View all Articles
Commentary By Reihan Salam

Modi's New Challenge Is Embracing Urbanization

His expansion of welfare benefits has won him votes from rural citizens—but if he wants to build a “New India,” he must focus on cities.

When Narendra Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to an outright parliamentary majority in 2014—a feat which no party had been able to achieve in the previous 25 years of Indian politics—the hopes and expectations for his first term were straightforward, if lofty. Modi promised to build a “New India” that would curb corruption, spur economic growth, and advance the interests of the growing “neo-middle-class” of erstwhile villagers striving to reinvent themselves as middle-class consumers.

Five years later, the BJP has secured a new electoral mandate even more impressive than the last, a testament to Modi’s unmatched political prowess. Yet it has done so despite an economic record that can only be described as underwhelming. If Modi hopes to do more than simply stay in power, if he still aspires to bring his New India to life, he’d do well to heed the advice of a small clique of economists who’ve been calling on his government to more fully embrace urbanization.

Continue reading the entire piece here at The Atlantic

______________________

Reihan Salam is president of the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.

This piece originally appeared in The Atlantic