2024 election in India: Hindu nationalism is dominant thanks to 10 years of Prime Minister Modi

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) Hindu nationalismonce a marginal ideology in India, is now common. No one has done more to advance this cause than the Prime Minister Narendra Modione of India's most beloved and polarizing political leaders.

And no entity has had more influence on his political philosophy and ambitions than a right-wing paramilitary group founded almost a century ago known as the RSS.

We never imagined that we will get power this way, said Ambalal Koshti, 76, who said he first introduced Modi to the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the late 1960s in their state of origin, Gujarat.

Modi was a teenager. Like other young men and even boys who joined him, he would learn to march in formation, fight, meditate, and protect their Hindu homeland.

A few decades earlier, while Mahatma Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity, the RSS advocated unity transform India by force, if necessary, in a Hindu nation. (A former RSS worker shot Gandhi three times in the chest in 1948, killing him months after India's independence.)

Experts say Modi's spiritual and political upbringing from the RSS is the driving force behind everything he has done as prime minister over the past decade, a period that has seen India become a leading country. world power and the worlds fifth largest economy.

At the same time, his reign was marked by brazen attacks against minorities, including Muslims from hate speech to lynchings. Indian democracysay the critics, falters as press, political opponents and courts face growing threats. And Modi has increasingly blurred the line between religion and state.

At 73, Modi is campaigning for a third term in a general election, which begins Friday. He and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are expected to win. He is challenged by a broad but alliance divided regional parties.

Supporters and critics agree on one thing: Modi has managed to endure by making Hindu nationalism acceptable and desirable, even to a nation of 1.4 billion that for decades prided itself on pluralism and secularism. Added to this is an immense vote bank: 80% of Indians are Hindu.

He is 100% an ideological product of the RSS,” said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who wrote a biography of Modi. He has achieved his goals.

UNITE HINDUS

A few weeks ago, between deep breaths under the night sky of western India, a group of boys recited an RSS prayer in Sanskrit: All Hindus are the children of our Mother India…we have made the vow to be equal and the promise to save. our religion.

More than 65 years ago, Modi was one of them. Born in 1950 in a lower caste family, his first exposure to the RSS was through local shakha units which induct boys by combining religious education with self-defense skills and games.

In the 1970s, Modi was a full-time activist, cycling through neighborhoods to drum up support for the RSS.

At that time, Hindus were afraid to gather, Koshti said. We were trying to unite them.

The RSS, formed in 1925, with the stated intention of strengthening the Hindu community, was hardly mainstream. It was tainted with links to Gandhi's assassination and accused of stoking hatred against Muslims as periodic riots rocked India.

For the group, Indian civilization is inseparable from Hinduism, while critics say its philosophy is rooted in Hindu supremacy.

Today, the RSS has spawned a network of affiliated groups, ranging from student and farmer unions to nonprofits and vigilante organizations, often accused of violence. Their power and legitimacy ultimately comes from the BJP, which emerged from the RSS.

Until Modi, the BJP had never won a majority in the Indian Parliament on its own, said Christophe Jaffrelot, an expert on Modi and the Hindu right. For the RSS, this is unheard of.

ESTABLISH YOUR POLICY

Modi got his first big political breakthrough in 2001, becoming chief minister of the home state of Gujarat. A few months later, anti-Muslim riots broke out in the region, killing at least 1,000 people.

Modi was suspected of having discreetly supported the riots, but he denied the allegations and India's highest court absolved him for lack of evidence.

Instead of crushing his political career, the riots strengthened it.

Modi has doubled down on Hindu nationalism, Jaffrelot said, capitalizing on religious tensions for political purposes. Gujarat's reputation suffered from the riots, so it turned to big business to build factories, create jobs and spur development.

This created a political economy in which he built close relationships with capitalists who in turn supported him, Jaffrelot said.

Modi has become increasingly authoritarian, Jaffrelot described, consolidating power over the police and courts and bypassing the media to connect directly with voters.

The Gujarat model, as Modi coined it, foreshadowed what he would do as prime minister.

He gave Hindu nationalism a populist flavor, Jaffrelot said. Modi invented it in Gujarat and has now extended it across the country.

MAJOR PROJECTS

In June, Modi is not only aiming to win a third time, he has set a goal of getting two-thirds of the vote. And he touted big plans.

I am working at every turn to make India a developed nation by 2047, Modi told a rally. He also wants to abolish poverty and make the economy the third largest in the world.

If Modi wins, he will be the second Indian leader, after Jawaharlal Nehru, to retain power for a third term.

With an approval rating above 70%, Modi's popularity has eclipsed that of his party. His supporters see him as a strong leader, unafraid to take on India's enemies, from Pakistan to the liberal elite. He is supported by the rich, whose wealth has exploded under his rule. For the poor, a range of free programs, from food to housing, stave off the pain of high unemployment and inflation. Western leaders and businesses are lining up to court it, looking to India as a counterweight to China.

He has meticulously built his reputation. In a nod to his Hinduism, he practice yoga in front of television crews and the UN, extolls the virtues of a vegetarian diet and advocates the reconquest of India's glory. He refers to himself in the third person.

PK Laheri, a former senior bureaucrat from Gujarat, said Modi is risking nothing when it comes to winning, he is contesting the elections believing the party will not miss a single seat.

The common thread of Modi's rise, analysts say, is that his most important policies are the ambitions of the RSS.

In 2019, his government revoked the special status of Disputed Kashmir, the only region of the country with a Muslim majority. His government adopted a citizenship law excluding Muslim migrants. In January, Modi responded to a long-standing demand of the RSS and millions of Hindus by opening a temple on the site of a razed mosque.

The BJP has denied adopting discriminatory policies and says its work benefits all Indians.

Last week, the BJP announced that it would adopt a common legal code for all Indians, another desire of the RSS is to replace religious personal laws. Muslim leaders and others oppose it.

But Modi's policies appeal well beyond right-wing nationalists; these questions resonated deeply with ordinary Hindus. Unlike his predecessors, Modi paints a portrait of a rising India as a Hindu India.

Satish Ahlani, a school principal, said he would vote for Modi. Today, Ahlani said, Gujarat is prosperous, just like India.

Where our name had not reached, it is now there, he said. Being Hindu is our identity; that's why we want a Hindu country. … For the progress of the country, Muslims will have to be at our side. They should accept it and come.

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Saaliq reported from New Delhi.