By David Asta Alares
New Delhi, Apr 17 (EFE).- Images of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi permeate every corner of the country as the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerges as the frontrunner to secure his third consecutive term in the upcoming general elections beginning Apr. 19.
During his campaign in 2014, the 72-year-old leader used hologram projections at multiple rallies simultaneously. A decade later, backed by the state machinery, Modi’s presence has multiplied manifold and become less elusive in the form of cardboard cutouts.
In recent months, life-size images of the prime minister have become ubiquitous at selfie points in metro and railway stations and prominent monuments across the country.
His hypnotizing prominence extended to billboards at the G20 Summit India hosted last year and even on the government-issued coronavirus vaccination certificates and ration bags used to distribute free rice to millions of the poor.
“In India, there is no one to beat his image. Not even in the BJP, and I am not even talking about the opposition,” Aashish Kumar Shukla, associate professor at the Center for Global Studies at the University of Delhi, told EFE.
The BJP relies heavily on Modi’s charisma to secure another electoral win. “People are casting their votes only in Modi’s name,” Defense Minister Rajnath Singh recently acknowledged in an interview with The Week magazine.
Born into a humble family in Vadnagar, Gujarat, Modi often tells tales of how he sold tea with his father at a train station to underline his proletarian origins, a narrative he leverages to critique the opposition Indian National Congress (INC) party of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
At a recent election rally, he said the Congress, which was at the forefront of India’s struggle for independence, “never cared about the poor, did not understand their problems.”
Modi’s political journey began in 1971 as a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right group advocating for a Hindu state. He joined the BJP in 1985, steadily rising through the ranks to become the chief minister of his home state, Gujarat, in 2001.
He continued as the head of the state government until 2014, when he secured a grand electoral victory, riding on the image of an efficient administrator.
Despite his claims of efficient governance, Modi’s tenure in Gujarat was marred by the communal violence of 2002, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Muslims, after 59 Hindu pilgrims were charred to death in a moving train, something blamed on Muslims.
He faced accusations of inaction to stop the anti-Muslim riots, earning him the epithet “Butcher of Gujarat.” The courts cleared Modi of the allegations.
Hailed as the “Hindu Hriday Samrat,” or the “Emperor of the Hearts of Hindus,” Modi catapulted into prominence larger than his BJP during the 2014 elections. Over the decade, his image as the “savior of Hindus” has grown even larger.
With over 80 percent of India’s 1.4 billion population identifying as Hindus, Modi strategically avoids addressing issues concerning the Muslim minority, numbering around 200 million.
However, concerns remain among the minority community regarding Modi’s tenure, given allegations of discriminatory policies and his role in events like the Ayodhya temple inauguration in January, built on the site of a demolished 16th-century mosque.
The mosque was destroyed by a mob of Hindu fanatics in 1992, sparking a wave of religious violence in which 2,000 people died, most of them Muslims.
Modi has also been silent on issues concerning neighboring China and Pakistan, which took center stage in the 2019 general elections and secured them a majority in parliament.
Instead, he promises to turn India into a developed country by 2047.
Critics denounce Modi’s authoritarian tendencies and erosion of democratic institutions, along with the use of investigative agencies against dissenting voices.
“We feel that human rights have shown a massive decline, as is evidenced by almost all the independent indexes on India,” deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, Meenakshi Ganguly, told EFE. EFE
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