Make a break, Mr Modi; the time has come to reverse the Avadi resolution

Avadi resolution made the state the leading player in economic activity. Mr Modi's riposte has to be in the opposite direction; it must say the state will step aside as it can no longer deliver

For the past few years, many people, mostly of the soft left-liberal persuasion, have been lamenting the emergence of political ‘strongmen’. Vladimir Putin, Xi Jingping, Shinzo Abe, Recep Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte, even our own Narendra Modi, are held up as examples.
 
The liberals — almost by definition — prefer weak heads of government who reflect their political preferences. They are very distressed at the increase in the number of ‘strongmen’ who don’t care a hoot for these views.
 
But there is another way of looking at it: political ‘strongmen’ are a necessary — but not sufficient — condition