Indian Prime Minister Modi is accused of playing on hatred

Everyone expects Narendra Modi to win the elections in India. But the opposition fears that he will ensure victory by increasing conflicts in society.

– Do you think that the money you have worked hard for should be given to infiltrators? Will you find yourself in it?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went further than usual in attacking Muslims as the Indian elections began last week.

He wasn’t just talking about the country’s Muslim minority as infiltrators. He also accused them of having many children. It plays on the conspiracy theory that Muslims are having many children to displace the Hindus.

The Prime Minister accused the main opposition party, the Congress Party, of taking money from Hindus and giving to Muslims.

The polls suggest that Modi is going to win the election. But there is a possibility that the margin will be smaller than five years ago. Analysts fear he will whip up hatred to mobilize voters.

Historic choice

Until the beginning of June, India conducts its biggest election in history. The country of 1.4 billion inhabitants has 970 million eligible voters. A total of 543 members will be elected to the Lok Sabha. The result will be ready on June 4, as planned.

Narendra Modi is campaigning hard to secure a third election victory. His opponents fear he will whip up more hatred and antagonism to win the election.

Playing on hate

Modi’s party BJP is often called “Hindu nationalist”. Since coming to power in 2014, the BJP has often been accused of discriminating against religious minorities. In India, 79.8 percent of the population is Hindu, 14.2 percent Muslim and 2.3 percent Christian.

According to the constitution, India is a secular state. But Modi has challenged that principle in recent years. In January, he opened a Hindu temple in northern India. It is built on the ruins of a historically important mosque. The temple was in honor of the deity ram.

– Our Lord Ram has come after centuries of waiting, Modi said.

He said the opening showed how India is growing and “breaking the shackles that kept us in a slave mentality”.

It is particularly the large Muslim minority that has been subjected to oppression and violence. But there are also many reports of discrimination and abuse against Christians.

Displacing the Gandhi family

After India became independent in 1947, the Congress Party was completely dominant. Jawaharlal Nehru became the country’s first Prime Minister. He was the father of Indira Gandhi, who became Prime Minister in 1966.

Since then, the party and the Gandhi family have been closely linked.

This year, Rahul Gandhi is the party’s most visible candidate. He is the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Her sister Priyanka Gandhi is the general secretary of the party.

But the party’s prime ministerial candidate this year is Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge.

Modi directs many of his attacks directly at Gandhi. The Prime Minister claims that it is Gandhi who is trying to create “cultural divisions in the minds of the people” in order to win the election, according to the India Express newspaper.

On Thursday, Modi said Rahul’s father, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during his time abolished the inheritance tax in India to protect the family wealth from taxation. Now the Congress Party wants to reintroduce the inheritance tax. Modi claims it is to give the savings of hardworking Hindus to Muslims.

Rahul Gandhi responded on Friday by claiming that Modi’s government has helped friends become billionaires.

– He steals money from the people, while at the same time he has created billionaires, said Gandhi.

According to Gandhi, Modi fears that the election may go badly, so he resorts to the old trick of whipping up nationalism and fear of minorities.