Push the envelope on market reform

The reality is that Modi is too savvy a politician to push ideas or policies which do not have mass support

There is a paradox at the heart of India’s post 1991 political economy. India has grown at its fastest (currently the world’s fastest) after it liberalised its economy. Many more people have been alleviated from absolute poverty in the last three decades than in the five preceding decades. And yet, there is no political party which is explicit or unabashed in its endorsement of a market economy. That can only be because there is no substantial constituency for market reform. Therefore, the question to ask, on the day India elects its next government, is why the apparent success of a