AS MARKETING SLOGANS go, “the difference 4,399 days can make” is unlikely to win many Cannes Lions. Nor is #LongestServingElectedPMModi the sort of hashtag that will set social media on fire(在社交媒体上爆红). But the actual achievement highlighted alongside the fluff(虚浮无实质的内容) in an X post by India’s official publicity department is genuinely impressive. When Narendra Modi became prime minister 12 years ago, the country had just 74 operational(运营中的，可使用的) airports. Today, his government boasts, that number is 164. It is planning to open another 50 in the next five years.
就营销口号而言，“4399天能带来的改变”不太可能赢得戛纳金狮奖。#LongestServingElectedPMModi（任职时间最长的民选总理莫迪）也不是那种能引爆社交媒体的标签。但印度官方宣传部门在X平台上的一篇帖子中，与这些虚浮内容一同强调的实际成就确实令人印象深刻。12年前纳伦德拉·莫迪成为总理时，印度仅有74个运营中的机场。如今，他的政府宣称这一数字已达到164个，并计划在未来五年内再开设50个。
The newest one started operations on June 15th. Designed to be a second hub(中心枢纽) for the capital, Delhi, Noida International Airport can handle up to 12m passengers a year, with plans to expand to 70m by 2040, or as many as passed through Singapore’s Changi last year. It actually sits in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, a vast state with as many people as Nigeria and the income per head(人均收入) of Mali. Over the course of his prime ministership Mr Modi has inaugurated(主持启用) ten new airports or terminals in that state alone, including six on a single day in early 2024. The fact that elections followed within a month was no doubt just one of those strange cosmic coincidence(宇宙般的巧合)s.
最新的一个机场于6月15日开始运营。作为首都德里的第二枢纽，诺伊达国际机场每年可处理多达1200万人次旅客，并计划到2040年扩大到7000万人次，相当于去年新加坡樟宜机场的客流量。它实际上位于相邻的北方邦，这是一个幅员辽阔的邦，人口与尼日利亚相当，人均收入却与马里一样。在莫迪总理任期内，仅在该邦他就主持启用了10个新机场或航站楼，其中2024年初一天之内就启用了6个。一个月后便举行了选举，无疑是那些奇怪的宇宙巧合之一。
A year later many of the new facilities were in terminal decline(处于无可挽回的衰落中). Airports in places that most Indians could not find on a map either never saw a single flight or hosted a handful(少量，几个) and then faded away. It was always an act of extreme optimism to think Saharanpur, an overgrown(过度膨胀的) town of mostly poor people, could support an airport. Mr Modi’s critics seized on(抓住（机会或论据）) the failures as evidence of the government’s obsession with vote-winning optics(表象，视觉效果) over governing substance.
一年后，许多新设施便陷入无可挽回的衰落。那些大多数印度人在地图上都找不到的地方的机场，要么从未迎来一个航班，要么接待了零星几趟航班后就销声匿迹。认为萨哈兰普尔这个主要由穷人构成的膨胀小镇能够支撑一个机场，向来是极度乐观的想法。莫迪的批评者抓住这些失败案例，证明政府痴迷于赢得选票的表面文章，而非治理实效。