India’s Elections Could See a Spate of Religious Violence
Rising oil prices and weak job growth threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reelection. His party wants to make the vote about nationalism instead.
The Global Ambitions of India’s Hug-Loving Leader
The political mood in India has darkened significantly as Prime Minister Narendra Modi gears up for reelection in 2019. While the rest of the world perceives Modi as a polite statesman, he and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata party aren’t afraid to play gutter politics to win at home. In Indian politics, and particularly for the BJP, that means appealing to the sensibilities of the Hindu majority.
Modi and the BJP won their majority in 2014 by selling millions of poor Indians on the dream of a more prosperous future. But the party is heading to the polls in the spring as rising oil prices push the rupee to record lows and job growth remains weak. At the same time, the opposition Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi, is cobbling alliances with regional parties, narrowing the BJP’s lead. Given a recent spate of religiously motivated vigilante and mob killings, the Election Commission and Supreme Court have both expressed fears about potential violence.