Narendra Modi''s victory has been ascribed to two factors - an unsubtle exploitation of Hindu communal sentiments and an admirable record of economic development. While the first can be described as the standard defining characteristic of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the second reason is new in Indian politics.
It is also all the more unusual because the growth has been the result of market-friendly policies, marking a sharp departure from the country''s customary, if unrewarding, faith in socialism.The Gujarat chief minister, therefore, can be said to have charted a new course with the potential of setting a trend that can be of immense benefit to the country.The difference between his approach and that of the Manmohan Singh government is that the latter has been diffident about the pro-capitalist economic reforms that Singh initiated as the finance minister in 1991.However, both he and his party, the Congress, have been somewhat apologetic about the endeavour, presumably because it went against the party''s policy of establishing a socialistic pattern of society, enunciated in 1955.
Their sense of having done something wrong and even harmful was accentuated by the Congress''s 1996 defeat that was ascribed by the socialists in the organisation to Singh''s pro-rich and pro-business economic reforms.This point of view was strengthened in the Left-oriented political class by the defeat of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who had also tried to break away from the usual public sector- and subsidy-based approach to the economic scene. While the private sector was shunned by this group of politicians because of its profit-oriented attitude, free power for the farmers and a wide range subsidies - whether fertilisers or food grains - were their mantra for electoral success, notwithstanding the well-known resultant wastage.
It is also all the more unusual because the growth has been the result of market-friendly policies, marking a sharp departure from the country''s customary, if unrewarding, faith in socialism.The Gujarat chief minister, therefore, can be said to have charted a new course with the potential of setting a trend that can be of immense benefit to the country.The difference between his approach and that of the Manmohan Singh government is that the latter has been diffident about the pro-capitalist economic reforms that Singh initiated as the finance minister in 1991.However, both he and his party, the Congress, have been somewhat apologetic about the endeavour, presumably because it went against the party''s policy of establishing a socialistic pattern of society, enunciated in 1955.
Their sense of having done something wrong and even harmful was accentuated by the Congress''s 1996 defeat that was ascribed by the socialists in the organisation to Singh''s pro-rich and pro-business economic reforms.This point of view was strengthened in the Left-oriented political class by the defeat of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who had also tried to break away from the usual public sector- and subsidy-based approach to the economic scene. While the private sector was shunned by this group of politicians because of its profit-oriented attitude, free power for the farmers and a wide range subsidies - whether fertilisers or food grains - were their mantra for electoral success, notwithstanding the well-known resultant wastage.
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