A missed opportunity

The monsoon session of parliament, which concluded last week, has ended up being one of the biggest disappointments of Prime Minister Modi’s tenure so far, with virtually no progress made on pushing through needed economic reforms. Admittedly, the failure was in large part due to protests held by opposition parties responding to a corruption scandal, which effectively triggered a parliamentary shutdown. But the ruling BJP itself boycotted parliament in previous years, most dramatically in 2010 and 2013, and so has arguably received a taste of its own medicine. What’s more, the BJP’s own dithering delayed the passage of amended land acquisition laws. With attention soon likely to turn towards the flurry of state elections scheduled for mid-2016, a big opportunity to push through difficult reforms has been missed.