Modi majority in doubt after surprising results

Congress, the main opposition party, was excited. “This is the victory of the people and the victory of democracy,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said at a press conference.

Regardless of the results, Modi’s ethos of a Hindu-first nation is now deeply embedded in Indian politics, raising fears among Muslims and other minority groups about how they will fare during five more years of Modi’s rule.

In Modi’s headquarters, Varanasi, who voted on Saturday in the last of seven phases of voting, Tasneem Fatma emerged from a polling station wearing a burqa, saying: “We want a united India, not for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Isai. ”

But Fatma, 20, a business student, was interrupted by an older man who said there was no religious divide. He also dismissed Fatma’s concerns about unemployment, saying: “If you are educated and capable of the job, you can take the job.”

As the argument escalated, officers asked the man to leave before NBC News could ask his name.

Elections in India are considered the largest in the world, with almost a billion eligible voters and voting that lasted six weeks. But it was not just the size of the elections that represented a challenge for the authorities.

Voting took place amid unusually high temperatures that surpassed 120 degrees in New Delhi, the capital, and experts say this may have dampened turnout. At least 33 people in three states died from suspected heatstroke on Friday, Reuters reported, including election workers who were on duty.

Although Indian summers are generally hot, scientists say heat waves in India and elsewhere in South Asia are becoming hotter, longer and more frequent, at least in part as a result of climate change. Neither the BJP nor the opposition spoke much about climate change during the campaign.

The most important issue on the minds of voters who spoke to NBC News was jobs.

It’s an especially big concern for those aged 15 to 29, who make up 83% of the unemployed in India, according to one study. report in March.

“Why doesn’t anyone talk about rising costs or the lack of jobs, or the deaths of poor children or the cutting down of trees?” Fatma asked.

The opposition, led by the Congress Party, tried to use these issues to turn voters away from Modi. Aware of the gigantic effort that would be required to defeat him, the fragmented opposition formed an alliance that quickly faltered.

Opposition parties have also accused Modi’s government of trying to stifle their campaigns by arresting their leaders and freezing their funds, allegations the BJP has denied.

Today’s India is governed by “a very strong and dominant BJP, which in 1984 only had four seats in Parliament,” said Yamini Aiyar, former chief executive of the Center for Policy Research, a highly regarded think tank in New Delhi that has been the target of a Modi government crackdown on civil society.

Especially in recent years, she said, the BJP has become “frighteningly authoritarian.”

“Our democracy is at stake,” Aiyar said.

According to House of FreedomA Washington-based pro-democracy nonprofit, elections in India are generally considered free and fair, but are taking place in an environment where freedom of expression is declining.

He cited the arrests and prosecutions of journalists, the manipulation of information through artificial intelligence and other technologies, and demands by Indian authorities that social media companies remove online content critical of the government, among other issues.

Modi’s shaky rights record could make things difficult for Washington, which sees India as an important counterweight to China. Although India is not a formal ally of the US, it is an important defense partner and a member of strategic security groups such as the Quad, which also includes the US, Australia and Japan.

Modi, who rarely takes questions from journalists live, resisted criticism at a joint news conference with President Joe Biden during a state visit to Washington last year.

“In India’s democratic values, there is absolutely no discrimination, not on the basis of caste, creed or age or any kind of geographical location,” he said.

US authorities also claim that Indian agents may have been involved in the attempted murder last year of a Sikh activist who lived in New York. India denies the allegations, saying such a crime would be “contrary to government policy”.

Experts say the US relationship with Modi will continue to strengthen regardless of who wins the US presidential election in November.

“China continues to be the elephant in the room or the presence that shapes alignments and realignments across the world,” Aiyar said.