Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power for the third time in a row on Sunday, but this could bring more challenges for the popular but polarizing leader than his past decade in power.
His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which won in landslides in 2014 and 2019, failed to gain a majority to rule on his own this time, although his National Democratic Alliance coalition with the BJP and other parties won enough seats for a slim parliamentary majority.
Modi and his cabinet members took the oath of office, administered by President Droupadi Murmu, at the Indian presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Because he needs support from his regional allies to maintain his power, Modi may have to adapt to a style of governance with which he has little experience or desire.
Manish Swarup/AP
Modi, 73, is only the second Indian prime minister to win a third consecutive term. He has presided over a rapidly growing economy while promoting Hindu nationalism.
To supporters, he is a larger-than-life figure who has improved India’s standing in the world, helped make India’s economy the fifth largest in the world and streamlined the country’s massive welfare program, which covers about 60% of serves the population. To some, he may even be more than human.
But to critics, he is a cult leader who has eroded India’s democracy and promoted divisive policies that target Muslims, who make up 14% of the country’s population. They say he has also increasingly used strong-arm tactics to subdue political opponents, pressure independent media and quash dissent.
Modi’s government has rejected such accusations, saying democracy is flourishing.
Political analysts say Modi’s victory was driven by social welfare programs that delivered benefits from food to housing and strident Hindu nationalism that consolidated Hindu votes for his party. Hindus make up 80% of India’s population.
The economy is growing at 7% and more than 500 million Indians opened bank accounts during Modi’s tenure, but that growth has not created enough jobs and inequality has worsened under his rule, according to some economists.
Modi started his election campaign with a promise to make India a developed country by 2047 and focused on showcasing his government’s welfare policies and a robust digital infrastructure that has benefited millions of Indians.
But as the campaign progressed, he increasingly resorted to anti-Muslim rhetoric, calling them “infiltrators” and referring to a Hindu nationalist claim that Muslims were overtaking the Hindu population by having more children. Modi also accused the opposition of pandering to the minority community.
Conspicuous piety has long been the centerpiece of Modi’s brand, but he is also beginning to suggest that he has been chosen by God.
“When my mother was alive, I believed I was born biologically. When she died, when I reflected on all my experiences, I was convinced that God had sent me,” he said in a TV interview during the campaign.
In January, he fulfilled a long-standing Hindu nationalist ambition by opening a controversial temple on the site of a destroyed mosque.
Rajesh Kumar/AP
After the campaign ended, Modi went to a Hindu spiritual site for a 45-hour televised meditation retreat. Most Indian TV channels broadcast the event for hours.
Born in 1950 to a lower-caste family in the western state of Gujarat, Modi as a young boy joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a paramilitary, right-wing group long accused of fomenting hatred against Muslims. RSS is the ideological parent of Modi’s BJP.
The tea seller’s son got his first big political break in 2001, becoming the state’s chief minister. A few months later, anti-Muslim riots swept through the region, killing at least a thousand people. There were suspicions that Modi quietly supported the riots, but he has denied the allegations.
In 2005, the US revoked Modi’s visa over concerns that he had failed to act to stop communal violence. An investigation approved by India’s Supreme Court later acquitted Modi, but the stain of the dark moment lingers.
Thirteen years later, Modi led his Hindu nationalist party to a spectacular victory in the 2014 national elections after promising sweeping reforms to boost India’s weak economy.
But Modi’s critics and opponents say his “Hindu-first” policies have spawned intolerance, hate speech and brutal attacks against minorities, especially Muslims, who make up 14% of India’s 1.4 billion people.
Months after winning a second term in 2019, his government revoked the special status of disputed Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority state, and split it into two federally administered areas. His government passed a law that grants citizenship to religious minorities from Muslim countries in the region but excludes Muslims.
Decisions like these have made Modi hugely popular among his diehard supporters, who hail him as the champion of the Hindu majority and see India emerging as a Hindu majority state.
Modi has spent his political life capitalizing on religious tensions for political gain, says Christophe Jaffrelot, a political scientist and expert on Modi and the Hindu right. During his time as state leader, he was a pioneer in embracing Hindu nationalism, the likes of which has never been seen before in Indian politics.
“That style has remained. It was invented in Gujarat and today it is a national brand,” said Jaffrelot.
