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In January 2018, Prime Minister Modi said economic protectionism "can’t be considered lesser risk than terrorism or climate change.”

Yet India is now firmly on the path of import-substitution and aiming for & #39;self-reliance& #39;: https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-political-fix-with-atmanirbhar">https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-pol...
The Prime Minister made this comparison – saying protectionism is like terrorism – at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in 2018: https://www.livemint.com/Politics/Z7eH1dwqpdMz2wPiKhq7HM/Protectionism-bad-as-terrorism-says-Narendra-Modi-in-Davos.html">https://www.livemint.com/Politics/...
Yet this is what Modi has been saying of late:

"There are many products that find their way into the country from outside resulting in wasteful expenditure..."

https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-political-fix-with-atmanirbhar">https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-pol...
What explains this shift from & #39;protectionism is no less than terrorism& #39; to & #39;we must reduce & #39;wasteful expenditure.& #39;.

You might think it was the Covid-19 crisis, yet Modi has been moving towards protectionism from much before: https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-political-fix-with-atmanirbhar">https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-pol...
Covid-19, of course, might have accelerated this trend.

But what lies behind it? Especially when many of the economic thinkers who have worked with the Modi government considered protectionism a Nehruvian era relic? https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-political-fix-with-atmanirbhar">https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-pol...
Is it Swadeshi ideology?

Bureaucrats taking over – Cadre vs Harvard, so to speak? (If you& #39;ll allow me to adapt Modi& #39;s phrase)

Fear of China? A desire to emulate China& #39;s previous decades?

Or something else? https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-political-fix-with-atmanirbhar">https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/p/the-pol...
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