NYT OPINION: He’s the World’s Most Popular Leader. Beware.
By Nicholas Kristof
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 18, 2023 at 02:00AM
In immediate political terms, the personality cult perhaps succeeds. With approval ratings at home of about 78 percent, Modi is far and away the most popular major leader in the world today, according to Morning Consult.
With the opposition in disarray, Modi is expected to win a third term as prime minister in next year’s elections.
While Modi polls extremely well, many worldly Indians are aghast that he has made India less secular and tolerant, creating what some argue is a Jim Crow Hindu nationalism that marginalizes religious minorities, particularly Muslims. And it’s not just marginalization: Muslims are periodically accused of slaughtering cows, which are sacred to Hindus, and lynched. In a typical case this month, a mob in Bihar state accused a Muslim of carrying beef and beat him to death.
By Nicholas Kristof
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 18, 2023 at 02:00AM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is building roads while also dangerously corroding democracy.
NEW DELHI — All over the Indian capital these days loom posters of Narendra Modi, presenting him as the great modernizing prime minister pulling India forward. But those posters also hint at the opposite: an emerging personality cult and an authoritarian streak that is dragging India backward.In immediate political terms, the personality cult perhaps succeeds. With approval ratings at home of about 78 percent, Modi is far and away the most popular major leader in the world today, according to Morning Consult.
With the opposition in disarray, Modi is expected to win a third term as prime minister in next year’s elections.
While Modi polls extremely well, many worldly Indians are aghast that he has made India less secular and tolerant, creating what some argue is a Jim Crow Hindu nationalism that marginalizes religious minorities, particularly Muslims. And it’s not just marginalization: Muslims are periodically accused of slaughtering cows, which are sacred to Hindus, and lynched. In a typical case this month, a mob in Bihar state accused a Muslim of carrying beef and beat him to death.
Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/opinion/modi-india.html
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