@vsdoc @Infowarrior @BlackOpsIndia
I am following this entire conversation for national election in 2019 and here is my understanding: For better or for the worse, leaving BJP and Modi, there is no party or leadership in the country which wants rather is even willing to talk about economic progress. This is the main and the biggest determinant of anything and everything about a nation of size like India. All justice, freedom etc etc etc become meaningless if you simply do not have enough economic means to support a population of scale of India which is still growing and still quite young. It does not matter if inequality becomes even ten folds higher. At the current economic size, even if you distribute all the economic output equally to all Indians, you will be left with a very anemic living condition. What I guess most people have trouble in understanding is the scale part of the problem. Pickup the biggest riot or most brutal unrest you have seen in your life. I can bet it will be bounded by 10 million people. An economic depression will impact 100s of million for 10s of years to come. These are two completely different scales.
I can see there are few ways in which scenario can play out:
1. BJP emerges with clear mandate: 2/3rd or not but clear mandate. Not NDA but BJP. You will have 5 more years in which there is a chance that economic progress will accelerate.
2. You get a regional party coalition -- third front of sorts -- with support of Congress. It is HD Devegowda once again all over. Nothing will ever get done. Major political instability. There is no chance in the hell any economic reform will be undertaken. Essentially these folks do not have any chops to even think about economic progress, rather they do not have any inclination to work on any strategic thought. Their entire time and energy will be spent to maximize grabbing lucrative cabinet ministries with reshuffling every 2-3 months. The issue with these folks is that they have never been exposed to the reality of running a political system for 1.3 billion people and honestly, they don't even want to attempt that. Most of them have not seen India beyond their own state.
3. You get Congress with support of regional parties: Marginally better than above, may be.
4. You get NDA government. It will be Atal Bihari type government with all effort to keep the coalition going for 5 years. I guess no different than 3.
5. Congress in clear majority. Unlikely. If it happens, it will be Rajiv Gandhi 2.0 all over. We will have an incompetent and insecure leader in the centre being driven by month's or week's Rasputin.