This refers to Mihir S Sharma's column "Liberals under Mr Modi" (Policy Rules, June 9). If governance suffered under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) due to a diffraction in authority, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), in turn, could be susceptible to too much of it being centralised. The Congress peaked in UPA-I on an ascendant growth curve. The UPA-II then inexplicably switched over to the extremes of "inclusiveness", losing sight of growth. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has since come back riding on the growth arc of the cycle this time. While its majority strength and innate economic tenet might enable a GDP recovery, a weak Opposition makes NDA vulnerable to socio-economic imbalances. Proponents of the BJP's laissez-faire ideology, mainly derived from the Sangh Parivar, would tend to influence the bureaucracy to bypass ministerial oversight. Even the best political outfit and redoubtable leaders must go through a learning curve, and Narendra Modi and his NDA government, too, will have to travel this path.
R Narayanan Ghaziabad
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