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worker asked this question on behalf of the world’s second most-populous
nation:
“Tt is often said that India does not dream big and that is the root cause of
all our problems. Why can’t we dream like China, Europe or America?”
Note how Mr. Modi compares India to other continental powers. This
reveals just how much today’s 1.25 billion Indians, who are digitally
hitched to the global flow of ideas, have adopted new views of their
capacity for progress — not only for India but for themselves.
During his campaign, Modi tapped into this rising aspiration for India to
emulate the best in other countries. One in eight voters went to the polls
for the first time, a sign of the fact that two-thirds of the population is
under 35. He and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised economic
growth, clean governance, and decisive leadership, all of which Modi
delivered as chief minister of Gujarat state — although sometimes too
harshly or divisively.
His record and his campaign promises really reflect an India ready to join
the global community. Voter turnout was a record 66 percent. And the
electoral results cut across the old divides of caste, rural vs urban, old vs.
young, poor vs. middle-class. On those measures alone, India has
surpassed China, which is not even allowed to have elections, and the
political disunity in Europe and America.
The BJP’s election sweep was achieved in part out of public frustration
with the long-ruling Congress party. Its corrupt, paternalistic, and dynastic
style no longer fits an India of smart phones and social mobility. More
than two-thirds of Indians are dissatisfied with their country’s direction,
according to a Pew poll. In throwing off the past, voters have allowed the
BJP to rule with a clear majority in the lower house of parliament. Such a
feat was achieved only once before, in 1984, after the assassination of
Indira Gandhi boosted the Congress party in an election.
As prime minister, Modi must not forget he is riding an awakening of
Indian expectations as much as leading them. His checkered past as a
Hindu nationalist, and in sometimes treating India’s Muslims as less than
citizens, cannot color his leadership in a constitutional democracy.
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