I harbour serious misgivings about the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and equally little patience for those whose visceral dislike of the Prime Minister blinds them to any achievement since 2014.

That said, one feels a growing unease about the direction politics is taking. There is a sense of indignation spreading among Indians who stand slightly right or left of centre - not just the political middle, but the middle class at large. Whatever one thinks of its methods, the CJP struck a nerve: though billed as youth-led, its message resonated far beyond Gen Z, lancing a boil, and airing long-simmering frustrations.

An admirer of Narendra Modi (and not necessarily the BJP) would claim that the problems being raised - education, jobs, civic infrastructure - are old ones, and not solvable overnight. But in the current mood, that won't wash; that defence would collapse into cynicism.

Modi stormed into power on hope and disillusionment with the incumbent government's competence and character, and voters continued to trust his capability through successive elections. The welfare schemes during Modi 1.0 - sanitation, cooking gas, water - and their last-mile delivery inspired confidence; JAM, UPI, and DBT proved game-changers at the bottom of the pyramid. That faith was rewarded in 2019. Yet the law of diminishing returns eventually kicks in - LPG cylinders once seen as a boon begin to hurt when prices rise. With basic needs met, it's 'Dil Maange More'!

From food security to vaccine roll-out during Covid 19, from rural consumption powering growth to largely insulating the economy from external shocks, the government's achievements are substantial. GST is strengthening with every passing day, and so is better tax administration-funded development. On foreign policy, opinion is divided.

So where lies the disconnect? The turning point was the 2024 Lok Sabha results. Since then, the BJP has gone on an all-out mission to consolidate its position - through alliances, engineered defections, and an election machine in overdrive to capture State after State. Critics see the delimitation exercise, framed as the women's reservation bill, as reshaping Parliament's arithmetic in the BJP's favour - that perception has stuck. Elections, everyone knows, run on money, side deals, and compromise - and the promise of probity, much vaunted on the campaign trail, has been quietly set aside.

Another inevitable risk of an unbroken run of election victories is hubris and a widening distance from the grassroots - and in its third term, the Modi government shows signs of both. Over 12 years, the stature of BJP Chief Ministers has diminished; like the Congress of yore, they hold office at the pleasure of the high command, with little skin in the game - making the most of their tenure while it lasts. The malady extends to MPs, MLAs, and Central Ministers alike, and governance is the natural casualty: last-mile delivery, once the government's hallmark, has taken a back seat. Flagship programmes tell a similar story of promise outrunning delivery, from Swachh Bharat to Skill India - the more complex the scheme, the more it has run aground on bureaucratic gaps. Tellingly, even as gig work expands, the old hunger for a 'sarkari naukri' endures - people still don't trust the new economy to deliver what the old one promised.

Meanwhile, the Congress has poured its energy into recasting Rahul Gandhi as the face of change - banking on years of pent-up anti-incumbency to do what organisation-building has not. Whether that strategy also counts on unrest to sharpen its edge is speculation; but the CJP's guerrilla entry through the same cracks has certainly raised the stakes. Whether the CJP is acting alone or as a force multiplier for the Opposition, time will tell - but it has rattled the government. Some fear that a threatened Modi could tilt toward a more authoritarian mode, as powerful leaders elsewhere - and in India's own past - have done. That may be scaremongering. But it is fair to say the government has no magic potion in store, and knows it.

The government surely knows that the promise of Viksit Bharat feels like a distant dream to many. Today's youth live in the here and now, and so, increasingly, do the rest of us. For those who backed Modi, without signing up for his party, the expectation is straightforward: basics done well, tangible delivery, and humility to notice when the mood has shifted. That, more than any slogan, is what would restore trust.

Sandip Ghose is a current affairs commentator. X: @SandipGhose.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)