No laughing matter during the elections

Comedian Shyam Rangeela, 29, decided to go all out. In early May, with the blessing of his parents, grandparents and village elders, he traveled from his native Rajasthan to Varanasi.

Not to visit the mecca of Hinduism, but to run against the incumbent prime minister. “I’m not doing this to win against Narendra Modi, but to show everyone how politics works in India today. And it’s a joke! he told me on the phone in mid-May, in Hindi. One of his friends was called in to translate the interview.

Shyam Rangeela had just learned that his application, submitted the day before our interview, was rejected by the authorities after having initially been accepted with difficulty. He was made to wait for many hours in scorching heat before he could file the necessary documents. He was then told the application was inadmissible because he did not take the oath. He claims he was never given the opportunity.

The comedian documented his setbacks on social networks where he is followed by more than a million people. Newspapers drew caricatures showing Narendra Modi cutting off his microphone.

He expected it. It is precisely because his microphone was cut off in the past that the young man entered politics. “At one time, I was a big admirer of Narendra Modi who was very present on social media. But I changed my point of view after facing censorship,” he says.

In 2017, the young man participated in a reality TV show, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. His routine, during which he imitated the prime minister and his main opponent, Rahul Gandhi, received a rare standing ovation from one of the judges and loud applause from the crowd. However, it was never televised.

However, the clip was leaked on social media and went viral. Shyam Rangeela has since become an online celebrity, but remains shunned by television, largely controlled by the prime minister and his allies.

The young man promises to continue to highlight on social networks the dangers currently facing Indian democracy.

Shyam Rangeela, who wanted to run as an independent candidate, is not linked to any political party, but his criticism is repeated by 28 opposition parties who have joined forces under the umbrella of the Indian Inclusive Alliance of National Development, or INDIA.

Together, these political groups denounce the control of Narendra Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the great pillars of Indian democracy, which are freedom of the press, the electoral commission and the independence of the judicial system. .

“This is a battle for the soul of India,” says Shashi Tharoor, one of the country’s most prominent politicians. A former diplomat who ran for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2007, the politician has been an MP from Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, since 2009. He is one of the standard bearers of the Congress Party, associated with the Nehru dynasty -Gandhi and former ruling party.

Shashi Tharoor is campaigning across the country after his voters have already registered their votes. In Kerala, in the southern tip of the country, Narendra Modi’s BJP is a marginal party, but has nevertheless gained ground.

Like the young comedian, Mr. Tharoor denounces the intimidation of dissident points of view in the country, sometimes using the police, sometimes the courts or the tax authorities. “I was the target of it myself. There are 13 legal proceedings against me, but I continue to move forward without fear,” he says proudly. However, one of the accusations against him is not light. He was accused of inciting his third wife to commit suicide! He was acquitted, but the case is being appealed and he intends to use every minute of freedom to continue to overshadow the outgoing prime minister, hoping to prevent him from obtaining another majority government.

Ratanjit Prata Narain Singh, who hopes to obtain a seat in the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, is of a completely different opinion. This former minister who took part in several governments led by the Congress Party left his former party in 2022 to join Narendra Modi’s BJP. “The party that was in power for a long time had above all an ideology which claimed to serve the well-being of the population, but which, in reality, mainly served a few leaders,” he said, convinced that Narendra Modi and the BJP, for their part, are truly serving India and Indians.

He gives as an example the country’s rapid economic growth over the past 10 years, large investments in infrastructure and technology. “India will be the third largest economy in the world by the end of the next term,” he said, rejecting out of hand accusations of discrimination against the country’s minorities.

It was almost 11 p.m. in India when we spoke on the phone. He was returning from a grueling day of campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, a key election state with a population of 242 million. It is also in this state that Prime Minister Modi inaugurated with great fanfare, in January, the new Hindu temple in honor of the god Ram. This controversial temple was built on the site of an ancient mosque destroyed by Hindu extremists during deadly riots.

According to Mr. Singh, Narendra Modi personifies an India on the rise, he who sold tea in train stations when he was a child and who managed to reach the top of the state. Without belonging to a political dynasty. “Today, it is as if the Prime Minister was a candidate for each of the seats in Parliament, the Lok Sabha,” he says.

This dominance and excessive personification of power are precisely what the opposition denounces. “My great luck,” says Shyam Rangeela, “is that even if I am not a candidate, I can continue to campaign on social networks. » This land in which Modi has invested a lot is difficult to censor, says the impersonator of the prime minister. “I will fight him with his own weapons. » And using his voice and his facial expressions.