Bishop
In modern India, nationalist politicians win
In Russian foreign policy, India occupies a special place, as in the era of the USSR. The reference to the Russia-India-China triangle, which has entered the expert field since the time of Academician Ye. M. Primakov, has become traditional in predictions about what the multipolar world will be like.
However, modern India is little reminiscent of the state of the Indian National Congress (INC), headed by the clan Gandhi, for which the support of Moscow was of critical importance. India’s relations with Pakistan and China are ambiguous, the United States has become the main external partner, and Israel is one of the main arms suppliers. India is expanding its presence in Afghanistan, Southeast and Central Asia and is building a strategy for the presence of its armed forces abroad on an ongoing basis.
“Aggressive intolerance, characteristic of modern Hindu supporters, led to the pogroms of Muslims and Christians”
Moscow is an important partner of New Delhi, but there is no more exclusivity in their relations, all the more so for the nationalists of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its charismatic authoritarian leader Narendra Damodardas Modi story cooperation of the USSR and Russia with the governments of the INC. rather minus than a plus. Taking into account the geopolitical schemes that are built around the Indian factor, this means the need for a detailed analysis of what the country’s relations with the outside world are, as well as the personality of its prime minister and the party he heads (which is also true for a number of other countries - Turkey and China , Israel and Japan, Iran and Pakistan). Moreover, modern India has a lot of foreign policy ambitions and they rely on the aggressive awareness of its civilizational exclusivity.
Hindutwa as a unifying idea
By the number of adherents, modern Hinduism is the third religion of the world. The number of his supporters - about a billion people, most of whom are concentrated in India. However, Hindus live in other countries of South Asia: Nepal (17 million), Bangladesh (15 million), Sri Lanka (2,5 million), Pakistan (1,3 million), Bhutan (350 thousand). Followers of Hinduism exist in Indonesia (4 million), Malaysia (1,1 million), South Africa (700 thousand), Singapore (about 600 thousand), USA (575 thousand), Great Britain (500 thousand ), Fiji (500 thousand), Guyana (375 thousand), Myanmar (370 thousand), Trinidad and Tobago (325 thousand), Canada (300 thousand) and Suriname (200 thousand).
In this case, Hinduism demonstrates two models of behavior. Outside India, Hindus are liberals, democrats, and supporters of constitutional rights to religious freedom. In Asian countries, they appeal to globalization, emphasizing the status of Hinduism as a world, not ethnic religion. India is dominated by another - a defensive, anti-globalization approach. Religious freedom there is questionable: Hindus have consistently proposed to introduce legislation that would prevent or completely prohibit the conversion of Hindus to another religion. The basis of Hinduism in Indian politics is Hindu (Sanskrit “Hinduism”), a religious and political movement of Hindu nationalism, which is supported by 35 – 40 percent of the population of India. Its adherents believe that they act for the benefit of the original Indian religions: Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Ayyavari, and Jainism.
The distribution of Hindutwa in Indian politics was only received at the end of the 80. Protests against the concession of the government to conservative Muslims led to this (the abolition of the Supreme Court’s decision on alimony to divorced wives and bringing the divorce law on Muslims to Shari'ah) in 1986, as well as the conflict over the abandoned Babri mosque in the shrine of Hinduism Ayodhye, erected by Emperor Babur (in 1992, the mosque was destroyed, more than two thousand people were killed in the riots). According to the decision of the Indian Supreme Court, “Hindu should be understood as a way of life or as a state of consciousness and should not be equated with Hindu fundamentalism ... A Hindu can accept a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu.”
Hindutwa supporters are united in the group of nationalist organizations “Sangh Parivar” - the joint venture (“Family of Union”), which includes “Rashtriya Svayamyavak Sangh” - RCC (“Union of Volunteers of the Nation”), “Bharatiya Janata Parti”, “Bajarang Dal” (“Detachment of the Strong”) and “Vishwa Hindu Parishad”. Other organizations are the Hindu Svayamevak Sangh (branch of the RCC outside India), the Bharatiya Mazdur Sangh (the Workers Union), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi (the Students Union), and the Bharatiya Teemed Sangh (the Union of Farmers) . There are not very influential Hindutwa-independent parties: “Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh” and “Bharatiya Janshakti”. The “Shiv Sena” party, influential in Maharashtra, not part of the JV, is closely linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Sikh religious party Shiromani Akali Dal also maintains contact with Hindutwa organizations.
Aggressive intolerance, characteristic of modern Hindu supporters, led to the pogroms of Muslims and Christians, accompanied by mass torture (including burning people alive) in Gujarat in 2002 (pogroms of Muslims) and Orissa in 2008-m (pogroms of Christians, including the murder of nuns and priests). Against the background of these pogroms, the Bharatiya Janata Party invited Muslims to enter a “new society”, collaborating with Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. Even the radical "Shiv sen" invited Muslims to join it after the demolition of the Babri mosque. At the same time, missionaries, both Muslim and Christian, are considered “alien elements” and are subject to death.
Hindutwa proponents point to different standards for Hindus, Muslims, and Christians in India, introduced during the time of the INC monopoly on power under the pressure of minorities, denying “equality separately”, which is seen as an attempt to attract Muslim Muslims of India who traditionally vote for the INC. One of the main political points of the Hindutva is the introduction of the General Civil Code, which removes religious provisions from the country's constitution. This is opposed by the INC. Muslims, Christians and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Marxist organizations of India consider the supporters of Hindutwa, including the Sangh Parivara, to be Fascists.
Hindu followers dispute the unequal approach to the institution of marriage and divorce, since in India Muslims are allowed to have polygamy, and Hindus and Christians are persecuted for it by law. They set themselves the goal of uniting Hindu society with its caste problems and regionalism, and they have a positive attitude towards members of the “lower castes” (untouchables or dalits). Most Hindut followers reject the theory of Indo-Aryan migration to India, and one of their goals is to fight for the restoration of Hindu temples captured or destroyed during the invasions of India. They condemn British colonialism and communism, demand a ban on the killing of cows in India, insist on resolving the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir based on the principles of Hindutwa.
"Rashtriya Svaymasevak Sangh"
One of the most aggressive organizations of the Hindutwa supporters - “Rashtriya Svayamevak Sangh” (RCC) was founded in 1925 by Heshav Kedgevar, a doctor from the city of Nagpur. Its activities in India have been repeatedly banned. It was her activists who killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, accusing him of being an accomplice of Pakistan, and destroyed the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 year.
The RCC was not monolithic, one of its wings, the “Jana Sangh” (DS), became the ancestor of “Bharatiya Janata Parti” (BDP) and its allies. The DS made its first appearance in 1951, unleashing a campaign to integrate Kashmir into India. The party finally took shape in 1952, when its representatives gained seats in the regional parliaments of India. The saffron plant has become the symbol of DS. In 1967, the DS took the government of several states of India in alliance with other parties, and in 1977, its successor, Janata Party (DP) won the general election and formed a cabinet that worked for three years. In 1980, the DP broke up. From this moment begins the independent activity of the BDP.
"Bharatiya Janata Party"
In the early years of its existence, the popularity of the BDP (Indian National Party) was low due to the fact that its leader, A. B. Vajpai, tried to expand the base of party support and took moderate positions compared to the RCC and CP. This displeased the radical Hindutwa supporters. Another party leader, L. K. Advani, found a way out by launching a campaign to popularize Hindutwa in 1984. In 1984, the BDP succeeded in passing to the lower house of the Indian parliament, obtaining there two seats from 543 against more than 400 from the INK, despite the nationalistic rhetoric of the BDP and the fact that the elections took place after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, which caused the anti-Sikh riots. In the 1989 election of the year, the party took the 84 mandate.
According to the results of the 1991 election, the BDP became the largest opposition party that criticized the INC government. VN Rao due to corruption scandals. The BJP itself was implicated in a scandal involving the destruction of the Babur mosque in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) and attempts to restore the Rama temple there. In the middle and end of 90's, the BDP reached its peak of popularity. A big role in this was played by the fact that since 1984, not a single political party in India has been able to form an ideology capable of evoking sympathy from all segments of the population. All the governments of India in the last 30 years were formed by alliances of parties, which led to the early resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers.
In the 1996 elections, the BDP received more seats than any other party, and A. B. Vajpayee was asked to form a government, but he resigned after 13 days. The coalition of parties "Third Front" came to power. In 1998, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by BJP, won more than half of the seats in parliament, forming a government headed by Vajpai. In April 1999, the NDA collapsed, but strengthened its position in early elections, and Vajpayee remained prime minister. Advani became vice-premier.
During the years of premiership of Vajpai, nuclear tests took place in Rajasthan, sharp zigzags in Indo-Pakistani relations, improved relations with the United States. The economy grew, but it did not affect the seven hundred million rural population. There were clashes between Muslims and Hindus. Vajpai didn’t have a relationship with President K. R. Narayanan, who rejected his request to introduce the presidency in Bihar when the government of R. Devi, formed by the Allied INC of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, came to power. In 2002, Vajpayi initiated the replacement of Narayanan with A. Kalam. In the end, the first "present" government of the BDP proved successful: India acquired the status of a nuclear power and won the Kargil conflict with Pakistan in May 1999.
India's first right-wing coalition, the NDA, led by the BJP, won the October election of 1999. Before these elections, the BDP announced its political manifesto. In addition to the provisions of Hindutwa and the concept of “true secularism,” the “swadish” doctrine was revived, implying India’s independence and self-sufficiency through economic liberalization. The third government of Vajpayee worked until the parliamentary elections, despite clashes between Muslims and Hindus in Gujarat and other states. At the end of 2003, regional elections were held in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The BDP leadership appointed elections to Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) for April-May 2004, six months before the deadline, hoping to consolidate its leadership thanks to the high rating of Vajpayee and economic success.
An element of the BDP election campaign was an attack on the leader of the INC. S. Gandhi: it was stated that the policy of Italian origin was inadmissible. However, the election of 2004, the BDP lost. Particularly sensitive was the defeat in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. One of its reasons was the Shining India campaign, which pushed the poor away. However, with 138 in places, the BDP remained the leading opposition party and won a number of victories at the regional level (including in Bihar). As a consequence, the first item in the following BDP manifesto was to provide poor families with food, access to loans and work.
In 2009, the BDP lost because of the increase in violence, which forced the Muslims to vote for the INC, the mistakes of LK Advani in campaigning and high economic growth under the government of M. Singh, but the global crisis destroyed the basis of the political platform of the INC and the alliance headed by him . The economic growth rate fell from nine to five percent, unemployment increased, and the prices of food and essential goods rose. This prepared the success of the BNP in the 2014 elections of the year, which the party won, headed by N. Modi.
Narendra Modi: the way to the premiere
For the first time the native of Vadnagara, 1950 year of birth, who had studied in Gujarat and Delhi University political scientist, in his youth RCC activist, enjoys yoga vegetarian, writing poetry in Gujarati, he led the election campaign the BJP in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in 1998-m on behalf of BDP leader L. K. Advani. Already in October 2001, he became the chief minister of Gujarat, replacing retired K. Patel, and in 2007 and 2012 was reelected to the third and fourth terms, despite the harsh criticism that caused his actions during the Gujarat pogrom of the 2002 year. Vengeful and intolerant of criticism, he enjoyed the support of the population: it was he who was credited with the economic growth of the state in the 2000. According to the India Today magazine, in 2006 and 2011, N. Modi was voted the best chief minister in India.
13 September 2013 of the year N. Modi became the BDP candidate for prime minister, leading a campaign in the parliamentary elections of the 2014 of the year, during which, he said, held 440 meetings with voters. For the first time in the history of India, he used social networks, resorting to three-dimensional holograms to communicate with voters in the virtual space. The number of followers on his twitter page was eight million. At the same time, the motto of the BDP party in the elections was: “Nationalism is our inspiration. Development and good governance is our goal. ” During the election campaign, N. Modi made it clear that if he wins, he wants to become a leader who, in the traditions of Hinduism, will re-build India, approving the country's status as a great power with global ambitions.
Voting in the 2014 elections was held in nine stages from April 7 to May 12 with a turnout of 66,38 percent. It should be noted that the last time such a surge of political activity in India was recorded in the elections of 1984 – 1985, when turnout was 64 percent after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In addition to the poor Hindu masses from the Hindi-language “cow belt” of central India, big business was interested in electing N. Modi, sponsoring his campaign, tired of the corruption and populism of the government of the INC, slowing economic growth and capital outflows. About a billion dollars was invested in Modi’s election campaign. Elections-2014 were the most expensive and scandalous in Indian history. Victory went to Modi with difficulty. Vagueness persisted until the last day of voting - 12 in May, when rivals met in the key state of Uttar Pradesh (population - 220 million people), in the city of Varanasi, where the main Hindu shrines are located and 80 mandates were played out.
The main topics of the election campaign were internal problems: economic growth, investment, corruption, infrastructure projects and social programs. Foreign policy remained in the background. In the course of the election campaign, Modi made tough attacks on Pakistan and China, but he refrained from them against the United States. In April, 2014, the BDP representatives announced that they were planning to make Indian foreign policy more resolute in relation to Pakistan, announcing their intention to revise the nuclear doctrine and abandon the principle of not taking the first strike. The sharp reaction of the international community made Modi distance herself from these statements. A day before the last day of voting in the Australian territorial waters, an Indian vessel with a large heroin shipment that had sailed from Gujarat was intercepted. Modi was accused of undermining the safety of India’s sea lanes. In response, the BJP stated that maritime safety is the responsibility of the central government, not the state government.
The slogan of the INC and allied regional parties was “All against Modi”. In order to prevent Modi from coming to power, opponents unleashed a number of scandals. He was accused of the fact that he, a native of the Brahmins, had inscribed himself in a lower caste, which allowed him to position himself as a representative of the Indian lower classes — the antipode of the “detached from the masses” Gandhi. In addition, he was accused of the fact that, as the chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he included his Modh Ghancis caste in the register of the “Other backward castes”, which gave her considerable social benefits. In response, the BJP leadership announced that the Modh Ghancis caste was included in the 20 list of “backward castes” years ago, when INC was in power in Gujarat.
Indira Gandhi's grandson - 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi, who was nominated by the INK during the Election Campaign-2014, was not remembered by the voters, having received the nickname Empty Suit. As a result of voting, the United Progressive Alliance, led by the INC., Won the 59 electoral districts from 543, the BDP - in the 283 districts, received an absolute majority and became the first party in 30 for years that could form a government on its own. As the Guardian noted, Modi’s uncompromising political views, harsh and easy-to-understand rhetoric to the people, the reputation of a “pure” politician and the ability to compromise with Muslims helped the BDP win the election, although it gained control only over the lower house of parliament. In the upper house, Rajya Sabha has 46 mandates from 240, and INK has 68 mandates. Characteristically, the leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the presidents of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives, the Prime Ministers of Nepal and Bhutan, the Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh and Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In Russian foreign policy, India occupies a special place, as in the era of the USSR. The reference to the Russia-India-China triangle, which has entered the expert field since the time of Academician Ye. M. Primakov, has become traditional in predictions about what the multipolar world will be like.
However, modern India is little reminiscent of the state of the Indian National Congress (INC), headed by the clan Gandhi, for which the support of Moscow was of critical importance. India’s relations with Pakistan and China are ambiguous, the United States has become the main external partner, and Israel is one of the main arms suppliers. India is expanding its presence in Afghanistan, Southeast and Central Asia and is building a strategy for the presence of its armed forces abroad on an ongoing basis.
“Aggressive intolerance, characteristic of modern Hindu supporters, led to the pogroms of Muslims and Christians”
Moscow is an important partner of New Delhi, but there is no more exclusivity in their relations, all the more so for the nationalists of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its charismatic authoritarian leader Narendra Damodardas Modi story cooperation of the USSR and Russia with the governments of the INC. rather minus than a plus. Taking into account the geopolitical schemes that are built around the Indian factor, this means the need for a detailed analysis of what the country’s relations with the outside world are, as well as the personality of its prime minister and the party he heads (which is also true for a number of other countries - Turkey and China , Israel and Japan, Iran and Pakistan). Moreover, modern India has a lot of foreign policy ambitions and they rely on the aggressive awareness of its civilizational exclusivity.
Hindutwa as a unifying idea
By the number of adherents, modern Hinduism is the third religion of the world. The number of his supporters - about a billion people, most of whom are concentrated in India. However, Hindus live in other countries of South Asia: Nepal (17 million), Bangladesh (15 million), Sri Lanka (2,5 million), Pakistan (1,3 million), Bhutan (350 thousand). Followers of Hinduism exist in Indonesia (4 million), Malaysia (1,1 million), South Africa (700 thousand), Singapore (about 600 thousand), USA (575 thousand), Great Britain (500 thousand ), Fiji (500 thousand), Guyana (375 thousand), Myanmar (370 thousand), Trinidad and Tobago (325 thousand), Canada (300 thousand) and Suriname (200 thousand).
In this case, Hinduism demonstrates two models of behavior. Outside India, Hindus are liberals, democrats, and supporters of constitutional rights to religious freedom. In Asian countries, they appeal to globalization, emphasizing the status of Hinduism as a world, not ethnic religion. India is dominated by another - a defensive, anti-globalization approach. Religious freedom there is questionable: Hindus have consistently proposed to introduce legislation that would prevent or completely prohibit the conversion of Hindus to another religion. The basis of Hinduism in Indian politics is Hindu (Sanskrit “Hinduism”), a religious and political movement of Hindu nationalism, which is supported by 35 – 40 percent of the population of India. Its adherents believe that they act for the benefit of the original Indian religions: Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Ayyavari, and Jainism.
The distribution of Hindutwa in Indian politics was only received at the end of the 80. Protests against the concession of the government to conservative Muslims led to this (the abolition of the Supreme Court’s decision on alimony to divorced wives and bringing the divorce law on Muslims to Shari'ah) in 1986, as well as the conflict over the abandoned Babri mosque in the shrine of Hinduism Ayodhye, erected by Emperor Babur (in 1992, the mosque was destroyed, more than two thousand people were killed in the riots). According to the decision of the Indian Supreme Court, “Hindu should be understood as a way of life or as a state of consciousness and should not be equated with Hindu fundamentalism ... A Hindu can accept a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu.”
Hindutwa supporters are united in the group of nationalist organizations “Sangh Parivar” - the joint venture (“Family of Union”), which includes “Rashtriya Svayamyavak Sangh” - RCC (“Union of Volunteers of the Nation”), “Bharatiya Janata Parti”, “Bajarang Dal” (“Detachment of the Strong”) and “Vishwa Hindu Parishad”. Other organizations are the Hindu Svayamevak Sangh (branch of the RCC outside India), the Bharatiya Mazdur Sangh (the Workers Union), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi (the Students Union), and the Bharatiya Teemed Sangh (the Union of Farmers) . There are not very influential Hindutwa-independent parties: “Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh” and “Bharatiya Janshakti”. The “Shiv Sena” party, influential in Maharashtra, not part of the JV, is closely linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Sikh religious party Shiromani Akali Dal also maintains contact with Hindutwa organizations.
Aggressive intolerance, characteristic of modern Hindu supporters, led to the pogroms of Muslims and Christians, accompanied by mass torture (including burning people alive) in Gujarat in 2002 (pogroms of Muslims) and Orissa in 2008-m (pogroms of Christians, including the murder of nuns and priests). Against the background of these pogroms, the Bharatiya Janata Party invited Muslims to enter a “new society”, collaborating with Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. Even the radical "Shiv sen" invited Muslims to join it after the demolition of the Babri mosque. At the same time, missionaries, both Muslim and Christian, are considered “alien elements” and are subject to death.
Hindutwa proponents point to different standards for Hindus, Muslims, and Christians in India, introduced during the time of the INC monopoly on power under the pressure of minorities, denying “equality separately”, which is seen as an attempt to attract Muslim Muslims of India who traditionally vote for the INC. One of the main political points of the Hindutva is the introduction of the General Civil Code, which removes religious provisions from the country's constitution. This is opposed by the INC. Muslims, Christians and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Marxist organizations of India consider the supporters of Hindutwa, including the Sangh Parivara, to be Fascists.
Hindu followers dispute the unequal approach to the institution of marriage and divorce, since in India Muslims are allowed to have polygamy, and Hindus and Christians are persecuted for it by law. They set themselves the goal of uniting Hindu society with its caste problems and regionalism, and they have a positive attitude towards members of the “lower castes” (untouchables or dalits). Most Hindut followers reject the theory of Indo-Aryan migration to India, and one of their goals is to fight for the restoration of Hindu temples captured or destroyed during the invasions of India. They condemn British colonialism and communism, demand a ban on the killing of cows in India, insist on resolving the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir based on the principles of Hindutwa.
"Rashtriya Svaymasevak Sangh"
One of the most aggressive organizations of the Hindutwa supporters - “Rashtriya Svayamevak Sangh” (RCC) was founded in 1925 by Heshav Kedgevar, a doctor from the city of Nagpur. Its activities in India have been repeatedly banned. It was her activists who killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, accusing him of being an accomplice of Pakistan, and destroyed the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 year.
The RCC was not monolithic, one of its wings, the “Jana Sangh” (DS), became the ancestor of “Bharatiya Janata Parti” (BDP) and its allies. The DS made its first appearance in 1951, unleashing a campaign to integrate Kashmir into India. The party finally took shape in 1952, when its representatives gained seats in the regional parliaments of India. The saffron plant has become the symbol of DS. In 1967, the DS took the government of several states of India in alliance with other parties, and in 1977, its successor, Janata Party (DP) won the general election and formed a cabinet that worked for three years. In 1980, the DP broke up. From this moment begins the independent activity of the BDP.
"Bharatiya Janata Party"
In the early years of its existence, the popularity of the BDP (Indian National Party) was low due to the fact that its leader, A. B. Vajpai, tried to expand the base of party support and took moderate positions compared to the RCC and CP. This displeased the radical Hindutwa supporters. Another party leader, L. K. Advani, found a way out by launching a campaign to popularize Hindutwa in 1984. In 1984, the BDP succeeded in passing to the lower house of the Indian parliament, obtaining there two seats from 543 against more than 400 from the INK, despite the nationalistic rhetoric of the BDP and the fact that the elections took place after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, which caused the anti-Sikh riots. In the 1989 election of the year, the party took the 84 mandate.
According to the results of the 1991 election, the BDP became the largest opposition party that criticized the INC government. VN Rao due to corruption scandals. The BJP itself was implicated in a scandal involving the destruction of the Babur mosque in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) and attempts to restore the Rama temple there. In the middle and end of 90's, the BDP reached its peak of popularity. A big role in this was played by the fact that since 1984, not a single political party in India has been able to form an ideology capable of evoking sympathy from all segments of the population. All the governments of India in the last 30 years were formed by alliances of parties, which led to the early resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers.In the 1996 elections, the BDP received more seats than any other party, and A. B. Vajpayee was asked to form a government, but he resigned after 13 days. The coalition of parties "Third Front" came to power. In 1998, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by BJP, won more than half of the seats in parliament, forming a government headed by Vajpai. In April 1999, the NDA collapsed, but strengthened its position in early elections, and Vajpayee remained prime minister. Advani became vice-premier.
During the years of premiership of Vajpai, nuclear tests took place in Rajasthan, sharp zigzags in Indo-Pakistani relations, improved relations with the United States. The economy grew, but it did not affect the seven hundred million rural population. There were clashes between Muslims and Hindus. Vajpai didn’t have a relationship with President K. R. Narayanan, who rejected his request to introduce the presidency in Bihar when the government of R. Devi, formed by the Allied INC of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, came to power. In 2002, Vajpayi initiated the replacement of Narayanan with A. Kalam. In the end, the first "present" government of the BDP proved successful: India acquired the status of a nuclear power and won the Kargil conflict with Pakistan in May 1999.
India's first right-wing coalition, the NDA, led by the BJP, won the October election of 1999. Before these elections, the BDP announced its political manifesto. In addition to the provisions of Hindutwa and the concept of “true secularism,” the “swadish” doctrine was revived, implying India’s independence and self-sufficiency through economic liberalization. The third government of Vajpayee worked until the parliamentary elections, despite clashes between Muslims and Hindus in Gujarat and other states. At the end of 2003, regional elections were held in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The BDP leadership appointed elections to Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) for April-May 2004, six months before the deadline, hoping to consolidate its leadership thanks to the high rating of Vajpayee and economic success.
An element of the BDP election campaign was an attack on the leader of the INC. S. Gandhi: it was stated that the policy of Italian origin was inadmissible. However, the election of 2004, the BDP lost. Particularly sensitive was the defeat in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. One of its reasons was the Shining India campaign, which pushed the poor away. However, with 138 in places, the BDP remained the leading opposition party and won a number of victories at the regional level (including in Bihar). As a consequence, the first item in the following BDP manifesto was to provide poor families with food, access to loans and work.
In 2009, the BDP lost because of the increase in violence, which forced the Muslims to vote for the INC, the mistakes of LK Advani in campaigning and high economic growth under the government of M. Singh, but the global crisis destroyed the basis of the political platform of the INC and the alliance headed by him . The economic growth rate fell from nine to five percent, unemployment increased, and the prices of food and essential goods rose. This prepared the success of the BNP in the 2014 elections of the year, which the party won, headed by N. Modi.
Narendra Modi: the way to the premiere
For the first time the native of Vadnagara, 1950 year of birth, who had studied in Gujarat and Delhi University political scientist, in his youth RCC activist, enjoys yoga vegetarian, writing poetry in Gujarati, he led the election campaign the BJP in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in 1998-m on behalf of BDP leader L. K. Advani. Already in October 2001, he became the chief minister of Gujarat, replacing retired K. Patel, and in 2007 and 2012 was reelected to the third and fourth terms, despite the harsh criticism that caused his actions during the Gujarat pogrom of the 2002 year. Vengeful and intolerant of criticism, he enjoyed the support of the population: it was he who was credited with the economic growth of the state in the 2000. According to the India Today magazine, in 2006 and 2011, N. Modi was voted the best chief minister in India.
13 September 2013 of the year N. Modi became the BDP candidate for prime minister, leading a campaign in the parliamentary elections of the 2014 of the year, during which, he said, held 440 meetings with voters. For the first time in the history of India, he used social networks, resorting to three-dimensional holograms to communicate with voters in the virtual space. The number of followers on his twitter page was eight million. At the same time, the motto of the BDP party in the elections was: “Nationalism is our inspiration. Development and good governance is our goal. ” During the election campaign, N. Modi made it clear that if he wins, he wants to become a leader who, in the traditions of Hinduism, will re-build India, approving the country's status as a great power with global ambitions.
Voting in the 2014 elections was held in nine stages from April 7 to May 12 with a turnout of 66,38 percent. It should be noted that the last time such a surge of political activity in India was recorded in the elections of 1984 – 1985, when turnout was 64 percent after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In addition to the poor Hindu masses from the Hindi-language “cow belt” of central India, big business was interested in electing N. Modi, sponsoring his campaign, tired of the corruption and populism of the government of the INC, slowing economic growth and capital outflows. About a billion dollars was invested in Modi’s election campaign. Elections-2014 were the most expensive and scandalous in Indian history. Victory went to Modi with difficulty. Vagueness persisted until the last day of voting - 12 in May, when rivals met in the key state of Uttar Pradesh (population - 220 million people), in the city of Varanasi, where the main Hindu shrines are located and 80 mandates were played out.
The main topics of the election campaign were internal problems: economic growth, investment, corruption, infrastructure projects and social programs. Foreign policy remained in the background. In the course of the election campaign, Modi made tough attacks on Pakistan and China, but he refrained from them against the United States. In April, 2014, the BDP representatives announced that they were planning to make Indian foreign policy more resolute in relation to Pakistan, announcing their intention to revise the nuclear doctrine and abandon the principle of not taking the first strike. The sharp reaction of the international community made Modi distance herself from these statements. A day before the last day of voting in the Australian territorial waters, an Indian vessel with a large heroin shipment that had sailed from Gujarat was intercepted. Modi was accused of undermining the safety of India’s sea lanes. In response, the BJP stated that maritime safety is the responsibility of the central government, not the state government.
The slogan of the INC and allied regional parties was “All against Modi”. In order to prevent Modi from coming to power, opponents unleashed a number of scandals. He was accused of the fact that he, a native of the Brahmins, had inscribed himself in a lower caste, which allowed him to position himself as a representative of the Indian lower classes — the antipode of the “detached from the masses” Gandhi. In addition, he was accused of the fact that, as the chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he included his Modh Ghancis caste in the register of the “Other backward castes”, which gave her considerable social benefits. In response, the BJP leadership announced that the Modh Ghancis caste was included in the 20 list of “backward castes” years ago, when INC was in power in Gujarat.
Indira Gandhi's grandson - 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi, who was nominated by the INK during the Election Campaign-2014, was not remembered by the voters, having received the nickname Empty Suit. As a result of voting, the United Progressive Alliance, led by the INC., Won the 59 electoral districts from 543, the BDP - in the 283 districts, received an absolute majority and became the first party in 30 for years that could form a government on its own. As the Guardian noted, Modi’s uncompromising political views, harsh and easy-to-understand rhetoric to the people, the reputation of a “pure” politician and the ability to compromise with Muslims helped the BDP win the election, although it gained control only over the lower house of parliament. In the upper house, Rajya Sabha has 46 mandates from 240, and INK has 68 mandates. Characteristically, the leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the presidents of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives, the Prime Ministers of Nepal and Bhutan, the Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh and Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Information