Policy influencers: How SJM, CAIT have impacted Modi's economic road map

The SJM lobbied vigorously against the RCEP that culminated in an 11-day national protest in October 2019

In Modi 2.0, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have managed to transcend their perceived roles as pressure groups and emerged as policy and decision influencers. In Narendra Modi’s first term as prime minister, doubtless, the SJM — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’) economic wing with a pronounced anti-globalisation/anti-reformist outlook — and the CAIT, set up to gratify traders, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s core constituency, were around.

When Modi 1.0 was coming to grips with the fundamentals of economic policies, the SJM and the CAIT limited their interventions to one-off matters. In