that he is still stuck with the Gujarat
baggage was evident during the Chinese premier’s visit to India when he started
the welcoming ceremony from Ahmedabad and not say any other big Indian city. In
the recent bypoll elections to the Maharashtra and Haryana assemblies, he
rightly praised Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on
some of the good work which these Congress leaders had done. There is
absolutely nothing wrong in praising the Opposition Congress’ leading leaders
on some issues where they have performed well, occasionally.
There is
absolutely nothing wrong also in pursuing the good policies and schemes which
the Congress/UPA started some years back after due diligence and scrutiny on
their effectiveness. The other right thing Modi has done is to call the NDA MPs
meeting at Race Course to tell them in clear and unambiguous terms what he
expects from them and how they should conduct themselves. Modi/Shah are
brilliant campaign managers but governing is a different ball game altogether
and Modi must not hesitate to invite or request help from experts in this area.
But Modi will have to continue learning and smoothen his rough edges if he has
to prove that the head which wears the crown can also rest easy.
MODI MUST BECOME
MAGNANIMOUS: The first thing Modi has to ingrain in his personality is to
become forgiving, accommodating, endearing, humourous and smile more often. If
he does this, people will find it easier to overlook his faults and will support
him. He should not nurse a grudge if someone has faulted him, and should
forgivingly move ahead burying the past. He should macro manage on most issues giving
the ministers more leeway and micro manage on some issues like defence, external
affairs and home working closely with the ministers incharge in these areas
allowing them to take credit for the good work they have done together.
INTELLIGENCE
GATHERING AT DISTRICT LEVEL: India is a vast country and the Centre must
have a pulse on what is going on in the districts of every state irrespective of
the fact that whether they are NDA governed or UPA governed. A district
intelligence unit must be set up in all the 570-odd districts of the country consisting
of a information officer from the IIS, a intelligence bureau officer, a police
officer from the Central services, a state civil service officer, and one or
two other relevant officers whose job must be to update the Central government
on the day to day development in the political, social, economic, business,
security issues in the district and a big data management team in the Centre
must analyse this information on a day to day basis and give the feedback to
the various Central ministries and the state governments so that they can align
or adapt their policies to the changing scenario on the ground on a real time
basis.
It would be a good idea if Modi wakes up early and retires
to bed early and not keep late nights. The key is not to work hard and long but
to delegate intelligently and work smart and efficiently.
