Asia | With enemies like these

Narendra Modi’s secret weapon: a useless opposition

A weak Congress party and disunited smaller opponents keep the BJP in power

|DELHI

IN A SHORT speech on November 19th Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, made a humiliating U-turn. Barely a year after pushing a trio of laws reforming agriculture through parliament, he announced their repeal. The shame was not only to have handed victory to the horde of tractor-mounted peasants doggedly protesting at the gates of India’s capital since last November. It was to have bungled the issue from the start.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “With enemies like these”

Adventure capitalism: Startup finance goes global

From the November 27th 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Asia

A Virginia Class submarine

AUKUS enters its fifth year. How is the pact faring?

It has weathered two big political changes. What about Donald Trump’s return?

Japanese and American soldier placing flags before an official gathering

Joe Biden’s mixed legacy on Japan

Security co-operation flourished, but a scuppered steel deal leaves a sour taste


A worker supervises the disposal of slag from nickel ore processing in a nickel factory in Sorowako, Indonesia

Indonesia nearly has a monopoly on nickel. What next?

Prabowo Subianto, the new president, wants to create an electric car supply chain


What a 472-year-old corpse reveals about India

St Francis Xavier is both venerated and despised

Pakistan’s army puts a former intelligence chief on trial

General Faiz Hameed is an ally of Imran Khan, who is currently behind bars

By resisting arrest, South Korea’s president challenges democracy

His attempt to impose martial law failed. But Yoon Suk Yeol is still causing trouble