DNA Edit: May Diwali Light The Path

When aeons earlier, Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya having braved an exile of over 14 years, the people of Ayodhya gave him a rousing welcome by lighting his path with lamps.

That night glowed with an unfamiliar optimism and the silent yet robust hope that the future of the country and of the people will not yield sullenly and desolately against the ravages of the night; that men of great substance and character will come to the fore and rise to the call of our times and meet head on the thousand different challenges that stop us on our march of progress.

The message of a thousand lamps reverberated then and reverberates even now, speaking softly that a people, if united, will find strength stirring in the deepest recesses of their mind, no matter how strong the enemy; no matter how grave and insurmountable our troubles.

Aeons later, the faceless millions of India welcome this Diwali with the same glee in the fervent hope that those at the helm of this great and ancient nation will not fail them. When PM Modi came to power, his promise of inclusive growth on the twin pillars of prosperity and development kick-started a political wave that refused to remain just that.

Soon enough, it became a people’s movement. Irrespective of their caste, class and clan, lakhs upon lakhs swarmed the streets and by-lanes of a thousand nondescript villages and towns chanting for change, lending their unstinting support to the man who, since 2014, has been steering India towards a brighter future. And to that end, an array of policies have been put into action.

Many of these schemes, lifeless and deprived of funds under the UPA regime, came to full force under the present regime. Make in India has been finding its feet, Jan Dhan Yojana has taken banking services to hitherto inaccessible rural areas, and Saubhagya scheme is laying the foundation of 24/7 power throughout India.

On the road to prosperity, it is inevitable that India will hit a few road bumps. One can, if he is so inclined, criticise this regime for its execution of a few of its reforms, but not its intent. Because the larger goal of PM Modi to alleviate the suffering of the poor and ill-privileged was never questioned, the BJP managed to ride to an unprecedented majority in the UP assembly elections, despite the numerous brickbats hurled at demonetisation by economists and academics.

Even with GST, an incredible effort has gone into to bringing state stakeholders on the same page with the Centre. Admittedly, GST’s IT infrastructure and the hassling demands of filing numerous returns is posing a lot of problems for traders. These problems are being resolved and the roadblocks are being removed. One note of complaint persists: The Finance Minister and his ministry have been remiss in resolving these problems on a war footing, before the arrival of Diwali. GST’s bite has robbed Diwali of a little gleam, but the reform engine has just been set in motion, and hiccups are but natural. And so are happier, far more prosperous Diwalis.