As of now, it seems there’s no stopping the Narendra Modi juggernaut. But it is also due to a weak opposition. The Congress is in a state of paralysis. The NCP has paid the price for being mired in real estate and irrigation scams; its farmer base in western and southern Maharashtra could not have taken kindly to these developments. In Haryana, the dramatic rise and fall of the Aam Aadmi Party created a political vacuum. It whipped up an anti-Congress wave by campaigning against Robert Vadra’s land deals; the BJP walked into that space.

At present, the Modi government has everything going for it. Yet, there is a space for a cogent opposition. If the BJP has positioned itself as a party in the Republican-Conservative mould, advocating ‘minimum government’ so that private enterprise can function without fetters, it also leaves open a political space for a Labour-Democratic force that pushes for state intervention in the interests of weaker sections. But by sticking to Manmohanomics, the Congress ends up looking like a force without an identity, a B-team of Modi’s advisors. It needs to reinvent itself: enough of this anaemic, awkward mix of reforms and welfare, as a result of which the party ends up looking too pro-poor to work for business, and too pro-rich to work for the poor!

If the reforms plank now belongs to the BJP, so be it. It is time for the Congress, or for that matter, any political force, old or new, to revisit India’s welfarist paradigm. There is a political constituency waiting to be tapped, as the BJP yet again pursues its dream of India Shining — those left behind by environmental and land reforms. In doing so, the alternative should bury Manmohanomics and offer another model. Then, we’ll have a contest.

Deputy Editor

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