Narendra Modi will not take a tough stand against China: Chinese daily

BEIJING: Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi will not take a tough stand against China and smooth transition of foreign policy will be his first test, a media report said today.

"Currently there's no sign that Modi will take a tough attitude toward China and making a smooth transition in India's peripheral foreign policies will be the first test for his governing capacity," state-run Global Times said in its online edition.

It said the result of the general elections in India has infused unprecedented confidence in Indian society.

The results will not change India but only serve as a good beginning at most, the daily said.

"Skeptics and prudent observers have listed a great deal of issues largely untouched in the election. For instance, they hold that India is blighted with an astonishing wealth gap, deep-seated social differentiation, severely insufficient industrialisation, the absence of a momentous social revolution, and a stringent caste system," it said.

The report said that due to the "highly decentralised politics of New Delhi, a prime minister with economic ambitions is far from enough by himself. India needs to make up for a number of gaps by measures from road building to literacy campaigns".

"Modi must spare no effort to create a lever to govern an Indian society that is fraught with myriad conflicts. This will test his ability to metamorphose from a local minister into a national leader," it said.