One Year, Five U-Turns: How Modi 3.0 Was Forced to Bend to Coalition Pulls & Opposition Pressures

Last year on this day – June 9 – Narendra Modi took oath as the prime minister of India for a third consecutive term, but for the first time as the head of a government which was entirely dependent on its coalition partners. While Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had made repeated claims of crossing the 400-seat mark with the “400 paar or beyond 400” slogan in the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, the results on June 4 saw the saffron party reduced to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha, and forced to rely on its coalition partners to form the government. 

Whether it is the announcement of providing caste enumeration data along with the next decadal census, soliciting opposition support in its global diplomatic outreach following Operation Sindoor, calling for reservations in lateral entry hires for Union government posts, bringing in the Unified Pension Scheme by reversing a 21-year-old pension reform decision brought by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, or its moves in parliament where it was forced to send key legislations like the Waqf amendment to a parliamentary committee – the last year shows how the third Modi government has had to operate under the demands of a coalition government as well as under the pressure of a stronger opposition.

As Modi completes a year in office today, June 9, in his third stint as prime minister, and as the BJP looks to shift focus to “11 years” of governance, here are five key reversals that his government has taken in the last year in a departure from his previous two terms of one-party strongman dominance.

Caste Census

On April 30, the Union government announced that caste enumeration data will be included along with the decadal census. A nationwide caste census had been a longstanding demand of the opposition parties and was a central issue during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Union minister for information and broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw, while making the announcement, said that the decision showed that the "government is committed to the values and interests of society and country." He also accused the INDIA alliance of using the caste census as a “political tool” and said that Congress governments have “always opposed caste census”.

The decision is a sharp reversal of the BJP’s stance in the 2024 election campaign when it had dismissed the demand for a caste census as a move to divide society. 

Last week, the government announced that the long delayed population census (which was last conducted in 2011) along with the enumeration of castes will be conducted in two phases starting October 1, 2026.

Lateral entry

In August, the Union government asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to withdraw an advertisement for lateral recruitment to 45 key posts that was issued just days earlier amid pressure from the opposition as well as its own allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In asking for the advertisement to be withdrawn, junior minister for personnel, public grievances and pensions, Jitendra Singh, said that the step would be a “significant advance in the pursuit of social justice and empowerment” and that PM Modi is of the belief that the process of lateral entry must be aligned with the reservations.

The advertisement for 10 joint secretary and 35 director or deputy secretary-level posts through lateral entry was criticised not only by the opposition as a “well-planned conspiracy” to keep out reservations, but was also publicly opposed by Union minister Chirag Paswan – of the Lok Janshakti Party-Ramvilas Paswan, an NDA partner – who had said there can be “no ifs and buts” in reservations for government posts. 

The reversal came just days after the government had doubled down on the move with Union ministers defending lateral recruitments and citing previous government appointments, including under the UPA but was then forced to reverse its decision.

Unified Pension Scheme

Also in August, the Union cabinet approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), reversing a 21-year-old pension reform decision brought by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the form of the National Pension Scheme (NPS).

The UPS will provide an assured sum of at least 50% of the last 12 months’ average salary as pension to government employees and combines the old pension scheme (OPS) by including an assured pension but with a contributory structure (employee and the government) like in the NPS. The NPS, in a bid to bring in financial prudence, did away with the assured pension under the OPS which was then brought back under the UPS. 

The decision came amid backlash from opposition parties demanding a reversal to the OPS. Several opposition ruled states including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh earlier had gone back to the old scheme. In April 2023, the Modi government constituted a committee under union finance secretary T.V. Somanathan to review the NPS and ensure fiscal prudence. While announcing the UPS, the union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that it was recommended by the committee. The cabinet decision on the UPS had come just months before key assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

Soliciting opposition support in diplomatic outreach after Operation Sindoor

Unlike the previous two terms, the last year saw a decisive shift in how the Modi government operates internationally with the ruling party having resorted to bipartisan support following the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and the military conflict with Pakistan. While the previous two terms saw Modi making India’s foreign policy about himself, including while responding to terror attacks like Pulwama in 2019 which was followed by Balakot air strikes, this time the government solicited opposition support in sending out delegations for a major diplomatic outreach.

Seven teams of all-party delegations and former diplomats were sent to 33 countries to portray India’s zero tolerance policy to terrorism as the Modi government sought global support in isolating Pakistan sponsored terrorism. While three of these delegations were led by opposition MPs, two were led by the BJP’s coalition partners, and the remaining two by BJP MPs.

While such delegations have been sent out in the past under previous governments, it was a first under Modi to put forth a “collective resolve” who has routinely demonised the opposition instead of seeking its support. On their trips abroad, these delegations including the members of the ruling coalition parties in these delegations were seen forsaking their exclusionary and partisan politics at home and speaking in one voice, that is not practised domestically.

Moves in parliament

While the Modi government in its first two terms had been criticised for bulldozing through parliament key legislations like the contentious farm bills in 2020, reading down of Article 370 and even gone onto suspend a record number of MPs at the end of its second term, the last year has seen a change with a resurgent opposition in parliament.

The first major legislation that the Modi government brought to parliament after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was the Waqf Amendment Bill. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August but subsequently sent to a joint parliamentary committee after opposition MPs raised protests criticising the proposed legislation for targeting Muslims, being “unconstitutional” and “anti-federal”. 

The Wire has earlier reported that a significantly larger number of bills had been sent to select committees for review under the UPA governments between 2004 and 2014. 

The legislation was finally passed by parliament in April following two consecutive overnight sessions, but saw a narrow margin in its passage. While in the Rajya Sabha it was passed with 128 votes in favour and 95 against, in the Lok Sabha it was passed with 288 votes in favour and 232 against the legislation.

The government also put the Broadcasting Bill on the backburner after it was announced in August last year that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting was working on a Draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill and a fresh draft will be put out "after detailed consultation". Earlier in December 2023 it had circulated a draft among select stakeholders.

The old draft version had draconian features pointing to a fully-controlled media environment and a bid to push digital media into government and executive control. 

Following criticism of the government’s decision – announced in the Union Budget – to change how a tax on real estate sales was calculated, the Lok Sabha also passed legislation that would allow taxpayers to choose between the old and new tax rates.

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