The Duality of Modi
In the largest democratic exercise in history, India has reelected Narendra Modi. Those who choose Modi's form of development are also choosing Hindu nationalism.
Today, India voted in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a second five-year-term, and Narendra Damodardas Modi became prime minister once again. The party won a sweeping majority of 303 of 543 Parliament seats, even higher than the record setting 282 it won in 2014, and second only to Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress in 1984, which cinched 414 of 514 Lok Sabha seats.
The vote for “NaMo,” which is sometimes used to signify namah, or “to bow” in Sanskrit, is a vote for Modi’s dual agendas: the promise of economic development and Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism, the belief that India is a Hindu country.