Are you happy the BJP and Modi won the Indian elections?

As the title states, what are your views on Narendra Modi and the BJP? Do you think it is good that the Congress party lost?

I admire the fact that he rose up, apparently, from poverty which holds out hope of the remnants of the old caste system dissipating completely. He also does appear to be a charismatic orator and to have worked an economic miracle in his native state of Gujarat (although some argue it is a bubble waiting to burst!)...nevertheless, I have heard from some quarters that the Muslim and Christian minorities are lukewarm or suspicious towards him given that he seems to be a Hindu nationalist.

Do you think he will be good for minorities as well as the Hindu majority? Will he try to represent all of India in its colourful religious diversity?

I also heard on the BBC that because the West (the US and EU) criticized him for so long over the 2002 Gujarat Riots and his alleged participation, that he looks more towards "the East" ie Japan, South Korea and China. Is this true? I would not want India to develop poor relations with the West owing to its leader's personal distaste. Do you think that as Prime Minister he will also seek good relations with the West, especially since the Western Powers no longer hold him accountable? Was he simply unable, rather than ill disposed towards the West, to develop better relations in the past because of the 2002 crisis? Will that now change that he is Prime Minister? Also, might not the healthy Indian diaspora in Britain especially but also in the US, help bolster relations?

Vouthon said:

As the title states, what are your views on Narendra Modi and the BJP? Do you think it is good that the Congress party lost?

I admire the fact that he rose up, apparently, from poverty which holds out hope of the remnants of the old caste system dissipating completely. He also does appear to be a charismatic orator and to have worked an economic miracle in his native state of Gujarat (although some argue it is a bubble waiting to burst!)...nevertheless, I have heard from some quarters that the Muslim and Christian minorities are lukewarm or suspicious towards him given that he seems to be a Hindu nationalist.

Do you think he will be good for minorities as well as the Hindu majority? Will he try to represent all of India in its colourful religious diversity?

Do you think that as Prime Minister he will also seek good relations with the West, especially since the Western Powers no longer hold him accountable? Was he simply unable, rather than ill disposed towards the West, to develop better relations in the past because of the 2002 crisis? Will that now change that he is Prime Minister? Also, might not the healthy Indian diaspora in Britain especially but also in the US, help bolster relations?

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Oh, certainly, it is so-to-say a God's gift to India that the corrupt Congress Party and the dynasty are not in power now. He is a Hindu and a nationalist. And since he is a nationalist, the minorities who too are Indians have nothing to fear from him. They are our minorities. The figures are yet to come, but without the Muslim vote, BJP could not have achieved this miracle even in states where there is a large percentage of Muslims.

Narendra Modi was never ill disposed towards Western nations. And he does not particularly lean towards East (Japan, Cjina, Korea). It is the West who ostracized him. The relations with West have already changed. West has accepted him (if they don't then they would loose business opportunities in India. Defense and nuclear power generation in particular). The Indian diaspora is firmly behind Modi and it will do its best to bring about good relations.

Vouthon said:

As the title states, what are your views on Narendra Modi and the BJP? Do you think it is good that the Congress party lost?

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Most of those who voted Congress itself are happy at their rout. :-D

Vouthon said:

Nevertheless, I have heard from some quarters that the Muslim and Christian minorities are lukewarm or suspicious towards him given that he seems to be a Hindu nationalist.

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It is important for foreigners to understand the terminology being used here. A 'Hindu Nationalist' is one who considers Indianl a Hindu Civilization-State like Israel is Jewish or China is Han. To some extent this election was a referendum on the nature and basis of our nationhood itself, and thus is the idea that won.

As for Muslims and Christians beind apprehensive about him,due to certain historical circumstances India has seperate personal laws for various religious communities in accordance with their religious beleifs. As a result Muslimmen are allowed to marry up to four wives,Muslim women do not get alimony, can be divorced by their husbands through the triple talaq, Muslim women cannot inherit property etc. Modi has promised to abolish these laws and bring in a uniform law for all.He also wants to introduce teaching of modern science in madrassas (muslim religious sentiments). A large section of India's 175 million Muslims are openly against this and bitterly hostile towards him.He has been elected despite their having owerwhelmingly voted against him.I think future generations of Muslims will thank him for pulling them into the 21st century from the 6th.

Relations with the West will be the fine after some public humiliation for the USA. They refused to interact in any official capacity with the elected leader of a province of 60 million people for over a decade.Then finallyduring the election campaign the US Ambassador tried to meet him and was denied appointment thrice before she got to meet him. Then the Ambassador resigned takimg responsibility for misreading anishandling the situation. Now the USA is rushing to make amends and roll out the red carpet to Modi after he has won. Relations will normalize soon with Modi extracting a few concessions for India in lieu of the bad behaviour over the last decade.

In Asia power equation hinge around two scalene triangles- USA,India,China and India,Japan,China. In both these triangles any two sides will always be greater than the third- which is advantageous for India as all three countries need us to counterbalance each other. Under a very weak and incompetent govt in the last decade we have'nt been able to leverage thus to our advantage.Now that us going to change.

I'm not Indian but I'm very happy for India, and for Hindus. Maybe there will be a better balance now in the treatment of all the faiths. Historically the majority (only in India!) group has taken a beating, whether it be from conversions, from government taking temple funds, or giving pilgrimage allowances to minority faiths. There should be equal treatment for all.

Omkara said:

It is important for foreigners to understand the terminology being used here. A 'Hindu Nationalist' is one who considers Indianl a Hindu Civilization-State like Israel is Jewish or China is Han. To some extent this election was a referendum on the nature and basis of our nationhood itself, and thus is the idea that won.

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Does this have any implications then for Indian secularism? After all, Mahatma Ghandi and Nehru founded the Republic of India as a secular, liberal democracy. If the country is going to reimage itself as a much more consciously confessional Hindu state, would this suggest that there is going to be a transformation in politics?

I am also intrigued by Modi's lifelong member in the paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Am I right in thinking that the BJP Party is essentially its political wing?

I saw images of this organization the other day. It looks a little formidable to me







I agree that the Congress Party was hopelessly corrupt however.

Traditional Right-Left dichotomies don't apply to Indian politics.Do re-read post no.3 where I set it out pretty clearly . The Indian Right supports equal treatment of all individuals regardless of all religious groups.

The 'Left' beleives that secularism requires preferential treatment of minority groups.Muslims get subsidies on Hajj pilgrimages. The Congess tried to pass a bill defining a communal riot as an act of aggression by a majoruty community against a minority community.Ie if there was religion-related violence between 10 Hindus and 5 Muslims the Hindus would be tried under the more stringent provisions of thus bill whereas thr Muslims would be tried under the regular Indian Penal Code.This is Nehru's 'secular' and 'liberal' Republic- one which institutionalizes discrimination against Hindus.

BTW Nehru and to a lesser extent Gandhi are more or less hate figures for the Hindu Right.Modi is on record having said that Nehru shoild never have become PM in the first place!

In any case as many commentators have argued, this verdict is in essence a dismantling of the Nehruvian Consensus and the de-facto inauguration of a Second Republic.

Omkara said:

Traditional Right-Left dichotomies don't apply to Indian politics.

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Omkara said:

In any case as many commentators have argued, this verdict is in essence a dismantling of the Nehruvian Consensus and the de-facto inauguration of a Second Republic.

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Well, it is the overwhelming will of the people so I commend them for taking a bold step in a new direction. It is certainly a monumental development, so I'll be keeping - as I expect will the rest of the world - my eyes on proceedings in India. I guess I must have overestimated the popularity of Nehru and his legacy. I admire Ghandi though for his non-violence, which as is well known deeply influenced the Civil Rights Movement in the US.

I do think Modi's administration will prove good on the economy. It also appears that he has quite a hard-line on China (contrary to what I said in the OP, I've since read otherwise), which isn't so bad I suppose considering how expansionist it is being at the moment in the South China Sea. Perhaps a strong India in the region will make it think twice about advancing its borders.

I wonder what the impact will be on Pakistan relations?

The West has essentially offered him the olive branch. I believe that the UK strove to improve its relationship with Modi in 2012, so I'm hopeful that their will be friendly diplomacy.

I've heard that the US is desperately trying to "befriend" him now

Poeticus said:

This^.​

OP, please re-read the above over
and over and over again, por favor.

Utilizing Western-centric lens to
evaluate India 2014 Elections is
not progressive, and in various
instances can become quite the
misappropriation.​

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Point taken :yes:

I'll say it openly: I'm not at all knowledgeable on Indian politics. I doubt that many Westerners are. I created this thread to ask questions and I thank you all for the answers thus far.

Vouthon said:

Well, it is the overwhelming will of the people so I commend them for taking a bold step in a new direction. It is certainly a monumental development, so I'll be keeping - as I expect will the rest of the world - my eyes on proceedings in India. I guess I must have overestimated the popularity of Nehru and his legacy. I admire Ghandi though for his non-violence, which as is well known deeply influenced the Civil Rights Movement in the US.

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Respect for Gandhi and Nehru's contribution to the freedom struggle is expressed across the political spectrum. But Nehru was a disastrous PM.The economy grew at 3.5-4% per annum during his 17 years.Population grew at close to 2.5% per annum.The average Indian's life hardly improved at all.Wasted years. He lost a war with China which could have been easily won and ceded massive amounts of territory.He almost caused parts of the coumtry to secede by trying to impose a common tongue on a country with more than 2000 languages.His worst crime was that he institutionalized socialism as a state doctrine and hounded dissenting scholars and academics advocating free market reforms.

Respect will always be due to him for the close to two decades he spent in jail in pursuit of frreing India but he is one of the worst leaders India has ever had.

An (ironically) appropriate quote from Nehru- "A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance"

As with any massive change, only time will tell.

Omkara said:

His worst crime was that he institutionalized socialism as a state doctrine and hounded dissenting scholars and academics advocating free market reforms.

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I agree with you there, he was criticized for his Socialist economics in the West as well and for his staunch policy of non-alignment in the Cold War which, while understandable for a young country with so many internal problems, certainly inhibited India's ability to position itself on the world stage. Neutrality isn't exactly conducive to having a stake in world affairs, although it can be smart (ie think Switzerland).

Had he adopted more free-market policies there would have been far better growth and opportunities, although I think that he genuinely (and mistakenly) thought that state Socialism would improve the lives of ordinary people. A lot of people in the Western world thought the same way at that period. It grew out of his lifelong opposition to Fascism for unlike Ghandi, Nehru had been an unflinching supporter of the Allied war effort because of his detestation for Fascism and European racialism.

I imagine that Modi might take a more pro-active line in foreign policy as well btw.

Amen to that, Vinayaka ji.

Omkara said:

Amen to that, Vinayaka ji.

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I second that. It will be fascinating to see what happens and it is difficult to speculate at this stage.

Fun fact- The votes polled by Modi in this election is more than the total number of people who voted in the last US, UK and German elections combined. What a decisive mandate!

Vouthon said:

I've heard that the US is desperately trying to "befriend" him now

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They are already friends. The reparation has been made by all Western countries, Japan, Australia, etc.

Vouthon said:

Had he adopted more free-market policies there would have been far better growth and opportunities, although I think that he genuinely (and mistakenly) thought that state Socialism would improve the lives of ordinary people.

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That too perhaps is not wholly correct. The Western corporations would have taken over India like they did in Africa and South America. West would not have given us any technology. We made the bomb, missiles, computers, power stations, steel plants, etc. ourselves. State socialism did give us the roots to stand on.

HAHA talk of socialism giving anyone 'roots to stand on' is laughable. Anyways no need to start an argument when the country is still celeberating. People are distributing sweets to random strangers on the roads.LOL!

The Indian people have spoken and decisively, in a free and democratic election , so all people must respect that.

I hope the BJP will honour that trust and govern fairly and responsibly.

India has come far, but there are still issues that need addressing. Poverty and inequality are but two. Wheter they have the answers, India will soon find out.

Modhi's government of Gujarat has been relatively successful. There are those who say prosperity has largely been confined to the middle class, but that's true of India as a whole. He's never been accused to corruption to my knowledge, and that's more than you can say of Congress! As for what the USA thinks, they should just mind their own business. (That'll be the day...)