India’s Modi And Party Misread The Mood

Huge protests in India against a citizenship law seen by many as anti-Muslim have wrong-footed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sent his Hindu nationalist party scrambling to douse the anger.

In Modi’s biggest challenge since taking office in 2014, hundreds of thousands have rallied against the law offering citizenship to immigrants from non-Muslim minorities who have fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

At least 21 people have died in clashes with police.

Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were taken aback by the backlash, some party members told Reuters.

Now they are reaching out for help in defusing the crisis to allies and opponents sidelined when the bill passed earlier this month, the sources said.

“I really did not see the protests coming … not just me, other BJP lawmakers were also unable to predict this kind of anger,” Sanjeev Balyan, a ruling party legislator and junior federal minister, told Reuters.

While there is no threat to his big parliamentary majority, the 69-year-old Modi’s image as a master strategist with his finger on the pulse of the people has taken a hit.

Publicly, his government has prioritized development, seeking to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2025.

But Modi’s muscular pro-Hindu platform has also gone down well in a nation that is over 80% Hindu: he won back-to-back national elections with thumping majorities.

Outrage at the citizenship law has been fanned by resentment against the government for following a majoritarian agenda instead of addressing an economic slowdown and loss of jobs.

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