Modi wins again

There are concerns that India’s swing to the right might fuel extremism to the detriment of minority groups

The rout of the Congress party by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues in India. On October 19, the BJP won election victories in two more Indian states and consolidated its hold on power. The BJP now holds Maharashtra, which is home to the financial hub of Mumbai, and the northern state of Haryana that is not far from New Delhi. Narendra Modi had campaigned hard for his party in the run-up to the polls, his fiery oratory not always sitting easily with the realities of governance. He has now been in power five months, and many of the promised reforms have yet to see the light of day, although there have been some positive changes. India has a reputation as one of the most difficult countries in the world to do business in. Red-tapism and a corrupt, sloth-like bureaucracy, heavily populated with nitpicking regulators have hindered growth in recent years. The Modi government has begun to strip away some of the more cumbersome regulations and there are reports of civil servants actually working overtime to the surprise of many. Inflation has dropped to under 10 per cent, in part because of a drop in global oil prices and it looks as if the coal industry may be opened up to the private sector.

However, with this recent victory, there still remain serious concerns about how the Modi government will be treating minority communities in the country. India has a huge Muslim population, making up 13.4 per cent of the population, as well as 24.1 million Christians. Both groups are widely discriminated against as are other minorities. India has moved decisively to a rightist and avowedly nationalist position and there are concerns that this might fuel extremism to the detriment of minority groups. There are also further concerns that tensions with Pakistan will rise on the back of nationalist sentiments. This can be clearly seen in the rising tensions on the Line of Control and the Working Boundary between the two countries. The full impact of India’s swing to the right both domestically and internationally, however, remains to be seen.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2014.

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