How has India transformed under the decade-long rule of Narendra Modi?

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term in national elections, political analysts predict a victory for his party thanks to economic progress and the popularization of Hindu nationalist sentiments.

Growing economic growth and the rise of the right are hard to deny, explaining the adoration of Mr. Modi's supporters and the growing anger of his detractors, who say his nationalism could divide India permanently.

The world's largest democracy, with 1.4 billion people, goes to the polls next month, with a new government in office by June.

More than 970 million people were eligible to vote during this mammoth exercise which lasted almost seven weeks.

Mr Modi, 73, who first came to power in 2014 and again with a bigger mandate in 2019, claimed his party would win by a record lead in the poll.

Since his first term in 2014, Mr. Modi has focused on building resilient infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population, spending billions of dollars to modernize highways, waterways and airports and to revamp railways of the British era.

He launched the ambitious project to eradicate the practice of open defecation and his government built 120 million toilets in rural areas.

His government claims to have built more than 55,000 km of highways over the past decade and laid 25,000 km of railways.

The right-wing government has opened freight corridors and semi-speed indigenous trains like the Vande Bharat Express, of which it launched 10 in a single day earlier this month.

It also launched seven airports, laid the foundation for 15 new airport terminals and more than 35 million houses for the poor in the last four years.

It has also given impetus to India's digital economy.

There has been quite a radical transformation in the face of India simply in terms of moving towards more modern conveniences of life, whether it is communication, digitalization or roofs over their heads, a said Arati Jerath, a Delhi-based political analyst. The National.

The process had already begun but under him it accelerated. There has been a huge push in building roads in rural India, pucca housing for the poor and toilets in rural India. Virtual payments are things that have been a huge boon for people.

Strong diplomacy and investment

Many experts say India's foreign policy has become more muscular under Mr. Modi, as it aims to increase manufacturing in the country and attract investment.

India has always aimed to maintain strategic and military ties with most world powers, and alliances have strengthened further under the Modis era, notably with the United States and Russia.

He made 74 trips abroad, about half of them in the first five years, more than double the two terms of previous Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He has also participated in high-level summits around the world and invited presidents and heads of state such as US Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, as well as President Sheikh Mohamed.

He notably reached out to West Asian countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with whom India has signed an agreement to achieve its trade target of $100 billion over the next five years.

In 2022, the government said that India received foreign direct investment of over $500 billion, about 65% more than the amount received under the previous Modi government, and that 2022-2023 was a record with 83 billion dollars in FDI. That amount fell to $75 billion this year, due to ongoing concerns about red tape and bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, historical rivalries remain. It has launched punitive attacks against its main rival, Pakistan, following militant attacks by groups that India claims are supported by Islamabad.

One of the major changes in the last decade is the recalibration of foreign policy towards trade promotion, FDI attraction and geoeconomics being the fulcrum of foreign policy, said Kabir Taneja, an expert on geopolitics and in Western Asia based in Delhi. The National.

Mr Modi has turned the annual G20 summit in 2023 into a diplomatic blitz, bringing all the world's leaders to the table in New Delhi.

India has been able to tangibly demonstrate economic growth, a robust market to attract people from outside over the last five or six years. Even in the post-Covid recovery, India has fared well and safely. That attracts attention, Mr. Taneja said.

Hindu nationalism

But the country of 1.4 billion people has witnessed rising sectarian tensions amid rising Hindu nationalist sentiments.

About 80 percent of the population is Hindu and about 200 million Muslims, the country's largest minority.

It is also home to Christians, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and a Jewish community.

Critics have accused Mr Modi of promoting an agenda of Hindu hegemony propagated by his right-wing government and targeting Muslims and Christians.

His government is increasingly focused on policies that many say are anti-Muslim, including a controversial citizenship law for immigrants that prevents Muslims from becoming Indians.

Deadly attacks against Muslims in the country have increased, particularly following allegations of the slaughter of cows, an animal considered sacred by many Hindus and banned by several regional governments led by Mr. Modis's party, and to the repression of interreligious marriages, particularly those where the man is a man. Muslim.

His government banned the Muslim practice of Triple Talaq, or instant divorce, and there were campaigns in BJP-ruled states to ban halal food and the hijab, while ostracizing Muslims and their businesses.

BJP leaders also used bulldozers to demolish Muslim-owned properties as summary punishment for alleged violations of the law.

But the most controversial decision was his government's active participation in the inauguration of the Ram temple in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

The temple is built on the site of the 16th century Babri Masjid which was razed by Hindu fanatics in 1992.

Mr. Modi presided over a consecration ceremony performed by Hindu priests that lasted up to five hours and was broadcast live on national television, during which he said the event marked the start of a new India, a nickname many say the party uses for Hindu India.

Smaller minorities like Christians and Sikhs have also been targeted because of their faith, with Christians regularly accused of religious conversions.

He allowed Hindu intolerance as if it was an honorable thing. It's almost as if tormenting a minority is a therapeutic occupation for some people, Kapil Komireddi, author of Malevolent Republic which chronicles the rise of Hindu nationalism in India.

Ms Jerath said if Mr Modi returns to power, the process of transforming the secular nation into a Hindu nation would accelerate.

The hateful language, the division between communities, this attempt to make Muslims invisible by bulldozing them and calling for economic boycott, this kind of acute polarization between communities has damaged the social fabric of the country, Ms. Jerath said.

This is extremely damaging and the march towards India becoming a Hindu nation would accelerate and push minorities to the margins if he returned to power, she said.

Democracy in danger

The biggest concern, experts say, is the weakening of democratic standards in the world's largest democracy, as they fear the independence of institutions could be compromised.

Political opponents accuse Mr. Modi of undermining law enforcement and the justice system, while targeting his rivals in a widespread crackdown.

In recent weeks, federal agencies have frozen the account of the main opposition Congress party and arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an alleged scam, sparking allegations that the actions were a vendetta policy.

Dozens more have been investigated for financial crimes by federal agencies.

The crackdown has been extended to protesters demanding policy changes, such as farmers, charities and human rights groups.

Several journalists, student leaders and activists have been arrested under anti-terrorism laws, which many say has created a chilling effect in society, amid a failure of key institutions to check the abuse of power by the executive.

Institutional repression is quite severe. He attacked all the institutions on which the constitutional structure of this country depends, said Mr. Komireddi.

The extent to which he has succeeded in attacking institutions is truly ambitious.

Updated: March 27, 2024, 10:46 a.m.