A Decade in Power: Assessing Government Performance and the State of Opposition in India

To understand what went wrong after 2014, we must first remember why 2014 happened.

BJP did not come to power because India suddenly fell in love with ideology.
It came to power because India was fed up with corruption.

Why BJP swept to power in 2014: Corruption fatigue under Congress

Before 2014, corruption scandals dominated national life:

• 2G spectrum scam
• Commonwealth Games scam
• Coal allocation scam
• Adarsh Housing scam
• Multiple defence procurement controversies

Public trust collapsed.
Congress and its allies looked arrogant, disconnected, and morally exhausted.

BJP marketed itself brilliantly:

• “Na khaunga, na khane dunga”
• “Clean government”
• “Strong action against corruption”

People didn’t just vote for BJP.
They voted against Congress-era corruption.

The expectation was clear:

Corrupt politicians will be investigated.
Big names will be arrested.
Institutions will act independently.

That expectation is where the real betrayal begins.

Post-2014 reality: Corruption cases quietly disappeared

Once BJP came to power, something strange happened.

• Major corruption cases lost momentum
• High-profile investigations slowed
• Convictions remained rare
• Follow-ups disappeared

Instead of cleaning the system, selective enforcement became the new normal.

Weaponisation of institutions: CBI, ED, IT as political tools

Independent institutions like:

• CBI
• Enforcement Directorate
• Income Tax Department

were increasingly used not as neutral investigators, but as pressure tools.

A disturbing pattern emerged:

1. Opposition leader faces ED/CBI raids
2. Media trials follow
3. Political pressure increases
4. Leader switches allegiance to BJP
5. Case goes silent or weakens

This happened repeatedly.

Corruption didn’t end.
It simply changed party colours.

Resort politics and mass defections: Cheating the voter

Another democratic distortion followed.

• Elected representatives from Congress and regional parties
• Shifted en masse to BJP
• Often after closed-door negotiations
• Sometimes via resort politics

What does this mean?

A citizen voted for Party A.
The MLA/MP joined Party B.

This is not political strategy.
This is electoral fraud without consequences.

Anti-defection laws became decorative.
Voter mandate became irrelevant.

The unspoken truth: A political nexus across parties

At this point, a dangerous question arises:

If corruption cases vanish after party-switching…
If investigations depend on political alignment…
If accountability is selective…

Then what really exists?

A growing suspicion of a political nexus, cutting across parties —
where ideology is public drama and self-preservation is private truth.

Different flags.
Same protection club.

Electoral Bonds: The legalised opacity that broke the illusion

The final crack came with the Electoral Bonds scheme.

Marketed as:

• Clean funding
• Transparent donations
• Reduced black money

Reality:

• Anonymous corporate donations
• No public accountability
• Unlimited funding to ruling party
• Disproportionate advantage to BJP

The Supreme Court intervened, declared the scheme unconstitutional, and ordered disclosure.

What followed exposed:

• Massive corporate funding concentration
• Policy influence risks
• Complete erosion of funding transparency

This wasn’t a small lapse.
This was institutionalised secrecy, struck down by the highest court.

Meanwhile, governance failures piled up

This is not an anti-government rant.
This is not opposition propaganda.
This is a reality check after more than ten years of uninterrupted power — and an equally long absence of a functioning opposition.

Governments don’t fail alone.
They fail faster when nobody is strong enough to question them.

GST: A reform that collapsed under its own complexity

GST was marketed as “One Nation, One Tax.”
What India got was “One Nation, Multiple Confusions.”

The intent was right. The execution was disastrous.

• Multiple tax slabs destroyed simplicity
• Small traders became unpaid compliance officers
• Rule changes happened so frequently that planning became impossible
• SMEs suffered the most, not large corporates

The irony peaked in 2025 when the government announced GST rationalisation after partially undoing its own mistakes — and projected it as a historic achievement.

Fixing self-created chaos is not reform.
It’s late admission.

Black money promise: From bold claim to national joke

The 2014 promise was loud and clear:

“Black money will be brought back.”

A decade later:

• No major recoveries
• No public disclosure
• No timelines
• No accountability

The promise didn’t fail quietly — it collapsed publicly.
Even supporters stopped defending it.

Demonetisation: Economic shock without results

₹500 and ₹1000 notes were scrapped overnight — sold as a masterstroke against black money and corruption.

Reality:

• Over 99% of demonetised currency returned to banks
• Informal economy took a severe hit
• Daily wage workers suffered the most
• Small businesses collapsed
• GDP growth slowed

Pain was guaranteed. Results were not.

When a policy creates chaos, hardship, and slowdown — and still fails its objective — it is not bold leadership.
It is reckless governance.

Fuel prices: The slow poison strategy

Instead of one dramatic hike, fuel prices were increased silently and incrementally.

₹1 today.
₹2 next week.
No protests.
No headlines.

Before 2014:

• Petrol: ~₹70–75
• Diesel: ~₹55–60

By 2025:

• Petrol: ₹100+ per litre
• Diesel: ₹90+ per litre

Cooking gas:

• From ~₹400–450 to ₹1000+

The excuse was global crude prices.
The truth was excessive taxation and cess, turning fuel into a permanent revenue tap.

Inflation and income stagnation: The middle-class squeeze

• Salaries failed to match inflation
• Healthcare, education, housing costs exploded
• Taxes stayed high
• Relief stayed cosmetic

The middle class didn’t collapse — it slowly suffocated.
And silence replaced outrage.

Employment: Data delayed, reality ignored

• Job data postponed or redefined
• Informal work branded as “entrepreneurship”
• Youth unemployment quietly sidelined

When millions compete for a few thousand government jobs, it’s not population pressure.
It’s policy failure.

Rupee depreciation: National weakness hiding in plain sight

In 2014, the rupee traded around ₹58–60 per dollar.
By 2025, it crossed ₹90 per dollar.

Consequences:

• Imports become costlier
• Fuel inflation intensifies
• Foreign education and healthcare turn unaffordable
• Debt servicing becomes expensive

Global factors matter — but weak export growth, fiscal stress, and policy uncertainty made it worse.

A falling currency is not just an economic statistic.
It is a daily tax on citizens.

Environment collapse: Cities turning into gas chambers

Pollution has crossed warning stage and entered public health disaster territory.

• Delhi’s AQI repeatedly above 500
• Schools shut, flights delayed, hospitals overloaded
• NCR, Punjab, Haryana facing similar crises

AQI above 500 is not pollution.
It is poisoning.

Short-term bans and emergency measures appear every winter — but long-term solutions remain missing.

When the capital city becomes unbreathable, governance itself is choking.

Privatisation and concentration of power: The Adani ecosystem

Privatisation is not the problem.
Concentration without accountability is.

Over the years, key national assets moved into the hands of a few large corporate groups — especially Adani.

Strategic sectors linked to Adani:

• Airports: Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram
• Ports and logistics hubs
• Power generation and transmission
• Coal mining
• Renewable energy infrastructure

The danger is systemic dependence.

When critical infrastructure is controlled by a narrow corporate base:

• Failures affect millions
• Oversight weakens
• Competition shrinks
• Political neutrality becomes questionable

Warning signs ignored: When systems fail and nobody answers

Nearly 2,000+ flights were cancelled by IndiGo, stranding passengers nationwide.

What followed was worse than the disruption:

• No immediate government briefing
• No strong response from Aviation Ministry
• No accountability demanded
• Silence for days

In a heavily privatized system, when regulators remain passive, citizens are left helpless.

And now the real failure: Congress as a non-existent opposition

Here’s the brutal truth.

BJP didn’t get unchecked power because it did everything right.
It got unchecked power because Congress failed at everything that an opposition is supposed to do.

Parliament without resistance

• No sustained economic pressure
• No clear counter-narrative
• Walkouts instead of debates
• Noise without strategy

Fuel prices, GST chaos, unemployment, pollution — issues that should have dominated Parliament were reduced to footnotes.

Leadership vacuum and decay

Rahul Gandhi:

• Occasionally raises valid points
• Lacks consistency, authority, and command

Senior leaders:

• Speak in silos
• Fight internal battles
• Protect personal relevance

AICC and DCCs:

• Exist on paper
• Weak ground coordination
• Zero grassroots energy

Congress today is not a fighting opposition.
It is a disoriented organization living off legacy branding.

BJP’s biggest advantage is not Modi — it’s Congress’ collapse

Let’s say it clearly.

If Congress had:

• A united leadership
• A clear economic vision
• Relentless parliamentary pressure
• Strong street mobilisation

Many of these policies would have faced resistance, correction, or rollback.

Instead, Congress chose confusion.

Power misbehaves when nobody questions it.
Congress surrendered that responsibility.

The uncomfortable conclusion

India’s crisis is not one-party dominance.
It is absence of accountability.

• Government mistakes are rebranded as achievements
• Opposition failures are ignored as irrelevant
• Citizens are polarised instead of informed

Democracy doesn’t collapse in one dramatic moment.
It erodes quietly — when governments stop fearing citizens and opposition stops doing its job.

Today:

• BJP governs without pressure
• Congress exists without purpose
• Institutions bend
• Citizens pay

This is not governance versus ideology.
This is power versus accountability.

And until opposition politics is rebuilt from the ground up,
India will continue to drift — not because the government is unstoppable,
but because resistance is missing.

Comfort-zone politics always wins elections.
It never builds nations.

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