Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is the most often used headline when discussing Modi and his 100 days of prime-ministership. The eponymous ‘Expectations’ of Dickens refers to a legacy to come, much in the future; no different to Modi’s acche din (good days) promise which though it has lost its heady sheen, the overall sentiment is still, one of hope. As he landed in Japan on Saturday, his first bilateral trip outside the subcontinent, with the expectations of a strategic shift in India’s foreign policy and the announcement of the Jan Dhan Yojana, an ambitious financial inclusion programme, it would appear that good days are indeed around the corner for the country. But is that so?

Modi and Japan’s Shinzo Abe have much in common, both are pro-business, conservative nationalists and on a mission to restore national pride says famed author and banker Ruchir Sharma. Sharma however does sound a warning to Modi and to his many ardent admirers who are basking in this comparison; Abe after his early honeymoon has rapidly fallen off the popularity ratings in Japan and Modi may meet a similar fate if he does not deliver on his promises.

There are worrying signs ahead, the monsoon has been far from satisfactory, inflation is yet to be tackled, the rupee has declined after its initial rise and politics is only going to get more corrosive. Appointing controversial MP Yogi Adityanath to be the star campaigner for western UP is to signal that ‘Love jihad’ will be at the heart of the coming electioneering process in that state. Making inter-communal marriages a poll issue is to push India back to 1920, for this was the trigger then as it is now for Hindu revivalism in the state.

The lacklustre performance of the BJP in the recent by-elections held in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka is a wake- up call for the BJP and a morale booster to the opposition particularly for Lalu Yadav and Nitesh Kumar; long estranged rivals and ex-chief ministers of Bihar. It would seem that BJP President Amit Shah will have go far beyond what he did for the party in the 2014 parliamentary elections.

The rumours swirling around Rajnath Singh, minister of home affairs and his son, Modi’s big brother attitude and his micro-management style indicates a complete break from past practices and this may or may not bode well for the future. It will also be interesting to see how Modi handles his Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda and his son’s alleged shenanigans. Supreme Court’s advisory on appointing cabinet ministers with criminal backgrounds when 13 of Modi’s ministers have charges pending against them would be another litmus test.

Zero tolerance for cronyism

Some in the media have chosen to paint the Rajnath Singh case as infighting within the BJP but a contrarian take on that rumour and other rumours — a senior minister told abruptly to stop cosying around with a big industrialist and another commanded to hastily rush back from the airport to change his attire — is that a clear and firm message had to be sent that no one will be spared and there is zero tolerance for cronyism. It is also to signal that snooping is here to stay; perform or perish. The fetid air of entitlement that hangs around Lutyens Delhi needed perhaps such drastic measures.

It is time then to examine more minutely the specifics of Modi’s economic and foreign policy and governance directives. Broadly speaking, while he has taken imaginative steps whether in inviting South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) heads of state for his swearing in or in his spectacularly effective independence speech, it is in the minutiae that fissures are visible. There is the lack of a coherent overarching policy frame to help evolve sustainable and actionable programmes. A predilection for gimmicky shortsightedness is instead depressingly on display.

Take his Pakistan policy and the pull out of the talks on account of the Hurriyat’s meetings with the Pakistan High commissioner Abdul Basit. This would have been understandable if there was no earlier precedent or if he could sustain this course of action. Instead as a consequence of this decision, border violations have followed suit and both Jammu & Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his rival People’s Democratic Party are pleading for a restart of the talks so that there is peace on the border. Elections are due in Jammu & Kashmir and the entire Pakistan policy will now become a hostage to the local elections.

The budget in some ways was remarkable for its un-remarkableness; Swaminath Aiyar, of Times of India, a Modi fan, termed it ‘Chidambaram’s budget with a saffron lipstick’. There were great expectations from the international community on the Vodafone tax case as well as on some bold ideas on how to bring about structural changes even if they become incremental on labour policy and in manufacturing. It is all very well to proclaim from the ramparts of the Red Fort —‘come, make in India’— but where are the actionable programmes to achieve that all important ‘made in India’ label?

As much as Modi has a commanding majority in Parliament it seems patently shortsighted of the BJP not to build a bi-partisan support for crucial bills like the Insurance Bill which has been pending since 2008. The Congress party may have only 44 seats and undeserving as the leader of the opposition but it would be a small price to pay to give into the Congress’s demand for getting its backing on this all important bill and other bills to follow. If Modi is serious about his acche din promise and if he wants voters to continue to harbour ‘Great Expectations’ then he has to do much more.

Ravi Menon is a Dubai-based writer, working on a series of essays on India and on a public service initiative called India Talks.