Shehzad Jai Hind

The rise of Narendra Modi is a watershed moment in Indian politics. In fact, such is the magnitude of his influence on the country that India's governance paradigm and political history can be easily divided into two distinct eras―pre-Modi and post-Modi. Modi became the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat in 2001. He was undefeated in all subsequent elections and became the state's longest serving chief minister. While Modi strode Gujarat like a colossus, propelling multi-dimensional progress, bigger responsibilities beckoned. Modi's exemplary success in Gujarat, paved the way for him to be popularly elected India's prime minister in an overwhelming victory in 2014. He is a prime minister unlike anyone earlier, both in terms of appeal and body of work. As a result, in 2019, he was re-elected with an even bigger mandate. His appeal is the result of his work in many domains over a long social, political and administrative career. Modi's impact is not restricted to India alone, and numerous national and international polls regularly declare that he is the most popular international leader. In 2021, Modi completed 20 continuous years as the head of a government. This book, a compilation of chapters authored by eminent intellectuals and domain experts, attempts a definitive and expansive exploration into the fundamental transformation of Gujarat and India over the last 20 years due to Modi's unique model of governance. Full list of authors: P.V. Sindhu, Shobana Kamineni, Surjit S. Bhalla, Amish Tripathi, Amit Shah, Pradeep Gupta, Anantha Nageswaran, Arvind Panagariya, Dr Shamika Ravi, Uday S. Kotak, Ajay Mathur, Anupam Kher, Ashok Gulati, Dr Devi Shetty, Nandan Nilekani, Nripendra Misra, Sadhguru, Sudha Murty, Ajit Doval, K.C., Manoj Ladwa, Bharat Barai, Dr S. Jaishankar

For the better part of seven decades after independence, the Nehruvian idea of India held sway in India's polity, even if it was not always in consonance with the views of Jawaharlal Nehru himself. Three key features constituted the crux of the Nehruvian way: socialism, which in practice devolved to corruption and stagnation; secularism, which boxed citizens into group membership and diluted individual identity; and non-alignment, which effectively placed India in the Communist camp. In the early Nineties, India began a gradual withdrawal from this path. But it was only in 2019, with Narendra Modi's second successive win in the general elections, that this philosophy is finally being replaced by a worldview that acknowledges India as an ancient civilization, even if a young republic, and that sees citizens as equal for developmental and other purposes. A New Idea of India constructs and expounds on a new framework beyond the rough and tumble of partisan politics. Lucid in its laying out of ideas and policies while taking a novel position, this book is illuminated by years of research and the authors' first-hand experiences, as citizens, entrepreneurs and investors, of the vagaries and challenges of India. This revised edition builds on some of the arguments of the earlier edition and brings things up-to-date.