In very eloquent language, editors of the English print media would often write on the need to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, known as AFSPA. This act was termed draconian because of the powers it gives to our Armed Forces (Kill anyone, arrest anyone etc) in areas where it is implemented.
The 1958 Act begins by saying “Violence became the way of life in north-eastern States of India”.
The Act was supposed to be implemented in 2 states. And then the successive Congress governments have increased the scope of this act to all 7 states in the Northeast, and then Punjab and then Jammu & Kashmir! Instead of taking the Congress governments to task for worsening law & order, our English media made it sound like we have no other option. Until 2014.
The Narendra Modi government showed unparalleled focus in bringing peace to the North East. A gradual withdrawal of this Act was facilitated with some real hard work behind the scenes to improve the situation in the North East. The net result is that today, only a handful of districts in the entire 7 states still have the AFSPA. Meghalaya and Tripura are completely out of AFSPA.
Many of us grew up reading about the dreaded ULFA from Assam. ULFA was responsible for many deadly militant attacks. It was only in the year 2023 that a final peace settlement was reached. Today, the North East has become a beacon of development. The peace and infrastructure development over the past 10 years has opened up hitherto unknown prosperous opportunities for the people of this region. Violence is no more the “way of life in the North-Eastern States of India”. Is it therefore any wonder that the North East will overwhelming press the Lotus button on the EVM?
The term “Red Corridor” was coined to highlight the massive influence the violent Naxalite movement was having in our country. Nearly 180 districts in 10 states were part of this “red corridor”. The dreaded Naxal problem was born because of the Congress rule. The dreaded Naxal problem peaked during the Congress rule. In 2006, Manmohan Singh termed the Naxal problem as the “single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country”.
In addition to the violent attacks on our police forces and fellow citizens, Naxal ideologues also occupied prime space in our print and TV media, making us believe that this violence is totally justified. Despite calling it the most serious security problem, UPA really didn’t do anything to solve it. Just in the year 2010, we lost 1005 police + civilian people lost their lives. Contrast that to the 98 lives lost in the year 2022 and ask for yourselves, if our country is now a safer place to live or not!
We still haven’t forgotten those miserable UPA years when many cities used to get attacked by terrorists. From 2004 to 2014, almost every state of India was attacked by terrorists and nearly 1200 innocent civilians of our country lost their lives in Ayodhya, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Pune, Malegaon, Dimapur, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal, Srinagar, Patna and more.
Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the number of terrorist attacks outside of the problematic areas of Jammu & Kashmir was near 0. The number of civilian deaths is perhaps in the single digits. During the UPA days, we were made to believe that terror attacks would happen despite good security and that the people of this country should just accept this as a way of life. The then Home Minister P. Chidambaram even told us something to the effect that “terrorists only have to succeed once. Police have to succeed always”. In a total reversal of the situation, the Narendra Modi government’s exemplary focus on intelligence gathering and prevention of attacks certainly saved 100s of lives in India.
Law and Order is perhaps the most difficult ministry of all. Despite such great focus, we still had to witness Naxal attacks on our police force, unrest in Manipur and violence in J&K. The abrogation of Article 370 has certainly made Kashmir a safer place than before. If statistics are of any indication, then it is clear that it is only the Narendra Modi government that will make this a much safer place in the years to come.
India’s 3 biggest problems – terrorism, insurgency and naxalism – have all seen a great decline in just the 10 years of the Narendra Modi government. It’s also not just about working on the three biggest problems. A robust approach on areas such as drugs for example – A record 72,00,000 kgs of drugs were destroyed by this government! Is it, therefore, any wonder that citizens who feel much safer now, will overwhelmingly press the Lotus button on the EVM?
Our movies made IPC section 302 and IPC section 420 very popular. While many moviegoers would have been aware that IPC stands for Indian Penal Code, they would not have been aware that IPC was first enacted in the year 1860! That’s right – up until 2023, we just used the law drafted 163 years ago! Yes of course it was amended from time to time, but the basic structure remained outdated; many laws in the code became obsolete and modern times demanded a modern law in tune with not just the times but with our country too!
In the year 2023, the Narendra Modi government replaced the IPC(1860), with a new act – the Bharitya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. The government also replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872 (!) with the Bharitya Sakshya Adhiniyam and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 1974 (first enacted in 1898!) with the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023!
Many articles have been written about how many outdated provisions were removed and many new crimes were added to the law. The removal of sedition; the decriminalisation of gay sex; the introduction of many safety provisions for women in particular; the abolition of Triple Talaq; the defining of new crimes – these and many more law-making reforms should in fact satisfy the woke crowd too!
From law-making to ensuring great peace, the Narendra Modi government has certainly made India a safer place compared to above. Is it, therefore, any wonder that crores of citizens will press the button on the lotus on the EVM, come election day?
This is the 6th article in the series Decoding How PM Modi Hacks EVMs (an allegation the opposition often throws at him). Part-1 speaks about the focus on small-scale entrepreneurs; Part-2 speaks about the revolutions in the labour/employment sector; Part-3 speaks about the focus on both prevention and cure in health; Part-4 speaks about how the lives of women were made better at home, school and work. Part-5 speaks about the Focus on financial systems, along with Big Bang Reforms and simultaneous benefits to middle-class, economically weaker sections.
