Elections, Prime Minister and their end. Remote is widely expected when if the tub hoping to stop him. Thousands of all position policies of joining forces in a coalition to rival his. But rocky, i do not to a policy mode has been passed since 2014 and is credited with revitalizing the economy. But his opponents accuse him of stifling descent and crushing political rivals. So how much has moody achieved and all controversial views and criticism enough to full spoke to is to seek an alternative lead up . Plenty to discuss. But 1st, lets set the scene with this report from veronica pedrosa. The Campaign Season has begun in the Worlds Largest democracy later in april 6 weeks of voting gets on the way in india. More than 968000000 people are eligible to cost pilots for a new government in national elections. The Prime Minister there under moody, is hoping to win a good time speaking to supporters in indias largest state or to a per dash on sunday. Moody said his cabinet was already hauled at work on the box dog road map one out of the audio road map for the next 5 years item. And youre working on the decisions. Do you need for making the 1st time to do the next tome . Moody came to a pallet in 2014, never before had a chief minister with no federal experience become the head of government in india. His but i t a jumped to polity one with an absolute majority for the 1st time in 3 decades. As Prime Minister moody is credited with transforming the country, making it one of the largest developing economies in the world, revitalizing infrastructure, and even landing a Space Mission on the file. But critics say his hindu nationalist focus has shrunk. The space for descent, minorities, especially muslims, have been harassed and attacked as have activists, journalists, and rival politicians subsidies in the bid to challenge moody and his policies dominance. In this election, thousands of opposition parties have united to form a coalition. Quote, the Indian NationalDevelopment Inclusive alliance for something that, that dr. Bunker very good. The leadership interested. Itd be free when you uphold the constitution. When it comes to the elections, you have to vote and press the button that removes his government and brings the root of the people. Opinion polls suggest moody will be victorious and set him on a path to become indias longest serving Prime Minister. Veronica pedroza out to 0 to inside story the so lets get a measure of Prime Minister bodies, political ambition and discussion with our impressive panel of guess today in the, in, in capital up we have, you mean the i a, hes, shes a public policy. Scala who specializes in governance, politics and social policy. In new york, robbie agra awhile is editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine and host of its video channel and pulled cost f p live. Hes also the olsa of india. Connect to it. Have a smart phone is transforming the Worlds Largest democracy. And again, in new delhi we have no on general capacity. I right to enjoy this with a special interest in hindu nationalist politics. Hes also the olsa of the biography and the written promote the man the times. Thank you all of you for joining us. This is the biggest democratic exercise in the world. I was stunned to read that with 960000000 eligible voters that smaller than the populations of the us, european union, and Russia Combined the line chan starting with you. Course its up to the values has given how many ive just mentioned there are. But it looks very strong, doesnt it full Prime Minister mode, it looks like he is by fall the favored. But at the moment, uh all the survey said that mr movie is a po frontrunner uh that he has a clear cut not active, but the waters are looking at him as the only possibility thatd be challenges have not been able to come together as it appeared at all the opposition parties would be able to come together. But what has been done so far as far as awful session consolidation is concerned. Uh, there are, uh, still a lot more. It has to be done uh at the moment. Tiers of course. Uh the feel is that mr. Moody, getting uh a tow done. Uh it is going to be actually the most important collection for him. Because if he wins this, he is actually going to be stepping into some kind of fall politically mortality becoming the 1st 5 minutes turn off to india as 1st prime. So there are a lot of nato to win 3 consecutive terms and get into office. It is also going to mean a lot for the future of india as democracy for the future of indias development programs. And most importantly, but uh uh, not really less uh for the minorities that really just minorities of the country, especially the muslims and the cushions. And also people who disagree, who are not the minorities, but on in those. But to disagree with mr movie and his party, the b j b is going to get very different credit for the media for the Civil Society. And for the anybody who is willing to disagree and says they abuse openly in the public to india. Of course has a probably a proud tradition of democracy. This is 18th general election robbie and a 4th coming off to go what you call him, please share with me in advance. But you make the point that in these been shaped by democracy rather than culture and religion and that you just had lunch and talk about narrow the founding Prime Minister. You say that he believed in a liberal secular country that would serve as a contrast to park a song which of course, as cold as a muslim homeland. Then you say somewhat controversial sleep mode in many ways is narrows opposite. Explain. Well thats right movie is um you know, in terms of personality and background. Very different from jabbar law. Narrow, narrow, of course, very anglicized, cambridge educated, went by the 1st name, jo, until theres twenties, came from india is upper classes, and movie has a very different background. He is the lower middle class, lower cost background, and it doesnt shy away from that really. This is a man who has a very different vision of what india should look like. But the say that i wrote, which youve kindly mentioned um i titled the new idea of india. And thats because im like narrow movies vision for india. Why that does premise itself on elect tauriel democracy and welfare. Isnt it actually centers . Religion and culture in the states of fans. And so movie has, in the sense of vision of a country that is in do 1st, that is in the 1st, which prioritizes a vision of what it means to be indian. And its a vision that not everyone in india agrees with, of course. But the way like tauriel democracy in india works is that he doesnt need everyone to agree with that. In in 2014, when multi one of the election, the 1st time around his party did, i should say hes probably the only 131 percent of the National Vote in 2019 his party 137 percent of the National Vote. And to do all of this, he only needs about half of all the votes from india is him, goes into is comprised about 80 percent of, of the 1400000000 people in the country, of which as you pointed out, 960000000 can vote, so hes able to mobilize in a way that him to vote, to be able to win elections in a way that is unprecedented in Indian History and, and therefore, furthering this vision of what it means to be. Indeed, in a sense mode, the is, you know, while on some counts democracy has been voted in india, whether its freedom of the press, whether its free speech, whether its freedom of the courts. Movie still succeeds at the polls and hes turned and is turning india into a classic in liberal democracy where hes still able to further his vision, his idea of india x at the polls. But to do so in a way, in which classic liberalism, as we see it in the west and has never believed and has been shunned. And this is something that i should say uh, is quite popular in india. Again, as evidenced by movies, elect toro success in 2014, in 2019 and presumably in the next few weeks, you know, many um probably makes a good point there about the share of a because its worth remembering. This is a parliamentary 1st pause. The post system, but his b j. P policy seems to be very, very good at translating this go to an election making machine to translate the votes into seats in the parliament. Yeah, absolutely. I think uh it just to build on what my federal bond list have said. That 2 things to keep in mind. One um the, the stations of, uh, what it means to be indian or what the imagination of india. Um, as the more the nation state is, i have had a deep history embedded in the freedom roland, leading up to 1947 when into about independence on the framing of being in constitution at the idea that india is a, has a deep civilizational history. That brings together into the formation of the more the nation, state posts independence is one that is fairly widely accepted and critically told the Independence Movement whether we were a single nation or a nation whose civilization that you call us was one of why the color terms of tourism of diversity, diversity or religion. Diversity of Ethnic Diversity that whats the language that ones deal region. Thats the side of contestation. When india gained independence. Are founding fathers, not just a well, there was a broad consensus within the constitution which fame the and, and constitution that can yeah, in fact rejected the donation majority that they could, that is a hindu india and a muslim tech, a nation that indeed india was a genuinely secular nation, with the under guarding of tourism and dollars building to our everyday life. I didnt. Why imagination of a modern nation state in this sense what the project of, of india was in some sense is very different through the project. The more than nation states, a in europe, which tended to go here or around the idea of a senior. I think i didnt the region, the national i of i really just Identity National identity. What made in your unique, what this coming together, what the political find this video game, the other have in a different context, input to other state nation rather than a nation state. It is, is this idea that is now being contested, contested with this is a far deeper unity imagination undergoing by hindu nationalism which is very my daughter darian and its imagination. It also is translating angela very caught different kind of democracy. Why probably is right that in some senses, we have a vibrant to collect the democracy. And it is on the basis of betty like, or democracy that the hands of the project is gaining leisure to meet a legitimate team will be inside. But undoubtedly, a remarkably popular 5 minutes died. Its red folder private instead of going to a tough job to see could post them and get be a frontrunner. Remarkably pop, you know, but it is what is recognizing that the nature of his governance. In fact, displacing several pressures, even on the fundamental dynamics of like our democracy. What are the 2 conditions of robust elect or democracy, active contestation, i know position contestation of ideas on discussion on policy and widespread participation. Were doing well and participation, indeed increasing in 5 women and participation in voting has increased remarkably. But when it comes to active contestation, there are significant challenges. In fact, i will go so far as to say, these are really, really increasing the seizures. See the form of the let, let me, let me bring in, let me bring it in the launch on the and on the whole issue of hindu nationalism. Yes, i mean they are hindus of by far majority 80 percent, but in the country side of aust, 20 percent is a huge number of people about 300000000. I mean, do you not in a, in a country like india need to govern for old . Yes, of course you know, uh because very clear that in an ideal situation and in something that is modeling kotik, you need to actually go one for all. But if you have the numbers on your side, as mr movie has, he is not really being governing foot on. And if they continue with the same kind of electronic performance fees they had in 2014 and in 2019 im good. Majority for the 3rd time, maybe even a big majority. Then i think that they are going to become more and more than to be able to govern only for the majority and for toward dumonts on the minorities, especially the most lives and the cushions to assimilate themselves. And then the majority him do community that goes with long standing do mind of the hindu nationalist in this country that everybody in this country is a hindu, regardless of the faith that they practice. You know that visual openly said, mr. Moody, in fact, even told me that the people all come to uh, to practice various religions. But the must actually, you know, accept our ideas and the idea of the got it goes and all of the great people who are concerned. So they must be accepted by the minorities also. Theres a 2nd question, you know, which keeps on coming up in all our discussions that indias, uh, the mid bigger the majority which is elect to really very innovative conducted. I think, you know, its time now for us to actually look at the manner in which it does elections are conducted, especially in this particular moment. You know, we need to flag to very important issues which of so faced in the past few weeks. The 1st is about what is called the political funding. You know, it has been talked about for a long time. The Political Parties in india get funding from various corporate houses in a very discrete tomato for which that i would pro cool arrangements. But this was never proven. Theres also been a lot of talk about a slash money being used in india and elections. What ending in what capital eddie is quite a black money, something which is actually on accounting money, which is actually we had to complete a different job and then 20172018. Mr. Moore. These got been tied boss laws to create a new system of political donations. Now that political says that the system of making political donations has been recently struck down in the month of february last year, just in february. It was struck down by the Supreme Court of india and the data has been put in the public domain. So the data which shows that all over the mean, the more than 50 percent of the political donations were given to the b j. B. The names of the dont those that out there in the public and uh, we can actually link that various of the Civil Society organizations as well as a very specialized media organization. So hes just trying to track down the various would pro court and you meant that to make a donation. You can either escape imminent ad uh at least uh by the law and order machinery or a policies change which benefits a particular company which made that donation. So these are being, these instances are being proved. Okay. And the id like to, id like to come back to the some of the other criticisms will be in action for the new launch. Im. Id like to come back to some of the other criticisms of the opposition a little later in the program. But you, i think its important just to set the context here with regard to india is current situation. Robbie your sitting that in new york right now in the us the, you know, the, the, the, the view certainly there is its the economy, stupid and elections in the united states. India as the Fastest Growing major economy in the world. I mean that is there any bought so that there is the immediate but is that it starting from a very low base . So its much easier to grow foster when youre starting from a low base. There is also greater imperative to grow. Foster indian needs a rapid, high speed growth to be able to pull more people out of poverty to be able to expand its middle classes to be able to compete with its neighbors, to compete with other asian countries. If you look at how india is g, d, p per capita has grown since a 1970 countries that were at the same point as it then china, south korea are orders of magnitude bigger in terms of the size of their economies. And so in that sense, india has a lot of catching up to do. It has been going fast. Um, over the last decade, 1520 years or so. Not fast enough, many would say, well, one of the things that this administration of these administration has focused on a lot, youve heard the term welfare is. And in this discussion already is the delivery of subsidies and services to people hyped access to water, for example, has called tripled in the last decade. It electricity connections that have have expanded dramatically in the last decade. Pilots, for example, um, have been built across the country whether these work or not is another point. One of the things that this administration in particular is very good at is marketing, whatever games it does make, but it has a very mixed record. Despite these advances on, well as far as them, for example, this government, for example, has not been able to attract enough foreign direct investment, which is actually declined in recent years. It has not been able to urge its own companies with in india, to invest in the economy is much, much of it states, spending Infrastructure Spending is internal. Thats not good enough. That needs a lot more. So various things and forces that continue to hold in the as economy back, it is not growing as fast as it should use. Unemployment is a serious problem. In india, it has a higher rate to utah unemployment than many of its appears in the region. Women are chronically under employed, and yet despite all of this, you have the paradox. That movie is actually quite popular among women. So its a, its not easy to have a simple answer um on the economy. Its a mixed picture. Okay, thatd be the bringing meaning now im rubbing that tool to about how good the government is at marketing. Much of that marketing is around the one man. I mean, do you think its fair to say theres a personality cult going on here . Right. Ive only been in recent years, wants to deli, which was at the end of last year for the g. 20. And rarely of ive seen a city where there was a post of one mind in so many places. It wasnt quite the scale of saddam husseins iraq because i could remember, but it was guessing close. Absolutely, the governing style of the b j. B is very much a one of centralized ation. Built around about vanity. Got a big, got it up mr. Movie his the, the beauty of his marketing is that is very carefully been deployed to been, im the fat