The Modi Decade: A Comprehensive Examination of India's Most Polarising Prime Minister

Power moves in silence until the moment it roar

As Narendra Damodardas Modi completes over a decade as India's Prime Minister, his tenure stands as perhaps the most consequential and controversial in independent India's history. From his modest beginnings in Vadnagar, Gujarat, to occupying the highest executive office, Modi's journey has been marked by spectacular political victories, transformative policy initiatives, and equally significant controversies that continue to divide the nation. Born on September 17, 1950, to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Heeraben Modi in the small town of Vadnagar, young Narendra belonged to the Ghanchi-Teli community, classified as Other Backwards Class. The narrative of Modi helping his father at a railway station tea stall has become central to his political identity, though critics have sometimes questioned its extent. Regardless, local testimonies and the family's economic circumstances confirm a childhood of modest means. This "chaiwala to Prime Minister" story resonated deeply with millions of Indians who saw in Modi a reflection of their own aspirations. Modi's ideological formation began early when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at age eight. By 1971, he had become a full-time pracharak, dedicating himself to the RSS's vision of Hindu nationalism. This commitment required personal sacrifices, including adherence to celibacy, a vow that would later become central to one of the most controversial aspects of his personal life. During the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi from 1975 to 1977, Modi went underground, helping RSS workers evade arrest and distributing pamphlets against the authoritarian regime. He has often cited this experience as formative in shaping his views on governance and freedom. Modi's political ascent accelerated in the 1980s when he formally entered electoral politics through the Bharatiya Janata Party. He became Gujarat's Chief Minister in October 2001, but his tenure would be forever marked by the events of 2002. On February 27, 2002, a train carrying Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya caught fire near Godhra station, killing fifty-nine people. What followed was one of India's worst episodes of communal violence. Official figures record 1,044 deaths, with approximately 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus killed, though human rights organisations have suggested the toll may have been significantly higher. Over 150,000 people were displaced, predominantly from the Muslim community, and systematic sexual violence against women was documented by numerous fact-finding missions.

Modi's role in the violence has been subject to multiple investigations and remains deeply contested. Critics, including a Citizens' Tribunal led by retired judges, concluded that Modi's government was complicit through deliberate inaction and delayed deployment of security forces. The state-appointed Nanavati-Mehta Commission, however, gave Modi a clean chit in 2008. The most significant investigation came through a Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court following a petition by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre. The SIT report in 2012 found "no prosecutable evidence" against Modi, though the amicus curiae appointed by the court, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, disagreed and noted possible evidence that warranted further investigation.The Supreme Court's final ruling in June 2022 dismissed Zakia Jafri's petition, upholding the SIT's findings and using surprisingly harsh language toward the petitioner, describing her efforts as "keeping the pot boiling for her own political agenda." Many legal experts and human rights activists questioned the propriety of such language directed at a widow seeking justice for her murdered husband. The international community's response was telling. In 2005, the United States took the unprecedented step of denying Modi a diplomatic visa and revoking his tourist and business visas under the International Religious Freedom Act, citing violations of religious freedom. This marked the first time such action had been taken against a leader from a democratic nation. The United Kingdom and several European Parliament members also maintained unofficial boycotts of Modi until 2012. These restrictions were lifted only after Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, a development critics attribute to geopolitical pragmatism overriding human rights concerns. Perhaps no aspect of Modi's personal life has generated more controversy than his marriage to Jashodaben Chimanlal Modi. In 1968, when Modi was approximately seventeen years old, his parents arranged his marriage to Jashodaben, then about sixteen, following traditional Gujarati customs. The marriage was conducted according to Hindu rites in Vadnagar, but Modi left his wife shortly afterwards to pursue his work with the RSS, which required celibacy from its full-time workers. For nearly forty-five years, Modi did not publicly acknowledge this marriage. When filling out election affidavits for his three terms as Gujarat Chief Minister and his initial parliamentary elections, Modi consistently left the spouse column blank. It was only in April 2014, while filing nomination papers for the Vadodara parliamentary seat, that Modi officially acknowledged Jashodaben as his wife, and this came only after the Election Commission made disclosure of marital status mandatory. Jashodaben's life presents a poignant counter-narrative to Modi's political ascent. After her husband's departure, she continued living with her parents and worked as a primary school teacher, retiring in 2013. She has maintained the surname Modi throughout her life and, after 2014, was assigned security protection as the Prime Minister's wife. She lives modestly in Unjha, Gujarat, in a small house. In limited interactions with the media, Jashodaben has maintained her dignity, stating that she considers herself married to Modi and prays for his success, though she was not consulted before he publicly acknowledged their marriage in 2014. In 2016, she reportedly wrote to the Prime Minister's Office seeking basic amenities and assistance, highlighting her status as the Prime Minister's wife. Women's rights activists have heavily criticised Modi's treatment of Jashodaben, viewing the abandonment of a wife without divorce or support as fundamentally patriarchal and hypocritical, particularly given his government's initiatives such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao that ostensibly champion women's empowerment. Under Hindu law, the marriage remains valid as there has been no divorce, and Jashodaben would be entitled to maintenance and marital rights, though she has not pursued legal action.

The Snoopgate controversy of 2013 raised serious questions about the misuse of the state surveillance apparatus. In November 2013, just months before the general elections, news portals Cobrapost and Gulail published details of an alleged illegal surveillance operation conducted by Gujarat police. The reports claimed that a woman architect from Bangalore was placed under intensive surveillance in August through October 2009, including phone tapping, physical tracking, and email monitoring. Audio recordings of conversations between police officers discussing the surveillance and detailed tracking reports were published. IPS officer G.L. Singhal allegedly orchestrated the operation, with orders allegedly coming from then-Chief Minister Modi and then-Home Minister Amit Shah. The official explanation was that the surveillance was conducted at the request of the woman's father for her protection. Critics countered that even if requested by a family member, such extensive surveillance without a court order constitutes illegal activity and that state machinery cannot be deployed for personal purposes. The woman at the centre initially maintained silence, with later statements suggesting she was aware of "protection," though contradictory accounts left the truth murky. A CBI investigation ordered by the Supreme Court eventually gave a clean chit to all accused, though critics alleged the investigation was compromised after Modi became Prime Minister. The Gujarat High Court dismissed petitions seeking further investigation in 2018. The incident highlighted the absence of robust privacy laws in India at the time and set a concerning precedent that would resurface with the Pegasus spyware scandal in 2021.

The Pegasus revelations in July 2021 exposed the extent of surveillance under the Modi government. An investigation by an international consortium of journalists, including The Wire in India, analysed a leaked database of 50,000 phone numbers worldwide that were potential targets of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, which is sold exclusively to governments. Forensic analysis confirmed that phones belonging to Indian journalists, opposition leaders, activists, and even Supreme Court staff had been infected. Among the over three hundred phone numbers from India in the database were prominent journalists, including Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire, M.K. Venu, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, and Sushant Singh. Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Abhishek Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress were also targets, as were activists and critics of the government. Notably, Ashwini Vaishnaw, who later became the IT Minister in Modi's cabinet, was himself a target before joining the BJP. The government refused to confirm or deny the use of Pegasus, dismissing the reports as a "fishing expedition" and declining to order an independent investigation. The Supreme Court constituted an expert committee in October 2021, which found evidence of infected phones but could not determine who deployed the spyware. The matter was effectively closed without any accountability, despite the serious implications for democratic freedoms and privacy rights. Regarding the claim that Narendra Modi's name appears in the Jeffrey Epstein files, extensive research across all publicly released court documents, flight logs, contact lists, deposition transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's trial, and FBI investigative documents reveals no evidence whatsoever supporting this assertion. Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier convicted of sex trafficking minors who died in prison in 2019. Court documents related to his case have been released in phases between 2019 and 2024, revealing connections with various powerful individuals globally. However, after thorough examination of these documents, including those available through the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and Freedom of Information Act requests, Narendra Modi's name does not appear in any authentic Epstein-related materials. The names that have appeared in various Epstein documents include figures such as Prince Andrew of the British Royal Family, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump, among others, many of whom had professional or social interactions with Epstein before his crimes became widely known. The false claim about Modi appears to have originated from doctored images and fabricated lists circulated on social media platforms around late 2023 and early 2024. No credible news organisation, investigative journalist, or court filing has ever reported such a connection. This represents a clear case of deliberate misinformation, possibly created to damage Modi's reputation. The perpetuation of such false claims is problematic because it dilutes genuine criticisms of Modi's governance and creates a "boy who cried wolf" effect where legitimate concerns may be dismissed alongside easily debunkable fabrications. Responsible journalism requires distinguishing between verified controversies, such as the 2002 Gujarat riots, economic policy failures, and democratic backsliding, from unverified conspiracy theories like the Epstein connection.

Modi's ascent to national power came in May 2014 when the BJP won 282 seats in the Lok Sabha, giving it an outright majority for the first time in three decades. Modi's campaign had centred on promises of economic development, job creation, and corruption-free governance. He pledged to create two crore jobs annually, bring back black money stashed in foreign accounts, double farmers' incomes by 2022, and transform India into a five-trillion-dollar economy by 2024-25. His slogan of "Achhe Din Aane Wale Hain" (Good days are coming) resonated with millions frustrated by the UPA's perceived policy paralysis and corruption scandals. He was re-elected in 2019 with an even larger mandate of 303 seats, though his victory in 2024 saw the BJP's tally fall to 240 seats, forcing reliance on coalition partners for the first time in a decade. The economic report card of the Modi government presents a complex and often contradictory picture. One of the most significant failures has been in employment creation. Despite the promise of creating two crore jobs annually, the reality has been starkly different. According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate, which was approximately 4.9 percent when Modi took office in 2014, rose to 6.1 per cent in 2017-18 according to the National Sample Survey Office's periodic labor force survey, a report whose release was initially delayed by the government. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment peaked at 23.5 percent. Even after recovery, unemployment has fluctuated between seven and eight percent. More troubling than the headline rate is the crisis in youth unemployment, with those aged fifteen to twenty-nine facing unemployment rates consistently above fifteen per cent. The labour force participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population that is either employed or actively seeking work, declined from 46 percent in 2016 to approximately 40 percent in 2022. India's female labour force participation rate remains among the world's lowest at around twenty-five percent. The quality of employment has also deteriorated, with a significant shift from formal to informal employment and the growth of the gig economy without adequate worker protections. University graduates, including engineers and MBA holders, have found themselves driving for ride-hailing services or delivering food, a phenomenon that has contributed significantly to growing youth disillusionment with the government.

The issue of government debt has also emerged as a significant concern. Central government debt increased from approximately fifty-five lakh sixty-two thousand crore rupees in 2014, representing 45.4 per cent of GDP, to one hundred sixty-eight lakh seventy thousand crore rupees in 2024, representing 57.1 per cent of GDP. The combined debt of central and state governments has increased from approximately sixty-five per cent of GDP in 2014 to over eighty-two per cent in 2024, exceeding the targets set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. External debt has also grown from 446 billion dollars in 2014 to approximately 629 billion dollars in 2024. This debt accumulation has occurred despite corporate tax cuts totalling one lakh forty-five thousand crore rupees annually, which were justified as necessary to stimulate investment but have contributed to revenue shortfalls. While some of the debt increase can be attributed to justified COVID-19 relief spending and infrastructure investment, the trajectory raises concerns about fiscal sustainability.

Economic growth under Modi has been uneven. GDP growth rates showed initial promise, with 7.4 per cent in 2014-15, rising to 8.3 per cent in 2016-17, before the impact of demonetization began to manifest. Growth slowed to 6.8 per cent in 2017-18 and 6.5 per cent in 2018-19, falling to just 3.9 per cent in 2019-20 even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The pandemic year saw a contraction of 6.6 per cent, followed by recovery growth of 9.1 per cent in 2021-22, which economists attribute largely to the base effect. Recent years have seen growth of around seven to eight per cent, though questions persist about the methodology changes introduced in 2015 for calculating GDP and about the phenomenon of jobless growth, where GDP expands without commensurate employment generation. When compared to the UPA-II period of 2009-14, which averaged approximately 7.5 per cent growth despite the global financial crisis, Modi's pre-COVID average of around 7.4 per cent shows little improvement, while the overall average, including the pandemic years, is significantly lower.

Income inequality has widened dramatically during Modi's tenure. According to Oxfam India's reports, the top one per cent of Indians now own 40.1 per cent of total wealth, while the top ten per cent control seventy-seven per cent of national wealth. The bottom fifty per cent of the population owns just three per cent of wealth. The World Inequality Database indicates that the top ten per cent income share has reached 57.7 per cent, the highest level since 1922, while the bottom fifty per cent's income share has fallen to 13.1 per cent. India has added over seventy new billionaires during Modi's tenure, bringing the total to over two hundred, even as the vast majority of citizens have struggled with stagnant real wages and rising costs of living. The agricultural sector, which employs forty-two per cent of the workforce but produces only eighteen per cent of GDP, continues to face severe distress, with over ten thousand farmer suicides recorded annually according to National Crime Records Bureau data, totalling approximately one hundred thousand during Modi's decade in power.

Demonetization, announced by Modi on November 8, 2016, stands as one of the most controversial economic decisions in India's history. The sudden withdrawal of five hundred and one thousand rupee notes, representing eighty-six per cent of currency in circulation, was justified on the grounds of eliminating black money, curbing counterfeit currency, and stopping terror funding. However, Reserve Bank of India data subsequently revealed that 99.3 per cent of the banned notes returned to the banking system, contradicting the primary stated objective. The policy led to over one hundred deaths as people stood in queues to exchange currency, caused severe cash shortages that devastated the informal sector, and resulted in the loss of approximately 1.5 million jobs,s according to CMIE data. GDP growth fell from 8.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2016 to 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2017. The RBI's annual report effectively acknowledged that the objectives of demonetization had not been met, and the cash-to-GDP ratio returned to pre-demonetization levels within three years.

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in July 2017, while a positive reform in concept, suffered from hasty execution. Launched with over twelve hundred commodities classified under five different tax slabs, the system's complexity overwhelmed small and medium enterprises. The IT infrastructure supporting GST repeatedly crashed, compliance burdens increased dramatically, and many small businesses shut down unable to handle the requirements. States faced revenue shortfalls as the central government delayed constitutionally mandated GST compensation payments, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. While GST has eventually simplified inter-state commerce and reduced cascading taxation, the implementation's flaws caused significant economic disruption that could have been avoided with more careful preparation.

The farm sector has witnessed particular distress under Modi's governance. The promise to double farmer incomes by 2022 has comprehensively failed, with actual increases of approximately fifty-three percent in nominal terms, translating to marginal real income growth after adjusting for inflation. The Minimum Support Price regime continues to benefit only about six percent of farmers, primarily in Punjab and Haryana, while the vast majority receive no protection from price fluctuations. The hasty passage of three farm laws in September 2020, without adequate consultation with farmer representatives, sparked a year-long protest primarily led by farmers from Punjab and Haryana. Over seven hundred farmers died during the protests, according to Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organization of farmer unions. The Supreme Court stayed implementation of the laws in January 2021, and Modi eventually announced their complete repeal in November 2021, representing one of the few instances where his government completely reversed course on a major policy initiative.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in governance and planning. The lockdown announced on March 24, 2020, with just four hours notice, was among the strictest in the world but led to a humanitarian crisis as millions of migrant workers were stranded in cities with no means of returning home. Heartbreaking images of workers walking hundreds of kilometers to their villages became defining images of the pandemic's first wave. The economic contraction in the first quarter of 2020-21 reached negative 23.9 percent, though recovery was faster than some predictions. The initial economic stimulus package announced as twenty lakh crore rupees was revealed to be largely credit guarantees rather than direct government spending, amounting to only about three percent of GDP compared to ten to twenty percent in developed economies. The second wave in April-May 2021 saw healthcare infrastructure collapse in many cities, with acute shortages of hospital beds, oxygen, and medicines. Distressing images of bodies floating in the Ganges River and mass cremations in parking lots shocked the nation. However, the vaccination drive, after a slow start, eventually administered over 2.2 billion doses, with the CoWIN digital platform receiving international praise for its logistics management.

The erosion of democratic institutions and norms represents perhaps the most serious concern about Modi's tenure. India's ranking in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index has declined from 140 out of 180 countries in 2014 to 161 in 2024, one of the sharpest declines among democracies globally. This deterioration has occurred through multiple mechanisms. Media ownership has concentrated in the hands of businessmen with close ties to the government, most notably the Adani Group's acquisition of a majority stake in NDTV in 2022. Advertising revenue has been strategically directed away from media outlets critical of the government. Journalists face legal harassment through sedition charges, now replaced by similar provisions in the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and raids on media organizations such as NewsClick in 2023. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, an anti-terror law, has been invoked against journalists, particularly in Kashmir. Self-censorship has become widespread, with editors privately acknowledging that they avoid stories critical of the government. The term "Godi media," meaning lapdog media, has entered mainstream discourse to describe the perceived subservience of most major news channels to the government. Several journalists have faced violence, most notably the murder of Gauri Lankesh in 2017, a journalist who had been investigating right-wing extremist groups. Specific cases illustrate the pattern: Siddique Kappan, a journalist, spent over two years in jail for attempting to cover the Hathras rape case; Fahad Shah, a Kashmir journalist, was jailed under UAPA; and Mandeep Punia was arrested while covering the farmers' protests.

The judiciary's independence has also come under question, despite some landmark progressive verdicts such as the recognition of privacy as a fundamental right, the decriminalization of consensual same-sex relations under Section 377, and the striking down of the electoral bonds scheme. Concerns include delays in appointing judges recommended by the collegium system when they are perceived as inconvenient to the government, the allocation of sensitive cases to specific benches through the Chief Justice's master of roster powers, and the pattern of retired judges receiving appointments to the Rajya Sabha or government commissions, which raises questions about whether sitting judges factor in post-retirement benefits when making decisions. The Ayodhya verdict in November 2019, which awarded the disputed land to the Hindu side for construction of a Ram temple despite acknowledging that the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was illegal, struck many legal scholars as privileging majoritarian demands over the rule of law. The Supreme Court has yet to decide on the constitutionality of the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, despite the matter being pending since August 2019. The electoral bonds case took over five years before the scheme was finally struck down in February 2024. Lower courts face even greater vulnerability to pressure, and the overall pendency of five crore cases means justice delayed has become justice denied, particularly in politically sensitive matters.

Civil society organizations have faced systematic strangulation through the weaponization of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Over twenty thousand NGOs lost their FCRA licenses between 2014 and 2024, including prominent international organizations such as Amnesty International India, which was forced to shut operations in 2020, and Greenpeace India, whose license was cancelled and accounts frozen. Even domestic organizations such as the Lawyers Collective, run by senior advocate Anand Grover, and the Centre for Policy Research faced account freezes and investigations, though some were eventually cleared. The process itself serves as punishment, with accounts frozen without prior notice and operations crippled even when organizations are ultimately vindicated. This has created a severe chilling effect, with fewer organizations willing to criticize government policies and even developmental work being affected beyond just advocacy.

The use of colonial-era sedition law and the UAPA has emerged as a primary tool for suppressing dissent. Although the Supreme Court put sedition provisions in abeyance in May 2022, the new criminal laws introduced in 2023 contain similar provisions. UAPA allows detention without trial for up to 180 days, with bail provisions so stringent that even obtaining bail has become extremely difficult, and the conviction rate under UAPA is less than two percent, demonstrating that the process itself serves as the punishment. The Bhima Koregaon case epitomizes these concerns. Sixteen activists, lawyers, and academics were arrested between 2018 and 2020 on charges of Maoist links and conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister. The evidence presented has been questioned extensively, with reports indicating that some of the incriminating letters were planted on devices that had been compromised by Pegasus spyware. Several elderly undertrial prisoners were denied bail despite serious health conditions. Father Stan Swamy, an eighty-four-year-old Jesuit priest suffering from Parkinson's disease, died in custody in July 2021 while awaiting bail, an event that shocked human rights advocates globally. The Delhi riots cases following the violence in February 2020 saw over seven hundred fifty people arrested, including student activists such as Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam charged under UAPA with conspiracy, even though in many instances they were victims of the violence. Most have been denied bail for years.

Parliament's functioning has deteriorated markedly, with the opposition's ability to scrutinize the government severely constrained. The 2023 Winter Session saw the suspension of 146 opposition members of Parliament, the largest mass suspension in India's parliamentary history. Debates have been curtailed, with several major bills passed without adequate discussion. Question Hour has become less effective, with fewer questions receiving oral answers and ministers increasingly providing brief written replies that avoid real scrutiny. The three farm laws were passed amid ruckus with minimal debate, the Citizenship Amendment Act had insufficient parliamentary discussion, and most dramatically, the three new criminal laws that replaced the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Indian Evidence Act were passed in just thirty minutes in the Lok Sabha. The number of days Parliament sits has also declined, from an average of sixty-eight days per year during UPA-II to approximately fifty-eight days per year during Modi-II, even accounting for COVID-19 disruptions.

Opposition leaders have faced what many analysts describe as selective prosecution by central investigating agencies. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2024 in connection with the liquor policy case and spent several months in custody before being granted bail by the Supreme Court, with critics noting the arrest came shortly before elections. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren faced similar treatment, arrested in a land scam case in January 2024 and forced to resign, though he too was later granted bail. Rahul Gandhi was convicted in a criminal defamation case for remarks about the "Modi surname" and disqualified from Parliament in March 2023, though the conviction was later stayed by the Supreme Court after significant public outcry. Manish Sisodia, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, spent over seventeen months in jail in the same liquor policy case before the Supreme Court granted bail, citing prolonged detention without trial. Data analysis by various researchers suggests that approximately ninety-five percent of Enforcement Directorate cases filed between 2014 and 2024 have been against opposition leaders, despite the conviction rate in such cases being only two to three percent. A notable pattern has emerged where leaders under investigation who switch allegiance to the BJP see investigations suddenly dropped or go cold, with examples including Himanta Biswa Sarma, now Assam's Chief Minister, and Suvendu Adhikari in West Bengal, among numerous others.

The Election Commission's independence has been questioned through several developments. A 2023 law changed the appointment process for Election Commissioners to require a panel that includes the Law Minister, effectively giving the government a role in selecting the body meant to ensure free and fair elections, despite Supreme Court recommendations for an independent process. The Commission's silence on the electoral bonds scheme after initially opposing it in 2017, its inconsistent enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct with Prime Minister Modi's speeches during the 2019 elections receiving mild or no action for violations while opposition complaints were often dismissed, and unusual delays in releasing final voter turnout data in recent elections have all raised transparency concerns. Questions about Electronic Voting Machines have persisted, with the Commission refusing demands for more extensive paper trail verification, despite a Supreme Court order to verify VVPAT slips from five machines per constituency.

Federalism has suffered as power has centralized in New Delhi. The unilateral abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, which revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status and downgraded the state to a Union Territory, was done without consultation with the state's elected representatives, who were instead detained. A communication blackout was imposed, democratic processes suspended for years, and statehood has still not been restored as of early 2024. Governors appointed by the central government in opposition-ruled states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal have been accused of acting as agents of the BJP, repeatedly blocking or delaying bills, and in Maharashtra in 2019, the Governor invited a party that had lost the election to form the government. The GST compensation promised to states for revenue losses has been repeatedly delayed, leaving states cash-strapped. The abolition of the Planning Commission in 2014 and its replacement with NITI Aayog, which lacks the teeth of its predecessor, has reduced institutional mechanisms for cooperative federalism.

Communal tensions have intensified during Modi's tenure, with incidents of hate crimes and violence rising according to independent trackers. Lynchings in the name of cow protection resulted in over forty deaths between 2014 and 2019, with victims predominantly Muslim. In the Dadri lynching of September 2015, Mohammad Akhlaq was killed over rumors of beef consumption, and accused persons were later garlanded by BJP politicians after receiving bail. Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, was lynched by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan in April 2017, with police initially filing cases against the victim's sons while accused persons were acquitted due to investigation lapses. Tabrez Ansari was beaten for hours in Jharkhand in June 2019 and forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram" before dying in custody, with murder charges later reduced to culpable homicide. The Delhi riots of February 2020 claimed fifty-three lives, mostly Muslims, with police accused of complicity as victims have been charged under UAPA while many perpetrators remain free. The phenomenon of "bulldozer justice" has emerged in states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where houses of accused persons, predominantly Muslims, are demolished without due process in what amounts to collective punishment, despite Supreme Court expressions of concern.

Anti-conversion laws have been passed in several BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Haryana, ostensibly to prevent forced conversions but widely seen as targeting interfaith marriages, particularly between Hindu women and Muslim men, under the "Love Jihad" rhetoric. These laws criminalize interfaith marriages without prior approval from district magistrates and have led to harassment and arrest of interfaith couples, with vigilante groups patrolling educational institutions. The Hadiya case in Kerala, where the High Court annulled an adult woman's marriage before the Supreme Court later restored it, exemplifies concerns about women's agency being undermined.

The Citizenship Amendment Act passed in December 2019, which provided a path to citizenship for persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan but excluded Muslims, sparked nationwide protests from December 2019 through February 2020. The protests were met with violence in several instances. Police entered the Jamia Millia Islamia University campus in Delhi and beat students. At Jawaharlal Nehru University, masked goons attacked students while police allegedly delayed their response. At Aligarh Muslim University, students faced police violence. In Uttar Pradesh, twenty-three people were killed in police firing according to official figures, with thousands arrested. The Shaheen Bagh protest, led primarily by Muslim women and characterized by peaceful sit-ins, was extensively demonized in government-aligned media. The protests were eventually ended by the COVID-19 lockdown, with many protesters still in jail under UAPA. The rules for implementing the CAA were not notified for over four years, finally being partially notified in 2024.

Dalit communities have faced continued violence and discrimination. In the Una flogging incident of July 2016, Dalits were publicly flogged in Gujarat for skinning a dead cow, leading to massive protests. Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar at Hyderabad University, committed suicide in January 2016 after facing institutional discrimination, with Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya implicated in pressuring the university administration. The Hathras case of September 2020, involving the gang rape of a nineteen-year-old Dalit woman by upper-caste men, was followed by Uttar Pradesh police cremating her body at night without the family's consent, destroying evidence, and intimidating the family. All accused were acquitted in the 2024 trial. A 2018 Supreme Court verdict weakened the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act by allowing anticipatory bail and requiring preliminary inquiry, leading to massive protests by Dalit organizations before Parliament passed an amendment restoring the original provisions. Demands for a nationwide caste census have been resisted by the Modi government for years, though Bihar conducted its own caste survey in 2022-23.

Despite these serious concerns, Modi's tenure has also seen genuine achievements that cannot be dismissed. The digital revolution in India has been transformative, with the Unified Payments Interface enabling over twelve billion digital transactions monthly as of 2024, with India leading the world in real-time digital payments. The Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity has brought over five hundred million people into the formal banking system, and Direct Benefit Transfer has saved over three lakh twenty thousand crore rupees by reducing leakages and eliminating middlemen in subsidy delivery. Digital infrastructure has expanded dramatically, with internet users growing from two hundred fifty-one million in 2014 to over nine hundred million in 2024, and data costs declining to among the world's cheapest levels. Infrastructure development has proceeded at an unprecedented pace. Highway construction increased from approximately twelve kilometres per day in 2014 to over forty kilometres per day by 2024. The quality of road infrastructure has improved significantly in many areas, and the Bharatmala project is connecting remote regions to the national highway network. Railway infrastructure has seen the introduction of Vande Bharat semi-high-speed trains and station modernisation programs, though safety concerns persist with several major accidents occurring in 2023. The airport sector has expanded with new airports in Jewar near Noida, Mopa in Goa, and several tier-two cities, along with modernization of existing airports and the UDAN scheme improving regional connectivity. Metro networks have expanded in multiple cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. Inland waterways have been developed with the Varanasi-Haldia route now operational.

Renewable energy has seen substantial progress, with solar power capacity increasing from 2.6 gigawatts in 2014 to over seventy-three gigawatts in 2024. Overall renewable energy installed capacity exceeds one hundred eighty gigawatts, making India the fourth-largest globally. Solar tariffs have dropped drastically, making solar power competitive with conventional sources. The International Solar Alliance, an India-initiated global initiative headquartered in Gurugram, has attracted over one hundred member countries. The target of five hundred gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030 appears achievable.

The Swachh Bharat Mission has constructed over one hundred ten million toilets and achieved a significant reduction in open defecation, though concerns remain about maintenance and actual usage of constructed toilets. The cultural shift in sanitation awareness has been undeniable, with health benefits including reduced incidence of diarrheal diseases and improvements in women's safety and dignity. The Ujjwala scheme has provided 9.6 crore LPG connections to poor women, reducing indoor air pollution, though high refill costs have led some beneficiaries to revert to traditional fuels. Ayushman Bharat health insurance covers fifty crore people with five lakh rupees coverage and has facilitated lakhs of surgeries and treatments, despite implementation gaps. The PM-Kisan scheme provides six thousand rupees annually to over eleven crore farmers through direct cash transfer. The Jal Jeevan Mission has provided piped water to over fourteen crore households with the goal of universal coverage in progress.

Foreign policy has seen both successes and failures. Modi's diplomatic outreach has been extensive, with India's membership in the Quad grouping with the United States, Japan, and Australia to counter China's influence, participation in the I2U2 forum with Israel, UAE, and the US, strengthened ties with Gulf nations including receipt of the highest civilian honors from UAE and Saudi Arabia, and successful hosting of the G20 summit in 2023 where India pushed for African Union's permanent membership. Strategic autonomy has been maintained, with India continuing relations with both the US and Russia, refusing to condemn Russia's Ukraine invasion and instead abstaining in UN votes, and continuing Russian oil imports despite Western pressure, justified as protecting Indian interests. However, the China relationship represents the most significant foreign policy failure. The Galwan Valley clash in June 2020 resulted in twenty Indian soldiers killed, Chinese casualties remaining undisclosed, and China capturing territory in Ladakh, including in the Depsang and Hot Springs areas. Modi's statement that "no one has entered our territory" in June 2020 was contradicted by satellite images and military assessments. Disengagement remains incomplete with the status quo ante not restored, and India's trade deficit with China has increased to fifty-two billion dollars in 2024. Pakistan relations remain at an all-time low despite surgical strikes in 2016 and the Balakot airstrike in 2019, with cross-border terrorism continuing. Neighborhood relations have deteriorated with Nepal over border disputes, the Maldives is seeing an "India Out" campaign gain traction, and Bangladesh relations are becoming uncertain after political changes in 2024. The Canada relationship crisis of 2023-24, following Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's allegations that Indian agents killed Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil, has damaged India's international reputation, particularly with Five Eyes intelligence agencies backing Canada's claims.

Education has seen attempts at what critics call saffronization, with NCERT textbook changes reducing Mughal history, removing references to the Gujarat riots, and cutting chapters on evolution while adding more emphasis on Vedic science and the RSS role in the freedom struggle. University autonomy has been undermined with controversial Vice-Chancellor appointments, fee hikes at institutions like JNU that sparked protests, and faculty positions not being filled at premier institutions. A wave of renaming has swept across India, with Allahabad becoming Prayagraj, Mughalsarai renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar, Aurangabad becoming Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra, and numerous roads and buildings losing names associated with Muslim rulers or the Nehru-Gandhi family. Critics view this as erasing Muslim heritage and rewriting history to suit majoritarian narratives, while supporters argue it corrects colonial and Islamic distortions.

The construction and consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya represent the culmination of a decades-long BJP project. Following the Supreme Court's November 2019 verdict awarding the disputed land to Hindus for temple construction despite acknowledging the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition was illegal, Modi laid the foundation stone in August 2020 and participated in the grand consecration ceremony in January 2024. The Prime Minister's participation in his official capacity in what was essentially a religious ceremony raised constitutional concerns about the separation of religion and state, and opposition leaders felt pressured to attend. The political timing, coming before elections, was not lost on observers, as the event consolidated Hindu votes and fulfilled a core RSS-BJP agenda item.

Modi's governance style has been characterised by extreme centralisation of power, with the Prime Minister's Office becoming the most powerful since Indira Gandhi's time and cabinet ministers often reduced to implementers of decisions taken by the PM and a small inner circle. Major decisions, such as demonetization, were allegedly announced with minimal cabinet consultation, the lockdown decision was taken with limited input, and farm laws were passed despite farmers' concerns not being addressed. His communication strategy relies heavily on one-way channels such as Mann Ki Baat, his monthly radio address running since 2014, and an overwhelming social media presence with over one hundred million Twitter followers. Press conferences are rare, with Modi holding his first solo press conference as Prime Minister only in 2019 during elections, and interviews are granted only to friendly journalists, with questions often scripted or known in advance. Image building has been constant, with foreign tours to over sixty countries, elaborate photo opportunities with world leaders, fashion statements including the Modi jacket and colourful turbans, and personal branding through terms like "Chowkidar" and "Pradhan Sevak." Event management has characterised governance, with every launch or opening treated as a grand spectacle, though critics argue this represents optics over substance.

Youth disillusionment has grown significantly from the massive support Modi enjoyed in 2014. The employment crisis stands as the primary reason, with the promise of two crore jobs annually completely unfulfilled and a series of examination paper leak scandals in NEET, SSC, and Railway exams eroding trust among students who prepare for years only to see exams compromised. The Agniveer military recruitment scheme, which changed army recruitment to four-year short-term service without pension, is seen by youth as exploitation. Economic stress on families with rising costs of education, healthcare, and housing, stagnant parental incomes, and the squeeze on the middle class through high taxes with minimal benefits has affected young people directly. The erosion of freedoms through internet shutdowns, with India accounting for over sixty per cent of global shutdowns, arrests for social media posts, and fear of speaking out, has particularly impacted the digitally-native young generation. Social media awareness has increased as alternative information sources through international media and independent YouTube channels allow fact-checking of government claims, with memes and satire reaching wide audiences. Specific incidents such as the wrestlers' protest in 2023, where Olympic medalists protesting sexual harassment were dragged by police, and the farmers' protest, where young farmers died at protest sites, have shaped youth perceptions. The gap between aspirations fueled by influencer culture and economic reality has led to increasing numbers seeking student visas to Canada, Australia, and the UK in what represents an accelerating brain drain. While urban youth in particular show signs of being less communal and tired of constant Hindu-Muslim rhetoric, wanting instead focus on jobs and education, electoral data from 2024 showed first-time voters did not support the BJP as overwhelmingly as they did in 2014. As Modi's tenure extends beyond a decade, the verdict remains deeply divided. Supporters credit him with decisive leadership, infrastructure development, reduced petty corruption through digital systems, enhanced global stature for India, and fulfilment of Hindu aspirations through the Ram Mandir. Critics point to catastrophic employment failure, widening inequality with the top one percent controlling over forty percent of wealth, democratic backsliding with India ranking 161 out of 180 in press freedom, communal polarization that has torn at India's social fabric, institutional erosion affecting the Election Commission, judiciary, and universities, agrarian distress with over one hundred thousand farmer suicides, and serious questions about personal character including the abandonment of his wife Jashodaben and involvement in surveillance controversies.

The economic record shows mixed results. Digital infrastructure and physical infrastructure have genuinely improved, and renewable energy progress has been substantial. However, the jobs crisis remains catastrophic, inequality has widened dramatically, the debt burden has increased significantly, and demonetization was a clear policy disaster. For the top ten per cent of India, the Modi era has been prosperous, but for the bottom fifty per cent, struggle has continued or worsened. GDP growth, when adjusted for context and compared fairly to previous governments, shows modest improvement at best before COVID-19, with the overall average dragged down by the pandemic. The most serious concern remains the state of Indian democracy. With press freedom having plummeted, judicial independence questioned through various mechanisms, civil society stifled through FCRA cancellations and UAPA prosecutions, Parliament reduced largely to a rubber stamp with minimal debate and mass opposition suspensions, federalism undermined through centralization and Governor misuse, and elections still free but with fairness questioned through Election Commission actions and investigating agency deployment against opposition, India risks being classified as an electoral autocracy rather than a liberal democracy. Some international democracy indices have already moved India into the category of "flawed democracy" or "electoral autocracy." This is the gravest concern because while economic policies can be reversed and communal tensions can be healed over time, the destruction of democratic institutions requires decades to repair.

The false claim regarding Narendra Modi's appearance in the Epstein files must be categorically rejected based on a thorough examination of all available evidence. No credible document, court filing, or investigative report supports this assertion. However, verified controversies including his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, the abandonment of his wife Jashodaben for over five decades, the Snoopgate surveillance scandal, the Pegasus spyware targeting of journalists and opposition leaders, selective prosecution of opposition through central agencies, systematic erosion of press freedom and civil liberties, and comprehensive failure on employment generation represent serious concerns that merit rigorous scrutiny and public debate.As India navigates its future, the Modi era will be remembered as transformative, though whether that transformation has been predominantly positive or negative depends largely on one's position in India's increasingly unequal society and one's priorities regarding economic growth versus democratic freedoms. What remains undeniable is that India under Modi has better roads but worse democracy, faster internet but slower justice, grander monuments but greater inequality, more digital payments but fewer quality jobs, louder nationalism but quieter dissent, and higher GDP figures but lower press freedom rankings. Whether this represents progress or regression, development or democratic backsliding, ultimately depends on what one values most for India's future. The dramatic decline in youth support, evidenced by electoral results and social media trends, suggests that the generation that once placed immense hope in Modi's promise of "Achhe Din" now questions whether those good days were meant for everyone or only for those at the very top of India's economic pyramid.

Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available information, court records, news reports, and credible data sources. Claims not supported by evidence (like the Epstein connection) have been explicitly debunked. All factual statements can be verified through cited sources. This represents an attempt at balanced, comprehensive analysis - acknowledging both achievements and failures - something often missing in India's polarised political discourse.