Ramachandra Guha: The Myth Of Modi the Economic Reformer

By Dilip -

During the Constituent Assembly debates, Dr B R Ambedkar remarked that "the love of the intellectual Indian for the village community is of course infinite, if not pathetic". Well, the hopes that our free-market columnists place in the redemptive powers of Narendra Modi are infinite, if not pathetic too. After the new farm bills were passed in parliament last month, there has been a veritable deluge of articles praising Modi for having (at last) awakened his better instincts and revealed himself to be a real reformer (as these columnists had wished for all along).

Anyone who had any illusions about Narendra Modi's economic wisdom should have abandoned them altogether after the demonetization of large currency notes in November 2016. That was a daft move from which the Indian economy has not yet recovered. It was daft in terms of its economic logic, though it made some sense politically and personally, the first by diminishing the cash hoards of parties other than the Bharatiya Janata Party shortly before a crucial state election in Uttar Pradesh, the second by making Modi out to be a zealous messiah determined to wipe the contagion of black money from India forever.

For those still willing to suspend disbelief, the ham-handed execution of the Goods and Services Tax should have opened their eyes….

https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/the-myth-of-modi-the-economic-reformer-by-ramachandra-guha-2316311?amp=1&akamai-rum=off#aoh=16037963795412&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s

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