Patel agitation poses a big challenge to Modi’s reform plans: New York Times

The protests "highlight a major problem: India isn’t creating enough good jobs", said the daily dubbing them as "India’s Middle-Class Revolt".

In this August 25, 2015 photo, members of the Patel community shout slogans during a protest rally in Ahmedabad.

The ongoing agitation by Patels, “a relatively prosperous caste in India”, seeking reservation, poses a big challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans for reforms and signifies that India isn’t creating enough jobs, according to the New York Times .

The protests “highlight a major problem: India isn’t creating enough good jobs”, said the daily dubbing them as “India’s Middle-Class Revolt” in an editorial published on Tuesday. “This is a big challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has built his political career on promises to reform and modernise the stalled economy,” it said.

“The fact that 500,000 Patels, who have been a big part of Mr. Modi’s electoral base, attended a rally late last month to press their demands is a rebuke of the prime minister’s economic policies,” it said.

“With half of India’s 1.2 billion people 25 or younger, the need to create more jobs is acute,” it said.

“It should come as no surprise that young Indians, especially those in the middle class like the Patels, are frustrated.”

“Before last year’s election, Mr. Modi promised to create jobs by applying policies he had used to spur the Gujarat economy,” it said.

“So far, he has not been able to change many laws at the national level,” it said.

“And the protests in his home state raise serious questions about how successful his policies were for the average resident of Gujarat.”

“Mr. Modi now has less than four years before the next national parliamentary election to make good on his campaign pledge,” the U.S. daily said.

“If he doesn’t show results soon, the young electorate that swept him into national office could just as easily vote him out,” it warned.