Narendra Modi led NDA government completed its first year anniversary of its second term on 30th May 2020. BJP who leads the NDA bloc won 303 seats to the lower house and emerged as the largest as well as self- sustainable in the 2019 general elections. The first year of the Modi government marked many landmark decisions that have been a part of the Bharatiya Janta Party as well as to its ideological affiliations core agenda.
1. Revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir: BJP has for long raised the slogans, “, जहां हुए बलिदान मुखर्जी वो कश्मीर हमारा है, वो सारा का सारा है” and had objected to the Article 370 of the Indian constitution calling it a dividing barrier between India and the rest of J&K. On 5th April 2019, Home Minister, Amit Shah introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha for revoking Article 370 which marked the end of special privileges that were granted previously to Jammu & Kashmir.
Modi, The bill also had the clauses for bifurcation of J&K into the state of Kashmir and Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu. The government had labeled it as a masterstroke and uniting the spirit of J&K with India ending the long-standing disparities between the J&K and the rest of India. But in reaction to this move by the central government, opposition parties were quick to follow calling the government’s move fallacious as well as accusing the government of human rights violation in J&K as they detained the local leaders to prevent the spark of reactionary forces in the state.
2. Passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA): On 11th December 2019, the Parliament of India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which amends the
Citizenship Act, 1955. The act provides for granting shelter to refugees of six religions from the neighboring Islamic states of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who have entered India before 31 st December 2014 and faced religious persecution.
This strengthens the commitment of RSS, the parent organization of Bharatiya Janta Party who had stated India to be a homeland for Hindus globally. The government had to face protests nationwide for excluding Muslims from the act, notably, in universities and Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
3. Construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya:
Although this wasn’t a part of the government legislation process directly, the decision by the Supreme court of India proved to be a major achievement for the BJP. The construction of a grand temple of Prabhu Shri Ram at the disputed site in Ayodhya, it had been in the frontline of the right-wing government manifesto. The government was quick to come up with the Ram Janam Bhoomi temple trust as directed by the Supreme court.
