Religion and the Indian election
India is choosing a new government. Many pundits predict that the country’s 814 million voters will make Narendra Modi, head of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the next prime minister of the world’s largest democracy. Religion is a big factor in the six-week election, which ends on May 12 (the winner will be announced May 16). The (U.K.) Telegraph writes that Modi has exploited religious tensions to grab power, promising to build a Hindu temple on the site of a historic mosque. The New York Times reports that “the ascent of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party has raised concerns that members of minority religious groups would face discrimination if the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power.” The Financial Express cites the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s concerns about “BJP’s and Narendra Modi’s close association with Hindu nationalist organisations” and with the “ideology of Hindutva, which holds non-Hindus as foreign to...