India should liberate its cities and create more states

In his first decade in office Narendra Modi used centralisation to help modernise the country. His ideal is a strong leader, with a national mandate and a majority in Parliament, who can direct the central government to force through changes across a huge country. Election results on June 4th cast doubts on that approach because Mr Modi’s party lost its majority and now relies on allies to rule. Centralisation appears to have reached its limit. That means it is worth considering the alternative: delegating power by creating more independently run cities and even more states.