NEW DELHI – Millions of Indian voters in 93 constituencies solid their ballots on Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an increasingly strident election campaign, ramping up polarizing rhetoric in inflammatory speeches geared toward the Muslim minority.
At recent campaign rallies, Modi called Muslims “infiltrators” and said that they had “too many children,” referring to the Hindu nationalist slogan that Muslims give birth to more children with the aim of accelerating the variety of Hindus in India surpass. He has also accused India's rival National Congress Party of wanting to “plunder” the wealth of the country's Hindus and redistribute it amongst Muslims, who make up 14% of India's greater than 1.4 billion people.
Key seats are up for grabs in states like Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh in Tuesday's polls within the third round of multi-stage national elections. Most polls predict a victory for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, which is running against a broad opposition alliance led by the Congress and powerful regional parties. The staggered election runs until June 1st and the votes will likely be counted on June 4th.
Modi, who voted within the western city of Ahmedabad on Tuesday, had begun his campaign with a deal with economic progress and promised to make India a developed country by 2047. But in recent weeks, he and the ruling BJP have sharply redoubled their Hindu nationalism platform, with Modi deploying a few of his most controversial rhetoric in his decade in power.
Analysts imagine the change in tone comes because the BJP seeks to win a supermajority, or two-thirds, of the 543 seats up for grabs in India's lower parliament by consolidating the votes of the Hindu-majority population, which makes up 80%. They say Modi's party can also be increasingly making polarizing speeches to distract voters from larger issues reminiscent of unemployment and economic hardship that the opposition has focused on.
While India's economy is considered one of the fastest growing on the planet, many individuals are facing increasing economic stress. The opposition alliance hopes to capitalize on this discontent and galvanize voters on issues reminiscent of high unemployment, inflation, corruption and low agricultural prices, which have sparked farmer protests for 2 years.
“The mask has come down and I think it is political compulsions that have made it so,” said Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a political science professor at Ashoka University in New Delhi.
Changes within the BJP's campaign may be an indication of concern over low voter turnout, which it had not expected, Mahmudabad said. According to official data, voter turnout in the primary two phases was barely lower than in the identical rounds within the last election in 2019.
“In the recent elections, the BJP’s victories were linked to persuading voters to vote,” Mahmudabad said. “There could be some fatigue, anti-incumbency or even disillusionment,” which has led the BJP to sharpen its rhetoric.
Modi has said in quite a few speeches in recent weeks that girls's wealth may very well be in danger if the Congress involves power, claiming the party would remove its “mangalsutra” – a sacred gold chain that denotes a Hindu woman's marital status indicates – take away and provides it to his voters, a veiled reference to Muslims. The opposition is not going to stop there, he repeatedly claimed, saying the party was conspiring to remove “your property” and “distribute it among selected people.”
Others in Modi's party have echoed his comments. A recent video posted by the BJP on Instagram was more direct. The animated campaign video, which has since been faraway from the social media platform, states that if the Congress party involves power, it’s going to take money and wealth from non-Muslims and redistribute it to Muslims.
The Congress party and other political opponents described Modi's comments as “hate speech” that would stoke religious tensions. They have also filed complaints with the Election Commission of India, which oversees the elections, over violations of rules that prohibit candidates from citing “caste or community sentiments” to get votes.
Modi's critics say India's tradition of diversity and secularism has come under attack for the reason that prime minister and his party got here to power a decade ago. While there have long been tensions between India's majority Hindu community and Muslims, human rights groups say attacks against minorities have change into more brazen under Modi.
The party denies the allegation and says its policies profit all Indians.
Mahmudabad, the political scientist, said Modi's party had expected to win votes on enthusiasm for a Hindu temple built on top of a destroyed mosque that Modi opened in January. Many saw the glittering spectacle because the unofficial start of his election campaign.
“Instead, people talk about inflation, unemployment and economic distress,” Mahmudabad said. “And to strengthen and consolidate their votes, the BJP has raised the specter of Muslims.”
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