21 April 2024

Why Modi Is So Popular

Amelia Lester

It’s easy to see Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a strongman, says FP’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal. A magnetic figure and a brilliant orator, Modi looks likely to win a near-unprecedented third term in the country’s upcoming elections. But it would be a mistake to see the Hindu nationalist changes he’s brought to the country purely as an example of top-down management, Agrawal cautions in this FP Live discussion—and as he argues in the magazine’s most recent issue, in an article called “The New Idea of India.” People are increasingly aware of Modi’s policies and measures, Agrawal says, “and so when people vote for him, there must be at least some broader desire to go along with” his vision of what India is, and should be.

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