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WORLD NEWS Friday 24 May 2019

Modi surges to victory in India on Hindu-first platform

By EMILY SCHMALL ald Trump, Chinese Presi-
NEW DELHI (AP) — Naren- dent Xi Zinping, Israeli Prime
dra Modi, India's charis- Minister Benjamin Netanya-
matic but polarizing prime hu— rushing to congratu-
minister, was headed Thurs- late Modi.
day for a landslide election An estimated 600 million
victory, propelling his Hindu voters cast ballots in India's
nationalist party to back- six-week polls, a testimo-
to-back majorities in par- ny to the vibrancy of the
liament for the first time in world's largest democracy
decades. just 72 years since India
With most of the votes won independence from
counted, Modi's stunning British colonial rule.
re-election mirrored a Voters expressed confi-
global trend of right-wing dence that Modi could
populists sweeping to vic- jumpstart India's stalling
tory, from the United States economy, despite his poor
to Brazil to Italy, often on first-term record and failure
a platform promoting a to deliver on his pledge to
tough stand on national create jobs.
security, protectionist trade The BJP harnessed social
policies and putting up bar- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a giant floral garland from party leaders at their media, including Twitter,
riers to immigration. headquarters in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 23, 2019. where Modi has 47.4 million
The victory in India was Associated Press followers, and WhatsApp to
widely seen as a referen- reach out to millions of sup-
dum on Modi's Hindu-first party workers celebrating lynched dozens of Muslims and labeling Congress par- porters.
politics that some observers the outcome, Modi urged and lower-caste Dalits — ty president Rahul Gandhi Modi also capitalized on a
say have bred intolerance the world to "recognize In- people in India's strict so- as an out-of-touch mem- suicide bombing in Kashmir
toward Muslims and other dia's democratic power." cial hierarchy once consid- ber of the elite. This reso- in February that killed 40 In-
religious minorities, as well He attributed the party's ered "untouchable" — for nated in India, where an dian soldiers. India retaliat-
as his muscular stance on showing to his policies consuming or slaughtering anti-corruption movement ed with airstrikes at alleged
neighboring Pakistan, with aimed at improving the lot cows, which Hindus con- helped lead to the ouster terrorist training camps
whom India nearly went to of the nation's poor, includ- sider sacred. of Congress partly for the in Pakistan, fanning the
war earlier this year. ing free medical insurance, Modi has largely shown perceived excesses of the flames of nationalism and
"India wins yet again," Modi relief for distressed farmers complacency toward ris- Gandhi family, and for the helping the BJP turn voters'
exulted in a tweet. and a highly popular pro- ing incidents of violence bloated and inefficient bu- attention away from the
Election Commission data gram to build 100 million and discrimination against reaucracies Congress ran flailing economy and onto
showed Modi's Bharatia toilets in a nation where minorities, and to rhetoric as the ruling party for nearly matters of national security.
Janata winning 158 seats basic sanitation remains a like that of his party's presi- a half-century after inde- As votes were being count-
and in the lead for 145 major problem. dent, who called mainly pendence. ed across India, Pakistan's
more, which would cata- The election victory was a Muslim Bangladeshi mi- Gandhi conceded defeat military said it successfully
pult the party well beyond resounding endorsement grants to India "termites," or for his own parliamentary test-fired a long-range bal-
the simple majority in the of the 68-year-old Modi, one of BJP's candidates for seat to his BJP rival in Am- listic missile capable of car-
545-member lower house whose economic reforms parliament, who described ethi, a constituency in rying a nuclear warhead.
of Parliament required to have had mixed results but peace activist Mahatma the northern state of Uttar Tensions with Pakistan
govern. The results spelled whose background as a so- Gandhi's assassin as a "pa- Pradesh that had for de- "gave him the narrative
another nail in the coffin of cial underdog from a low- triot." Activists, lawyers, cades been a Congress he needed to counter all
the main opposition Indian er-caste Hindu family clear- journalists and academics party bastion. But Indian these allegations of non-
National Congress party, ly inspired some in India's have been harassed and election rules allow candi- performance, unemploy-
which picked up 31 seats highly stratified society, ap- even prosecuted under dates to run in more than ment and rural distress. It
and was leading in 21 other pealing to tens of millions anti-terrorism and anti-sedi- one constituency, and reenergized him and en-
contests. Its president, and of Indians seeking upward tion laws that Human Rights Gandhi was ahead in the abled him to reclaim his im-
the scion of modern India's mobility. Critics have said Watch calls draconian. race for another seat he age as a strong leader In-
most powerful political dy- his Hindu-first platform risks But on the campaign trail, contested in the southern dia needs at this juncture,"
nasty, personally conced- exacerbating social ten- Modi seized on his personal state of Kerala. political commentator Arti
ed his seat to BJP, signaling sions in the country of 1.3 narrative, presenting him- Even before the election Jerath said.
the end of an era. The final billion people. self as a self-made man commission had released The BJP's performance "is
tally was not expected until Since Modi led the Bharati- with the confidence to cut any official results, calls absolutely stunning. Modi is
Friday. ya Janata Party to power red tape and unleash In- came in from around the the predominant leader in
Addressing thousands of in 2014, Hindu mobs have dia's economic potential, world — U.S. President Don- India today. q