The BJP's staggering win in UP is supposedly the result of a message of Hindutva plus economic aspiration. As MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi puts it, with `development' as username and `hindutva' as password logging in to massive mandates becomes automatic.But can Hindutva deliver development in the long run? Modi ran a `Hindutva plus development' model in Gujarat for 12 years but as the Hardik Patel agitation shows the state still suffers endemic unemployment. Just as socialism was implemented through state power by Left-inclined regimes, now Hindutva is being implemented through state power. But the Hindutva model of triumphalist state power is in no mood to back down after tasting huge electoral success.

Source: Economic Times March 28, 2017 22:30 UTC