"Too much democracy"

 "Too Much Democracy"

In an online address the (then) NITI Ayogya CEO (Amitabh Kant) was quoted as saying "India had too much democracy". This caused consternation even in the docile press (also called Godi Media).

In fact he used this phrase twice.

The first time was when he said "Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much of democracy... You needed political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done." The implication one can draw from his formulation is that these "reforms" (or more accurately, "deforms") need a fundamentally undemocratic political will. Make what you will about whether these changes can be "reforms" in a democracy.

The second time around he used the phrase, Kant claimed he had been quoted out of context. He helpfully tweeted (on the Twitter handle @amitabhk87 on 8th December 2020): "This is definitely not what I said. I was speaking about MEIS scheme & resources being spread thin & need for creating global champions in manufacturing sector."

So if you see disproportionately many resources being lumped in favour of one or two "global champions", why are you shocked? This has been government policy, articulated by the CEO of its in-house "think tank".

(Minor edits to a note written in September 2022)