Vol. 78/No. 27      July 28, 2014

Bharatiya Janata defeated the Indian National Congress, which has ruled the country in the interest of the Indian bourgeoisie for all but a few years since independence in 1947. The Congress Party was identified with lack of economic development, corruption scandals and embarrassment at the way India is lagging behind China and other Southeast Asian nations.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has pointed to the development in Gujarat, a state of 63 million in the northwest of the country, as an example for all of India. Narendra Modi, the new prime minister, has been chief minister in Gujarat since 2001. He took credit for expansion of industrial production there, an average economic growth of 13.4 percent, and a stable electricity and water supply.

Modi is a longtime leader of the rightist Hindu-nationalist movement in India. In 2002, more than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in riots in Gujarat. Modi has generally refused to answer questions about his role, pointing to investigations that clear him of responsibility. In a rare comment last year he said that he regretted Muslims’ suffering as he would that of a puppy run over by a car.

During the election campaign Modi stayed away from Hindu-nationalist, sectarian statements. “It is our responsibility to take everyone along. A government cannot be of just a few people,” he said after the victory. Echoing the promises of the Congress Party, he said, “Our mantra will be inclusive growth.” He has promised a government “dedicated to the poor, to the millions of youth of the country, to the mothers and sisters hankering for respect and honor, to the exploited rural and urban workers.”

Modi’s shift in discourse is also another sign of the continued erosion of India’s caste system, which still places people in hereditary categories of social status: from Brahmins at the top to so-called untouchables at the bottom. Muslims, who make up 13.4 percent of the population, also face discrimination.

Bharatiya Janata’s landslide victory — winning 282 out of 543 seats — is the first time since 1984 that a single party commands a majority in Parliament. The Congress Party was reduced to 44 seats, losing 162. Voter turnout was at a historic high of 66 percent, with nearly 100 million first-time voters.

The Congress Party has been dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty since its founding — Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, was the main leader of the independence struggle along with Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, succeeded him. Her children and grandchildren have followed with few interruptions.

India’s population of 1.27 billion people is growing by 1.7 percent a year and is estimated to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2030. Half are below 25 years old. More than 70 percent live in rural areas, but urbanization is rapid.

India is poorer and less industrialized than many of its East Asian neighbors. A quarter of the population is illiterate, including 35 percent of women. A third lack access to clean water or reliable electric power and the transport infrastructure is decades behind China. In 1960 the Indian economy was 20 percent bigger than China’s. Today China’s is seven times bigger than India’s.

“Bringing electricity, roads and water to each home can’t be such a herculean task,” Ashish Anant, 24, who works as a management consultant in Delhi, told the Wall Street Journal. She voted for Modi, because he’s “a doer.”

“What matters is business development — just look at how Modi developed Gujarat. They don’t even have power cuts. He’ll do the same for the country now,” Syeed Jaleel, a fruit stand owner in Hyderabad in southern India, told the New York Times.

Economic growth in India has slowed from 8.5 percent in 2009 to less than 5 percent in 2012. Consumer prices rose between 9 and 11 percent annually over the last five years. For the 10 million young people who enter the workforce every year it is increasingly difficult to find a job.

President Barack Obama called Modi on May 16 to congratulate him on his victory. Obama invited him to visit the U.S. some time in the future, effectively lifting a nine-year visa ban the State Department issued in 2005 on grounds that Modi had links to the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.  
 
 
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