“You have given the Congress 60 years, give me 60 months and I will lead India towards development.” This is Narendra Modi’s sales pitch to India. Shorn of all complexities of governance, the idea that life for all will improve substantially in 60 months is seductive and many may be swayed by its simplicity. But, India has evolved and the electorate is much more discerning. If you promise to deliver something wonderful, people will ask a simple, yet powerful question: How? As on many issues of significance, Mr. Modi has been silent on this question. Yes, there is rhetoric about economic policies loaded with bullet trains and smart cities but there are few specifics on how it is all going to happen. I don’t believe Mr. Modi’s strategists are about to get into any specifics at this stage of the campaign. That leaves the electorate with only one recourse: assess Mr. Modi’s record as Chief Minister of Gujarat. What did he do in 149 months while he was in power in Gujarat, a State that was already well on its way before he got there but where Mr. Modi had unbridled power. Let’s take a look. Modi the magician? Mr. Modi has often spoken of Gujarat’s development in superlative terms. Of course, we should all be proud if a state does well and the lives of people improve. But it is disingenuous to make it appear that a particular state is exceptional, when easily available evidence indicates otherwise. It is in this context that Mr. Modi’s opponents, I included, must necessarily take aim at the narrative spawned by Mr. Modi’s public relations machine. In terms of economic growth, Gujarat has been one of the top performing states. Between 2004-05 and 2012-13, Gujarat grew at about 10% annually. But, Gujarat’s growth is not a Modi miracle. Growth rates in Gujarat averaged 13 percent in the 80s and 90s. Gujarat under Mr. Modi benefited from an already fast growing economy and also from economic reforms ushered in by, well, Dr. Manmohan Singh. During Mr. Modi’s time as Chief Minister, other big states started catching up and the growth rate in several states exceeds that of Gujarat’s. Gujarat has done well but it was already doing so before Mr. Modi came in. He helped maintain a high growth rate. Take a bow, Mr. Modi but respect history and context, and tip your hat to your predecessors and fellow Gujaratis on whose shoulders you now stand. What should we make of Mr. Modi’s claims about infrastructure and industrial development in Gujarat? Let us take one of Mr. Modi’s favourite examples: electrification. With almost all of Gujarat electrified, it is indeed a great achievement. But, when you consider that all but about 170 of Gujarat’s villages were electrified before Mr. Modi took over, you begin to wonder about Mr. Modi’s boasts. Should he not at least pay lip service to those who came before him to set up the infrastructure that makes Gujarat look good now? After all, they did the bulk of the work! Oh, by the way, much of the infrastructure for roads, ports, refineries was built before Mr. Modi took over in Gujarat. Mr. Modi’s achievement could be that he maintained and, at times, improved on what his predecessors built. But, he remains an unabashed braggart, miserly in crediting those who handed to him a pretty well defined product. Agricultural growth in Gujarat has been impressive during Mr. Modi’s tenure. With annual growth of about 6.5%, Mr. Modi is right to point at this as an important facet of development in Gujarat. But, what gets lost in Mr. Modi’s bluster is that Gujarat was doing better than many big states before Mr. Modi took over. What is more, some states such as Bihar and Maharashtra have done even better. Inconveniently, these other states were doing far worse than Gujarat in the pre-Modi period. Now, they have not only caught up in terms of growth but have exceeded Gujarat’s performance in agriculture. So, while Mr. Modi proudly talks of how Delhi gets milk products from Gujarat, we mere mortals are supposed to forget that the Amul dairy cooperative (which supplies a lot of that milk) was created befo
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:55:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015