From The Publisher

The new Council of Ministers sworn in last evening reflects the fact that we are back to coalition governments. Is this a temporary phase, and are the days of a strong majority government behind us?

Many will argue that while there will always be national parties; the days of a single party sweeping the entire country are behind us. The sooner that all parties learn to work in coalitions, adjusting to others and accommodating their views, the better it is for the country to move ahead rapidly.

The nation, recognising what he has achieved, has given Prime Minister Modi, the mandate for the next 5 years. But with several caveats. In particular, the muscular and exclusionary Hindutva adopted by the BJP under him, may not be the Hinduism that was the ethos of the country for centuries.

The results also reflect that the country is too large and too diverse for single-size solutions to work all over the country. Different States and regions are at differing stages of development, and have their own requirements. We also have to take into account the diverse social and political conditions in different States and regions. More important, centralising all major decisions just cannot work – especially in a vibrant democracy.

All are agreed that the goal is the rapid development of India to being a fully developed country. This means elimination of poverty, universal quality education, health care, prosperous agriculture and strong industry and housing and jobs. Of course, we require the massive investment and improvement in infrastructure we have seen recently. But massive investment in industry and infrastructure alone and that too without creating jobs on a massive scale, are not enough to make us a developed country. There are huge shortfalls in primary education and healthcare and housing too.

These are subjects to be dealt with at local levels with the local government institutions having adequate sources of funding. A top-down centrally-directed and funded approach has never worked. All the developed countries of the world have addressed these issues, which allowed them to become developed countries. Even China has addressed these issues in a decentralised manner, and their success has allowed them to shoot ahead. The creation of industry and infrastructure can best be handled by the markets.

All this brings us back to coalitions with local political forces which will help achieve these goals as a necessary step to Viksit Bharat. Prime Minister Modi must successfully work with coalitions, accepting differences and take all sections and communities, including religious minorities, along in a true spirit of one large national family. This will be the true test of his success.