Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spearheaded several initiatives in the country. Many of which has been achieved — demonetisation, abrogation of article 370, Make in India, FDI, Startup India, and others. Like any government, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre also drew flak for some of these. When in some cases, criticism couldn't take an upper hand, in others, the government had to back down.
As PM Modi completes eight years, here is a look at some of the setbacks for the BJP, and some failures of the government:
Three farm laws repealed
On November 19 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address to the nation, announced that the government would repeal the laws as it couldn’t convince a section of farmers on the merits of the new farm laws. The move came after more than an year of protests against the three laws that were brought in by the Centre. Farmers had first raised their voices against the three laws on November 5, 2020 in Punjab. The three laws were The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.
Farmers celebrate after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws, at Singhu Border in New Delhi, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.
Several incidents of violence and chaos ensued in India as farmers protested the three laws. Several police personnel of the Delhi Police was injured, and one was killed as protests erupted on January 26, 2021. Despite attempts to convince farmers in favor of the three laws, the Centre had to back down, and thus, was brought the Farm Laws Repeal Law, 2021. The law negates all the farm laws passed by Parliament last year.
BJP's loss in state assembly elections
Unbelievable, but the election-winning machine too has seen some set backs. Many speculated that the move to repeal the three farm laws was to woo voters in Punjab, in favor of the Bhartiya Janata Party. Even so, BJP miserably failed to make a strong name for itself in the state. It lost by a huge margin and managed to only win two seats in the state. Likewise, in West Bengal too, the party worsened its performance in the 2021 Lok Sabha elections. Despite staunch claims by Home Minister Amit Shah that the BJP will cross the 200-mark, out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP couldn't even cross the halfway mark at 147. Even if compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, BJP failed to perform, as its vote share fell to 38.13 per cent, as opposed to more than 40 per cent in 2019.
Patiala: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters celebrate as the party heads to a landslide victory in the Punjab Assembly elections
CAA-NRC: No implementation in sight
Back in August 2021, the government informed the Parliament that no decision has been taken yet on preparing a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) for the whole country. The stand was kept by the Centre, for more than a year of the introduction of NRC. Similarly, with CAA, the implementation is nowhere in sight. However, Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that CAA will be implemented the moment Covid subsides.
Protests had broken out across the country, with students coming out on the streets to raise their voices against CAA and NRC. Soon after the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament, students from Jamia Millia University and Jawaharlal Nehru University took to the streets to protest against the Act, alleging discrimination against Muslims. The infamous Delhi riots were also caused when anti-CAA and pro-CAA protestors clashed in parts of northeast Delhi, in early 2020.
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