We must question Modi on his election promises

MUMBAI, April 19 -- Five years after Narendra Modi swept to power in a landslide election victory, and as he again faces the voters, we should ask: has he delivered on his campaign promises of Acche Din and "minimum government, maximum governance"? In 2014, most commentators, and I include myself, didn't interrogate Modi's promises carefully enough, allowing him to get away with catchy slogans that may not have had any substance in them. Be that as it may, it's incumbent on us now to move beyond the marketing, at which this government excels, and examine its record.

Start with the shiny new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics, which would have you believe that the fastest growth under this government happened in the year of the disrupt...