A year ago, newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was promising to do big things, including amend a law that made it unreasonably difficult for companies to acquire land for factories and infrastructure projects. He's more or less given up on that particular ambition, after stumbling into fierce resistance in the opposition-dominated upper house of Parliament.
The comedown arrives just as GDP growth slowed to 7 percent in the second quarter, disappointing those hoping India would shoot past a faltering China to become the world's fastest-growing major economy.
Modi needs to change this souring narrative, and fast. Individual states might still be able to push forward much-needed reforms in land and labor. But at the national level, the opposition has succeeded in painting Modi's agenda as pro-business and anti-poor. That's a precarious place for the prime minister to be, especially with politically crucial elections coming up in largely agrarian Bihar state.