COVER STORY: WILLIAM DALRYMPLE ON NARENDRA MODI AND INDIA’S LANDMARK ELECTION
As votes are counted in the Indian general election, William Dalrymple investigates the record of Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the man most expect to be declared prime minister on 16 May. Dalrymple considers Modi’s alleged involvement in a series of human rights abuses, including a massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Is Modi a neo-fascist and dangerous future “Indian Putin”, he asks, or the strongman reformer that this country of 1.2 billion people craves?
Modi is the Hindu nationalist son of a station chai-wallah, and as different a man as could be imagined from the shahzada,
or “princeling”, as Modi mockingly refers to [Rahul Gandhi,] the heir
to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. With [his new political rival the Aam Aadmi
Party leader Arvind] Kejriwal reduced to a minor player, the election
in most of the country has been an unequal contest between the Modi
juggernaut and a beleaguered Rahul, who is in the process of taking the
can for the failings of a government he didn’t lead and can do little to
redeem.
. . .
It is easy to understand why so many Indians feel a need for bold
change and why the thought of another five years of a dithering, divided
and corrupt Congress government fills them with dismay. But it is less
easy to understand why so many are willing to overlook Modi’s extremely
dodgy record with India’s religious minorities.
. . .
On the campaign trail, whether from pragmatism or otherwise, Modi has
largely kept his Hindu nationalism hidden and presented himself
throughout as an able, technocratic administrator who can turn the
country’s economy around and stimulate much-needed development. It could
therefore be that the liberal elite are worrying needlessly and that
India will get a leader who can kick-start the economy, who is
incorruptible and who has left his sectarian past well behind him.
One can only hope so. Because, if the polls are right, Modi will win
this election by some margin, and we are likely to see many more images
of the man plastered around the country over the next five years.
