By picking Triple Talaq for its first bill and ‘One Nation One Poll’ as the subject of first all-party meeting, the Modi 2.0 has tried to set its agenda for next five years. However, the common man on the street is least enthused.

India Tomorrow

New Delhi, June 23—With the President’s address to the joint session of the Parliament on Thursday, highlighting major policies of the first term of the Narendra Modi government, the first session of the 17^th Lok Sabha began and with it Modi 2.0.

Triple Talaq became the first Bill to be tabled in the Parliament by the newly elected BJP-led government. Alongside this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week raised the clamour of ‘One Nation, One Election’. However, both the Bill and BJP’s ambitious project of having one poll in the nation have met with fierce resistance not only from the opposition but the common people also. 


The Modi 2.0 has picked two of its petty issues at a time when the nation is facing the 45-year high unemployment rate, as revealed in a leaked NSSO report in January this year and officially confirmed by the Statistics Ministry on May 31, day after Modi assumed office, besides slumping GDP at 5.1, fall in male workforce, huge water crisis and death of 12,000 farmers in the last ten years, not to mention the recent gruesome death over 150 children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.

Day after Triple Talaq Bill was tabled amidst protest by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, India Tomorrow spoke to youths in Delhi to know if they count Triple Talaq and ‘One Nation, One Election’ as the two most important issues facing the country today, or they have other issues that they want to be discussed and debated during the first session of the Parliament. 


In one voice, the youths said that Triple Talaq and the ‘One Nation, One Election’ aren’t the biggest issues that the government should handle first.

For the common people, Triple Talaq Bill being the first bill to be tabled in the first session of the Parliament confused them as they don’t think that it was a matter of such national importance. “The first issue which the government was supposed to discuss was unemployment. Even population growth is an issue and that should be given priority too,” said youths. 

“The first issue is definitely unemployment. Demonetization (of 2016) further resulted in slump in jobs and even harmed people who were engaged in self-employment,” they said.

“According to government data, around 23 lakh vacancies in private sector have not yet been filled. They should start with filling these posts at least so that many could get jobs within a year if such step is taken,” said Suman, a disenchanted youth on the grim situation of unemployment in the country. 


When asked if self-employment is a viable option for financial stability, people in negative. “We don’t think it has proved to be beneficial for,” said a youth. “We had many hopes with this government but now we have out of hopes,” said a youth named Madan Lal.

“We have also seen that people working in government sectors get benefits of 7^th pay commission but why do employees in private sector don’t get such benefits? If they also start getting such benefits then the pressure on us to go for government sector and dependency on government jobs will reduce, thus relieving government sector also of unnecessary pressure,” wondered Parvez highlighting the disparity between government and private pay scheme.

“This is true because we see that the private sector employees get medical benefits, post-retirement benefits including pension. So the government should focus on us too, as we also vote and our votes are equally precious,” added another youth. 


When asked about PM Modi’s ambitious issue, ‘One Nation, One Election’, the youths seemed to be divided in their opinions about it.

“I think it is such a dangerous proposition that if the government succeeds in having their way with it, they will become bloodsuckers of the common people. When elections are held separately and at their own time in different states, there is a little control on the amount of money parties spend, they need to save their resources for other elections too. But if all the elections will be clubbed as one, it will be disastrous for all,” said Lal.

Another had a different view. “I think this is one of the best steps taken by the government. It will save a lot of taxpayers money as so much of money is spent on conducting elections separately,” said a youth who praised and shared the new central government’s point of view. “However,” he added, “…I also agree with  what he (pointing at Lal) said.”

While talking of water crisis as another issue that the government must address at the earliest, the youth expressed their concerns on the issue. “Water crisis is a real and big issue. According to a report, water could become inaccessible within a year in Delhi. So far, water crisis has gripped 21 cities, where there is no more water available,” said Suman.

Differing with Suman, Madan Lal said, “I don’t think that we can’t arrange water. It is not a resource that could completely deplete one day.”


However, Parvez was quick to add his own personal experience of water crisis in the area from where he belongs in Delhi. “In the area I belong to in Delhi, we get water only every third day. On the top of that, there is no fixed time of water supply. Sometimes we start getting water at 3 a.m. and the supply ends quickly.” 


When asked about their views on religious slogans raised by MPs while taking oath in the Parliament, the youths rushed to criticize it.

“All of these slogans are part of a wider conspiracy to keep fooling common people by keeping them away from the real issues of jobs and unemployment. We don’t expect this from leaders we vote for and send to Parliament,” said Suman. 


“It is not only unimportant but also unconstitutional to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ inside Parliament,” said Lal.

In the Lok Sabha elections in May this year, BJP retained power at the centre with bigger mandate than 2014. It won 303 seats alone in the 543-member Lok Sabha, and with allies it has the strength of around 370 members.