The Business Times
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THE BOTTOM LINE

A weakened Modi could make India stronger

Voters have told the prime minister and his once-dominant party what they really care about. It would be foolish not to listen.

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Published Wed, Jun 12, 2024 · 05:00 AM
    • What India needs now are reforms to promote jobs: lower tariffs to promote trade, investments in health and education, a less interventionist agricultural policy, and more liberal land and labour laws.
    • What India needs now are reforms to promote jobs: lower tariffs to promote trade, investments in health and education, a less interventionist agricultural policy, and more liberal land and labour laws. PHOTO: NYTIMES

    ENTERING his third term leading the world’s biggest democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is weaker than he expected to be. India is the stronger for it – and will be stronger still if he heeds the message voters are sending.

    Modi swept into power in 2014 as the head of the first single-party majority India had seen in a quarter-century. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) increased its dominance five years later and thought it would do so again this year.

    Instead, voters delivered a stinging rebuke: the BJP lost 63 seats and its majority. The government Modi heads is now a true coalition. To stay in power, he must cater to other members, including two fickle regional powerbrokers.

    IndiaNarendra ModiThe Bottom Line

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