Digital Voters, Billionaire Kings, and a Waning Welfare State: What 25 Years in the 21st Century Reveal About New India
✍️ Written by Saket Suman The first quarter of the 21st century is ending with an inward silence that cannot be hidden despite tourists thronging major hotspots. This is a moment that is ripe for reflection, when the land of over a billion should pause, even if briefly, to glance over its shoulder before looking ahead again. Representational Image: INSV Kaundinya on her maiden voyage from Porbandar to Muscat. Via: PM NaMo In these twenty-five years, India has become compressed, elastic and restless. The republic that once imagined itself as a socialist, secular, democratic experiment is now often narrated through a different grammar of scale, speed, and spectacle. The people have changed, politics has consolidated, and the idea of governance has been rewired. India now stands at global forums with postures of pride and of paradox. The arrival of Narendra Modi in 2014 was a culmination of accumulated frustrations, deferred dreams and a desire...