BJP is winning the elections but losing the economy |
The BJP’s victory in West Bengal represents a moment of peak political performance and a landmark achievement. A resounding endorsement for Narendra Modi in 2029 is the only way the party can exceed the electoral peak it’s attained in Bengal. At the same time, the BJP’s handling of the economy has hit a low with no guarantee that it cannot go lower. The burning question is: Are the two events coincidental, or simultaneously determined? The latter — details follow.
ALSO READ | V Anantha Nageswaran writes: We need to speed up economic reform, but pessimism doesn’t help
Four agents are responsible for the economic derailment. The first and most important is the government itself. It recognises the problem but is satisfied with blaming others for the crisis — in this case, the second agent: Major industry. The third agent is the Congress party, which is so comfortable being led by the Gandhis that a BJP one-party democratic rule is all but guaranteed. The fourth agent is the puppeteer controlling the top three: The Deep State. The crisis persists because the economy continues to expand at a pace proudly touted as the fastest among the world’s major economies.
The political high is self-evident — the emphatic win in West Bengal and the near one-party democratic rule in India. For some, the “economic low” may be an exaggeration: Isn’t India the fastest-growing major economy in the world, with GDP growth around a 35-year historical average of 6 per cent a year? The catch lies in that word “major” and in measuring against a 35-year average. For the period of BJP rule from 2014 onwards, India’s rank in terms of GDP growth is ninth, in........