The unmaking of India | Free to read | Financial Times
▻https://www.ft.com/content/80c18d5b-443e-48e4-9f28-3cc491df4260
Despite his failures on the economic front, despite his mishandling of the pandemic, #Modi remains enormously popular among voters. An opinion poll conducted in late January showed “NaMo” as having approval ratings of above 70 per cent. Events of recent weeks may have caused a slide, but this is likely to be modest, rather than precipitous.
How does one explain this disjunction between performance and popularity? One reason for Modi’s appeal is that his ideology of Hindu majoritarianism is widely shared by voters, particularly in the populous states of northern India. The BJP has been especially successful in getting lower-caste Hindus into their fold, by offering them cultural superiority over Muslims.