A Look In The Mirror

The forthcoming election, it seems, will be fought mainly on issues of governance and economic performance.

To the extent there is a focus on the personalities involved, such as Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal or potential ‘Third Front’ candidates such as Nitish Kumar or Mamata Banerjee, most of the discussion is about their economic track record or lack thereof. This is a welcome development. However, in the grand theatre of Indian politics, facts often take a backseat to slogans, and opinions get sharply polarised. For example, we either hear that Gujarat’s economic performance has been nothing short of miraculous due to the magic touch of Modi or that Gujarat’s so-called growth story is all hype and a PR campaign aimed at covering up a dark underbelly of poverty, inequality and low levels of human development indicators.

Dr Sanchari Roy (CAGE Research Associate) and Maitreesh Ghatak (LSE) hold Gujarat up against other states to see if it grew more in the Modi decade than in the preceding 20 years. To continue reading visit: Outlook IndiaLink opens in a new window