2019 – Year of Bad Political Choices

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won full majority could have steered the economy to new highs, surpassing that of P V Narasimha Rao. Yet he veered right in a cultural sense, that has given rise to an atmosphere of hatred in the country and where the life of a cow is more important than a police officer.

In her column in the Indian Express on Sunday, senior journalist Tavleen Singh was critical of Modi in the way he presided over his government. He came to power on the plank of parivartan, but the change was limited in its scope. The digital India led millions to open back account but there is little money in them. Beneficiaries got gas connections but had no money to sustain it. And because the private sector has not seen the boom it expected, there is still no signs of 12 million new jobs.

Singh did not see much hope to his possible replacement either. Without naming Rahul Gandhi, she felt the scion of the “imperial dynasty” would have to rely on alliance partners whose economic ideas are “stupidly socialists”. She summed up on the premise on which she wrote the column — 2019 is going to be a year of bad political choices.