Narendra Modi was finally sworn in as India's prime minister after his stunning election victory. One can only pray for India's sake that, as in the old saying "Cometh the hour, cometh the man," Modi will rise to a gigantic task that is much bigger than any of the optimistic foreign commentaries or the joyful Indian stock market have imagined.
If you believe some foreign commentaries, Modi has an easy road ahead. All he has to do turn the country over to private enterprise and let in foreign investment and all will be well. In the Financial Times, Gurcharan Das declared, "Modi needs to give India its Thatcher moment." What a horrible simplistic thought for a complex country.
In his first moments of triumph, Modi promised "to make the 21st century India's century." He had reason to be elated after a campaign that was as stellar as his opponents' was lackluster. His was a brilliant idea: larger-than-life holograms of himself made so that he could appear in many places at the same time.
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