Failure has many mothers: The Indian voter gets it right again

livemint.com:

Apne pair pe apni kulhadi maarna.’ A lose-lose proposition. So, why did the BJP leadership indulge in it? A credible one-word explanation may be arrogance; i.e., a we-can-do-no-wrong attitude. Another pointer from the Karnataka assembly election was that while corruption in India was all pervasive, it was expected that the BJP under Modi would be significantly less corrupt than the rest.

I want to end this column on failures with successes that supersede failure. The Indian voter, ever mindful of pulling the correct lever for the country, has set in motion much-needed checks and balances to policy. To use an analogy from economics, why do monopolies happen? Because of innovation, because of invention and because of thinking big.

Why do monopolies fail? Because the monopolist, having tasted profound success, wanders into complacency, and worse, arrogance. The end of arrogance comes from competition. Significant checks and balances are now likely to invade the BJP policy space.

At every opportunity, I hold up my mobile and state, “Jaago aur jaagte raho—duniya badal gayi hai" (Stay alert, for the world is changing), followed by the maxim, “There is no place to hide anymore". In policy terms, we could expect substantially less misuse of Enforcement Directorate powers, less tolerance of sexual offenders (as in the case of wrestlers), and less (or zero?) imprisonment of opposition leaders. Expect less centralization of power in administration—again, monopoly has advantages before laziness in thinking and arrogance of action devour the monopolist.