PM Modi deals ‘Bengali card’ by appointing Ashok Lahiri as NITI Aayog VC

The appointment of economist and West Bengal BJP MLA Dr Ashok Lahiri as vice-chairman and immunologist Dr Gobardhan Das as a full-time member of NITI Aayog has been hailed as a much-needed confidence-building measure during the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections.

The hope probably is that the twin appointments will contain the damage caused by Union home minister Amit Shah in describing Kolkata as a "city of slums" and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself disparaging Jadavpur University in no uncertain terms. The statements were seen to have hurt ‘Bengali pride’ and caused worry in BJP ranks about the effect they might have on the voting pattern in phase two of the elections on 29 April.

The appointments, announced on Saturday, 25 April, are hence intended as damage control. Lahiri, a Brahmin and ‘nationalist’, was former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s choice as chief economic advisor in 2002, continuing in office under Dr Manmohan Singh until 2007. He has been an MLA since 2021 but was denied a ticket to contest in 2026. While he is said to have been a victim of internal squabbles, most observers were taken by surprise because they expected the BJP to project him as the party’s chief ministerial face.

In a video statement released in Bengali, Dr Lahiri saido he is honoured to have been appointed the vice-chairman and added that it was an honour for Bengal and a recognition of its rich tradition of higher education and producing globally acclaimed economists. He cautiously praised the prime minister’s initiative in promoting backward districts as ‘aspirational districts’ and using data to monitor the progress in these districts.

Referring to the PM’s goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ and ‘Samruddh Bharat’ by 2047, he says in the statement that a lot of work will be needed to achieve the goal. Significantly, the statement was issued on BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya and the party’s own social media pages, but not by Lahiri’s personal social media account.

Lahiri called on the prime minister in New Delhi on Saturday after assuming office. The PM also released a photograph of the two of them and stated, 'Met Shri Ashok Kumar Lahiri Ji and conveyed my best wishes on his being appointed as the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. His rich experience in economics and public policy will greatly strengthen India’s reform journey and the journey towards becoming a Viksit Bharat. I am confident his efforts will further energise policymaking in our nation. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure.'

Lahiri has also held positions at Delhi School of Economics, Asian Development Bank, Bandhan Bank, and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. His international experience includes stints with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. An alumnus of Presidency College (now University), Kolkata and with a career spanning over four decades, he is regarded as one of India's senior economists.

A sharp critic of the West Bengal government’s economic and fiscal policies, he questioned the pre-poll promises made by the Trinamool Congress. In an op-ed piece in Ananda Bazar Patrika earlier this month, he asked from where the money would come for welfare schemes, but refrained from addressing the same concerns about the BJP’s poll promises.

There are sceptics who wonder if the economist will last long if the BJP fails to win in Bengal. Conversely, there are BJP insiders who are convinced that he will be installed as the chief minister in case the BJP wins, recalling Shah’s statement that the BJP’s chief minister would be a son of the soil educated in 'Bengali medium'.

There are also analysts who question if the government seriously expects Lahiri to change the functioning of the NITI Aayog. The experiment of doing away with the Planning Commission, say these critics, has not worked and there is little that the new team under Lahiri can do to reverse NITI Aayog’s disappointing performance so far.