Today (19), Millions of Indians began voting – and that’s a literal big deal. Indian elections are widely regarded as the largest in the world, both in terms of the number of voters and also the scale of the electoral process.
It involves nearly a billion voters, making it the largest democratic exercise in human history, and taking place over a period of six weeks, across different phases.
The 2024 general election in India is in many ways a referendum on Narendra Modi, a populist prime minister who presided over the renaissance of Hindu nationalist politics, and is seeking a rare third term as the country’s leader.
More than 10% of the world’s population will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament to serve five-year terms.
Associated Press reported:
“This election is seen as one of the most consequential in India’s history and will test the limits of Modi’s political dominance. If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term, after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
Most polls predict a win for Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP], who are up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties.”
The BJP controls the majority of India’s Hindi-speaking northern and central regions, and is now trying to gain a larger foothold in the east and south.
“The election comes after a decade of Modi’s leadership, during which the BJP has consolidated power through a combination of Hindu-first politics and economic development.
Modi has ratcheted up Hindu nationalist rhetoric on the campaign trail, and has sought to present himself as a global leader. His ministers tout him as the steward of a surging India, while his supporters celebrate his campaign promise to make India a developed nation by 2047, when it marks 100 years of independence.”
India’s economy is presently one of the world’s fastest-growing, but many of its people still live in poverty.
The opposition alliance want to reach voters on issues like unemployment, inflation, corruption and low agricultural prices.
“The opposition, and critics, also warn that Modi has turned increasingly illiberal. They accuse Modi of using tax authorities and the police to harass the opposition, and fear that a third term could undermine India’s democracy. His Hindu nationalist politics, they argue, has bred intolerance and threatens the country’s secular roots.”
Modi is very popular among India’s 1.4 billion people, and is targeting a two-thirds majority for his BJP party this time, hoping for a landslide win powered by its popular welfare programs.
The construction of the temple to Ram on the site of a demolished mosque (that has been erected over a Hindu temple in the first place) fanned the flames of a reborn Hindu nationalism, resonating with supporters who hail him as the champion of the Hindu majority.
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