Narendra Modis populistische Fassade bricht

After a decade in power, the Indian government led by Narendra Modi lost its majority in parliament last year—a shocking defeat that has left the strongman prime minister dependent on coalition partners: [https://theatln.tc/euEEihpe](https://theatln.tc/euEEihpe)

The loss was shocking. “Modi’s enablers describe him as a ‘civilizational figure’— someone who stands above politics, who will use his country’s demographic weight to rewrite the rules of the global economy,” Robert F. Worth writes. “Even Modi’s abundant critics have focused mostly on his Muslim-baiting and his democratic backsliding, as if prepared to concede what they see as his managerial skill.”

“But the election results hint at a crack in Modi’s populist façade and a spreading discontent with his economic and political record,” Worth continues. “Many Indians appear to be tiring of Modi’s showmanship and growing frustrated with his failures. They may be proud of India’s fabled economic growth, but it hasn’t reached them. During the weeks I spent traveling in India last year, I detected levels of frustration and anger that were noticeably different from what I’d heard on earlier visits—about lost jobs, failed schools, poisoned air and water.”

After the election results came in, Worth spoke with members of Modi’s opposition. They “were behaving as if they’d won a historic victory,” Worth writes. This may have been in part because Modi’s party, the BJP, had done everything in its power to win the election. People had different opinions on what Modi’s victory meant, but “in the days and weeks after the election, many Indians were too overwhelmed by happiness and relief to worry about the details. Modi was no longer invulnerable. He would have to compromise, people said, if he wanted to keep his job.”

“His departure—he will be 78 during the next general election, and is not expected to run again—will not change the country’s structural vulnerability to populist strongmen,” Worth continues at the link in our bio. India may be more susceptible to the politics of identity and division than other countries precisely because it is so enormous and so diverse. The election evinced India’s wavering faith in Modi, but who—or what—comes next remains an open question: [https://theatln.tc/euEEihpe](https://theatln.tc/euEEihpe)