Modi, India's Favorite Son, Needs a Voice
The right reforms could create an additional 40 million nonfarm jobs by 2022, according to a report from the McKinsey Global Institute. But they will require hard choices, not simply an ability to push investment deals through. Whoever becomes prime minister will have to address fundamental questions of labor and land reforms, the states' relationships with the central government, taxes, infrastructure investment, health care and the yawning demand for vocational training. The new leader will have to lay the groundwork for a true manufacturing sector, rebalance investment in agriculture and vastly improve the delivery of government services. Ideas and policies to meet all these challenges exist, but Modi has avoided choosing among them -- not least because of differences of opinion within his party.
Modi’s second, and arguably more important, failing concerns the 2002 riots in Gujarat, where more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and several women raped while police and state officials stood by. Modi, whose base includes the Hindu militant groups accused of leading the attacks, has never forthrightly apologized nor taken responsibility for the brutality on his watch.
When the subject comes up, Modi's supporters cite the "clean chit" given to him by Indian judges, who ruled that he had not prevented aid from reaching Muslim riot victims. That doesn’t remotely lessen his responsibility for the officials under him, some of whom have received prison sentences for their role in the violence. Modi himself refuses even to entertain questions about the incident. On March 3, he canceled an appearance at a town hall where he could not control the questioning. This is cowardice, not leadership.
Modi is essentially telling voters that they can count on him to get the economy moving again, and should therefore drop any lingering suspicion that he is an autocrat or an anti-Muslim bigot. Indians are entitled to know how he plans to fulfill his promises.