The Hindu ultranationalist leader, candidate for re-election, is still very popular after two mandates during which India increased its diplomatic influence and its economic weight.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently seeking a third term in the general elections, voted on Tuesday May 7. The leader emerged from a polling station in the city of Ahmedabad in his home state of Gujarat, surrounded by security officers, showing an inked finger to supporters, who cheered him.
Political analysts gave him the victory even before the start of the elections which took place from April 19, in seven phases, until June 1. In total, 968 million Indians are called to elect the 543 members of the lower house, more than the total population of the United States, the European Union and Russia combined.
A democratic setback
Narendra Modi, cantor of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is still very popular after two terms during which India increased its diplomatic influence and economic weight. He gave the BJP two landslide victories in 2014 and 2019 by playing on the religious fiber of the Hindu electorate.
But the opposition and rights defenders denounce a democratic backsliding and accuse Narendra Modi of favoring Hindus, the majority in the country, to the detriment of significant minorities, including the 210 million Muslim Indians. Conversely, the Indian Prime Minister accused the Congress party, the main opposition party, of wanting to distribute “national wealth” to “infiltrators”, “to those who have the most children”thus designating the Muslim community.
Earlier this year, Narendra Modi inaugurated a large Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Ram in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, built on the site of the 16th-century Babri Mosque, which was destroyed by fanatics Hindus in 1992.
Since Narendra Modi came to power, India has ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the world press freedom rankings established by Reporters Without Borders, which judges this “place unworthy of a democracy”. In a recent daily interview Times of IndiaNarendra Modi refuted any autocratic drift, accusing the opposition of “defame” India abroad.