Explainer | Who is India PM Narendra Modi and why is he so popular?
- After riding a tsunami of support to re-election in 2019’s polls, the bearded 69-year-old is by far the most powerful Indian politician in a generation
- He is not without his critics, however – especially for his government’s Hindu-nationalist policies and treatment of the country’s Muslim minority
Who is Narendra Modi?
Modi talks proudly of his humble beginnings, growing up without running water or electric lights – yet he now has more than US$335,000 in assets, according to a mandatory filing before contesting last year’s parliamentary polls.
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According to a biography by writer and journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, he has a weakness for expensive fountain pens, luxury watches and designer spectacles.
But unlike many Indian politicians, Modi has no circle of relatives hovering around him in search of powerful contacts or lucrative government contracts. He has been separated from his wife, to whom he was engaged as a child in an arranged marriage, for decades. He has no children.
When did he enter politics?
What did he do while chief minister of Gujarat?
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How did he become PM?
The riots of 2002 also served to burnish his image as a “protector” of Hindus, with him reportedly later calling for relief camps housing Muslim survivors of the riots to be shut down because they had become “factories for producing babies”.
Yet his campaign for the 2014 general elections focused on the highly publicised “Gujarat model” of economic growth and infrastructure, rather than his Hindu-nationalist politics.
His resounding victory issued in a seismic political shift that effectively ended the dominance of Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, which had governed independent India for most of the preceding 67 years.
Will Modi’s dream for a ‘Congress-free India’ come true?
The desire for change was so strong that voters put aside any concerns they might have had about Modi’s Hindu-centric politics and perhaps even believed it when he promised a sea of supporters dressed in the BJP’s official orange colours after winning the election that “the age of divisive politics has ended”.
Why did he get re-elected?
In his first term as prime minister, Modi alternated between pursuing economic development programmes and pushing his Hndu-nationalist agenda. As the 2019 elections neared, his bid for re-election appeared to be struggling amid rising unemployment and rural anger at the impact of a slump in crop prices on farm incomes.
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Indians react to re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
During the campaign, he presented himself as the nation’s chowkidar (security guard), a message that was amplified by a well-funded BJP that got it out with brutal efficiency through various media, rallies and at other events.
His re-election mirrored a trend of right-wing populists sweeping to victory elsewhere in the world, often by promoting a tough security stance and protectionist trade policies.
How has he changed India?
Since Modi led the BJP to power in 2014, Hindu mobs have lynched dozens of Muslims and lower-caste Dalits for consuming or slaughtering cows, which Hindus consider sacred.
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He has not addressed even a single press conference during his six years as prime minister and does not give interviews to known critics, with his government shutting down television channels and serving warnings to outlets for coverage deemed too critical.
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Modi’s government also appointed a committee of scholars to prove that Hindus are descended from India’s first inhabitants, challenging a more multicultural narrative that has dominated since independence – that modern-day India is a tapestry born of migrations, invasions and conversions – a view rooted in demographic fact. While the majority of Indians are Hindus, Muslims and people of other faiths account for some 240 million, or one-fifth, of the populace.
Where does he stand on China, Pakistan and the US?
Modi was 12 years old when war broke out between India and China over their disputed border in 1962 – a catalyst for him joining the RSS, according to Mukhopadhyay‘s biography.
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He was critical of the Congress government’s approach to Beijing during a subsequent border stand-off in 2013, but visited China seeking trade and investment at least four times while chief minister of Gujarat, and has championed better ties and economic cooperation since becoming prime minister in 2014.
Under Modi, India’s armed forces have entered Pakistani-administered territory at least twice to launch what his government has described as retributive military actions against terror cells supported by Islamabad, earning him praise from domestic audiences.
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Will he win again in 2024?
They say a week is a long time in politics and that is perhaps even more true in India. So while it might seem premature to try to predict the outcome of the next general election in 2024, as thing stand Modi remains a front-runner.
Modi also remains stubbornly popular – a recent survey by an Indian media outlet found that 66 per cent of respondents continued to believe he was the best choice for the top job.
Yet as Mukhopadhyay – the biographer – points out, while Modi may seem at the height of his powers at the moment with “no one who can challenge him effectively”, four years is a long time.
“A lot will depend on how his government handles the after-effects of the pandemic, especially on the issue of providing jobs,” Mukhopadhyay said.
Additional reporting by Kunal Purohit, Reuters, Associated Press