West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has flagged concerns about the flight of industries from the state, adding that rule of law can reverse it. CM Mamata Banerjee must pay heed. Poll results showed people’s impatience with her playing politics at the cost of governance. West Bengal mustn’t pay the price.
Modi saying everything’s fine in India in different languages doesn’t change reality
Everything is not fine in India, no matter in how many languages Prime Minister Narendra Modi says so. His speech at the ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event in Houston was good optics for diplomacy and politics but counterfactual. The economic slowdown, unemployment, and the Kashmir challenge are real. Denial is no solution.
The flight of capital from Bengal started in 1967. It has never been reversed. The CPM had some early success with Operation Barga, however 34 years of unbroken rule did not deliver prosperity. If the BJP wishes to come to power in 2021, it should unveil a plan for the state’s renaissance. Somehow I don’t think that will happen. Instead, in keeping with the state’s political culture, there will be a lot of hand to hand combat.
High hopes from current BJP government, which is headed by a PM who is even more extreme left wing Marxist then Bengal’s erstwhile Marxists.
America’s friendship benefits those who are industrious, enterprising. Almost each country lying between India and Japan has used exports to the US as part of its growth story. In our case, more services than merchandise. Even without a shared concern re China, this is a fantastic relationship. Creating a buzz in Texas, one of America’s most dynamic states, helps. Provided we remain anchored in reality. After five years, there should have been a lot more to showcase than toilets and gas connections. In some ways, the good work of two terms now needs to be compressed in one.