Acche Din: A Dream?

With three consecutive victories in hand, Narendra Modi marched from Gujrat to Red Fort with an ambition of overthrowing the ruling 'dynasty' with many weapons in his arsenal to strike the ruling regime. One of those many weapons in his arsenal were 'Acche Din'. Although he never explained what acche din is supposed to mean for the commoners. But the desperate country ridden by corrupted rulers and gasping for a better future jumped for it without much question. As it happened Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Narendra Modi and Amit Sha as its face replacing veteran leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi overwhelmed all opposition parties and became the single largest party in 16th General Assembly Election. 

Inception of Acche Din

During 2014 General Assembly Election that time Gujarat CM Narendra Modi made that remark while addressing the audience on occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. In his speech on 8 January 2014, he highlighted the difficult situation the country was facing and promised, "Achhe din aane waale hain.. " (Good days are coming..) if he is elected. Much to the despise of the ruling regime he won that very first election as Priministrial Candidate and congratulated the entire country on his victory by reiterating his promise to the nation. With this, the formidable Indian National Congress (INC) came down to a two digit party in the Lok Sabha election and the BJP as the single largest party formed the government with NDA allies without much depending on them. 

Reality Check

As BJP tried to reshape its image from a 'Hindi-belt' 'cow-belt' party to nationally accepted one, it hit many roadblocks and many of those questioned its promise to the people popularly the assurance of acche din. This time united opposition parties challenged the Modi government by sailing on anti-incumbency. With the surging crude price, rising infiltration, communal attacks terming India intolerant globally put a serious question on the will Modi government. The violence on Dalits, Muslims and other minorities mount more pressure on the government to act. But terming all these propaganda, Modi-Shah team bagged few more states by defeating fragile congress and regional parties. Still winning can't be an answer to the people. Among many good initiatives, some like demonetisation and GST implementation stroke the backbone of the economy while the poor and MSME sectors suffered most. While BJP as opposition party always criticised UPA for indulging in corrupt practices, it too failed to save itself from the burning ashes of Kingfisher and PNB scam. While in both cases main accused managed to evade the law of the land by taking refuge in other countries, BJP is the one who burnt its image. As days passed the year and preparation for next general assembly election has already started, BJP is the one facing the shortage of weapons in its arsenal to strike back to power. 

Road Ahead

Even if we try to define acche din in a sentence criticising the promise made to the nation, its worth more a paragraph to write. Replacing a fragile coalition government after many decades with a strong one was the topmost achievement of this government, and considering the improvement in India's position in global perspective, this government is worth more than last fews. As India made its way in many bilateral multilateral treaties, the credit goes to this goverments effort. Black money is as always a hot coffee for India, but striking a deal with Swtizerland government was the most laudable. Again India's effort to nail Pakistan in global arena and iron handed attitude in 73 days Doklam standoff makes us think isn't it the acche din we're looking for. The days when Chola kings ruled entire Bay of Bengal and Marathas were the strongest force and today when India maintains close relationship with both SCO and NATO countries diluating their tensions and pressure on its own. This days surely is worth more to live for, although many issues are still needed to be highlighted especially the one that poses continuous challenge to the core of our constitution. But four years is least to criticised someone who has devouted his entire life. 

The road ahead willn't be easy for BJP as 'acche din' will haunt it on every step. With the amount of time left it should try to reach out to every single voters it can and deliver the message.