Hafizzz
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Indias Rising Hindu Nationalist
India’s Rising Hindu Nationalist - Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com
To gauge the political prospects of Narendra Modi, you dont need to know his views on the fiscal deficit, relations with China or the death penalty. But it is important to understand why the man announced Friday as the prime ministerial candidate of Indias opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for next years general election evokes deeper devotion and fiercer opposition than any other politician in India.
Fans and foes alike view the 62-year-old, who has served for 12 years as chief minister of the northwest state of Gujarat, in starkly moral terms. For his legion of admirers, Mr. Modis elevation represents the triumph of merit and hard work. To his equally numerous detractors, he stands for self-aggrandizement and antipathy toward Muslims.
The chord Mr. Modi strikes in core Hindu nationalist supporters, as well as much of the middle class, explains the inevitability of the partys decision to make him its standard-bearer. The equally strong antipathy Mr. Modi evokesespecially among Muslims, a section of liberal Hindus and many foreignerssuggests his path to the prime ministers office will be anything but easy.
Part of Mr. Modis national appeal rests on his record as the business-savvy administrator of Indias most economically vibrant state. For Mr. Modis fans, he represents a profound departure from politics as usual. In a nation where leaders often hand down parliamentary constituencies to their children like a family heirloom, Mr. Modi is self-made. His first job: helping an uncle run a tea stall in a small Gujarat town.
Mr. Modi toiled for years in obscurity as a backroom organizer for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist group whose volunteers power the BJP at the grass roots. He didnt hold elected office before the party parachuted him into the chief ministers chair in 2001.
As a bachelor, Mr. Modi lacks the usual baggage of sticky-fingered children or their spouses out to make a quick buck. Over the years, he has acquired a reputation for a punishing work schedule and frugal habits, which Indians tend to equate with probity in public life. Despite belonging to a so-called lower caste himself, Mr. Modi has resisted the temptation to use it for political gain. And though an undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment ran through his first successful state election campaign in 2002, these days his speeches tend to focus on crop yields, cattle care and fashion exports.
The moral case against Mr. Modi hinges on anti-Muslim riots that swept Gujarat 11 years ago, after a Muslim mob torched 58 Hindu pilgrims on a train. More than 1,000 people died in the violence, about three-fourths of them Muslim. Mr. Modi says he tried to stem the riots, and a Supreme Court-ordered investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.
But many Indians continue to see his failure to stop the violence as evidence of culpability at worst and criminal negligence at best. It didnt help when, in 2005, the U.S. denied Mr. Modi a visa to address businesses and Indian-American groups on account of the 2002 riots. For Mr. Modis critics, his repackaging as an icon of development merely masks an unsavory agenda: to marginalize Indias 176 million Muslims.
What do these contrasting narratives mean for the BJP and India? For one, Mr. Modis moral stature makes him the unquestioned BJP leader. Nobody else in the party can generate a crowd of thousands, some wearing masks in his likeness, chanting PM, PM, PM. Or inspire software engineers and management consultants to quit high-paid jobs to work for his campaign. Or ensure that even the most mundane speech attracts wall-to-wall coverage.
But the nature of Mr. Modis appeal also carries its own limitations. Under a less polarizing figure, the BJP could have focused on highlighting the corruption and economic mismanagement that have plagued an unpopular government. Instead, the election will now become as much a national referendum on Mr. Modi as on the incumbent Manmohan Singh government.
Many fence-sitters will doubtless be drawn to the new BJP leaders compelling biography and promise of a strong India brimming with economic opportunity. But many others will recoil from electing someone synonymous with 21st-century Indias worst bout of religious violence. In choosing to frame Indias next election in moral rather than policy terms, the BJP has opted for a high-stakes gamble.
India’s Rising Hindu Nationalist - Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com
To gauge the political prospects of Narendra Modi, you dont need to know his views on the fiscal deficit, relations with China or the death penalty. But it is important to understand why the man announced Friday as the prime ministerial candidate of Indias opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for next years general election evokes deeper devotion and fiercer opposition than any other politician in India.
Fans and foes alike view the 62-year-old, who has served for 12 years as chief minister of the northwest state of Gujarat, in starkly moral terms. For his legion of admirers, Mr. Modis elevation represents the triumph of merit and hard work. To his equally numerous detractors, he stands for self-aggrandizement and antipathy toward Muslims.
The chord Mr. Modi strikes in core Hindu nationalist supporters, as well as much of the middle class, explains the inevitability of the partys decision to make him its standard-bearer. The equally strong antipathy Mr. Modi evokesespecially among Muslims, a section of liberal Hindus and many foreignerssuggests his path to the prime ministers office will be anything but easy.
Part of Mr. Modis national appeal rests on his record as the business-savvy administrator of Indias most economically vibrant state. For Mr. Modis fans, he represents a profound departure from politics as usual. In a nation where leaders often hand down parliamentary constituencies to their children like a family heirloom, Mr. Modi is self-made. His first job: helping an uncle run a tea stall in a small Gujarat town.
Mr. Modi toiled for years in obscurity as a backroom organizer for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist group whose volunteers power the BJP at the grass roots. He didnt hold elected office before the party parachuted him into the chief ministers chair in 2001.
As a bachelor, Mr. Modi lacks the usual baggage of sticky-fingered children or their spouses out to make a quick buck. Over the years, he has acquired a reputation for a punishing work schedule and frugal habits, which Indians tend to equate with probity in public life. Despite belonging to a so-called lower caste himself, Mr. Modi has resisted the temptation to use it for political gain. And though an undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment ran through his first successful state election campaign in 2002, these days his speeches tend to focus on crop yields, cattle care and fashion exports.
The moral case against Mr. Modi hinges on anti-Muslim riots that swept Gujarat 11 years ago, after a Muslim mob torched 58 Hindu pilgrims on a train. More than 1,000 people died in the violence, about three-fourths of them Muslim. Mr. Modi says he tried to stem the riots, and a Supreme Court-ordered investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.
But many Indians continue to see his failure to stop the violence as evidence of culpability at worst and criminal negligence at best. It didnt help when, in 2005, the U.S. denied Mr. Modi a visa to address businesses and Indian-American groups on account of the 2002 riots. For Mr. Modis critics, his repackaging as an icon of development merely masks an unsavory agenda: to marginalize Indias 176 million Muslims.
What do these contrasting narratives mean for the BJP and India? For one, Mr. Modis moral stature makes him the unquestioned BJP leader. Nobody else in the party can generate a crowd of thousands, some wearing masks in his likeness, chanting PM, PM, PM. Or inspire software engineers and management consultants to quit high-paid jobs to work for his campaign. Or ensure that even the most mundane speech attracts wall-to-wall coverage.
But the nature of Mr. Modis appeal also carries its own limitations. Under a less polarizing figure, the BJP could have focused on highlighting the corruption and economic mismanagement that have plagued an unpopular government. Instead, the election will now become as much a national referendum on Mr. Modi as on the incumbent Manmohan Singh government.
Many fence-sitters will doubtless be drawn to the new BJP leaders compelling biography and promise of a strong India brimming with economic opportunity. But many others will recoil from electing someone synonymous with 21st-century Indias worst bout of religious violence. In choosing to frame Indias next election in moral rather than policy terms, the BJP has opted for a high-stakes gamble.
