Modi’s pro-poor image: Has Congress’ NYAY scheme stolen the PM’s thunder?

Five years on, the choice between Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, seems to have been reset

Lok sabha elections 2019: When Narendra Modi was elected prime minister of India in 2014, one of the reasons that many welcomed him, at home and abroad, was that governance in New Delhi seemed to have ground to a halt. His predecessors in government, the Indian National Congress, had once been identified as the party of reform and competence. But, a series of political missteps and growing popular opposition meant that they instead developed a reputation for administrative paralysis.

Five years on, the choice between Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, seems to have been reset. For many, Modi’s government has not lived up to expectations. While he brought a new energy to governance, a lack of familiarity with policy combined with a lack of competence in his party and cabinet to stymie his more ambitious efforts at reform.

This week, when the Congress released Congress manifesto for the forthcoming general elections, it felt like we were back in the 2000s. Much in the manifesto was solidly reformist; it included several longstanding prescriptions from economists and public policy experts including legal reform, devolving more power to local governments and simplifying the goods-and-services tax. The BJP struggled to come up with coherent, pointed replies to these policy suggestions — even Modi’s finance minister was reduced to declaring that the manifesto was designed to help separatists break up the country. The contrast between the two sides could not have been sharper and it wasn’t the ruling party that sounded like the party of government…