Would Modi save India or wreck it?
India’s Muslims have reason to fear Narendra Modi. He should reach out to them.
EVEN five years ago it would have been inconceivable; but, with a general election due by next May, Narendra Modi is the front-runner to become India’s next prime minister. The long-serving chief minister of Gujarat has always had a core of passionate supporters for his mix of economic efficiency and hardline Hindu nationalism, and because he gets things done, an increasing number of voters see him as the saviour of India’s struggling economy (see article). But Indian politics has no more divisive figure. A terrible blot hangs over his reputation since an orgy of violence in his state in 2002 left over 1,000 dead, most of them Muslims. Do his qualities outweigh that huge stain?
Modi madness
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Would Modi save India or wreck it?"
From the December 14th 2013 edition
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