Sunrita Sen -
Nationalist, populist, authoritarian, disciplined and divisive: These are the most common terms used to describe the man who has won a second five-year term as India’s prime minister.
From modest origins, Narendra Modi, 68, has powered himself to the pinnacle of Indian politics with a strong work ethic and no-nonsense image, but also a political heritage that has made him a divisive leader.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now swept to a parliamentary majority twice in the country’s general elections, largely riding on Modi’s image or the “Modi brand” as some commentators have called it.
Modi’s continued success also reflects a wave of victories by right-wing nationalist leaders around the world, ranging from Turkey’s
Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines.
Yet the report card from his first five years as prime minister has been mixed. He has led a robust foreign policy and his government has improved key infrastructure, but it has failed to kick-start the economy as promised during the 2014 campaign.
Modi and other senior BJP leaders have also been accused of failing to contain hate crimes and attacks on minority sections and Dalits over the killing of cows that Hindus regard as holy.
Born on September 17, 1950, in the Gujarat temple town of Vadnagar, Modi spent his childhood helping his father run a tea stall. His family belongs to a lower caste, but one not quite at the bottom of India’s archaic social hierarchy system. Modi often dwells on these humble origins in his speeches.
He was groomed from early years in the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a nationalist organisation founded with the objective of making India a Hindu nation, although the constitution asserts it is secular. The organisation is the ideological parent of the BJP.
“He does define Indian nationhood purely on the basis of religious identity. For him, Indian nationhood is essentially Hindu,” says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who has written a biography of Modi.
Modi joined the BJP in the late 1980s and was a key strategist in its successful bid to take power in Gujarat, India’s westernmost state. He became the state’s governor — known as “chief minister” in India — in 2001. One year later, it was gripped by religious violence.
The 2002 riots left more than 1,000 people, predominantly Muslims, dead. Courts absolved Modi of any involvement. Voters in Gujarat, which is majority Hindu like most of India, backed him heavily in the next election.
Supporters believe Modi’s pro-business policies and his reputed authoritarian style are his best attributes, along with a relatively clean personal image. They are seen as
necessary when it comes to handling India’s overloaded bureaucracy.
During the election campaign in 2019, Modi showed once again what he is best at: projecting himself as the leader who can best protect India’s interests.
That is especially true on the security front, where he has not shied away from daring decisions like an airstrike in February on what India claimed to be a militant training camp in Pakistani territory.The strike came after a terrorist attack killed 40 paramilitary troopers in Kashmir.
Following that attack, Modi’s main campaign message to voters became that he was the man to watch over the country. He even added the word chowkidar — watchman in Hindi — to his name on his official Twitter account.
Now, it seems a majority of Indian voters have renewed their trust in him at the polls.
— dpa
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