https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/indias-opposition-parties-attempt-to-oust-modi
Leaders of India's opposition have come together to form a coalition in an effort to take out the current prime minister.
I have very little knowledge of India, but thought it might be interesting. I'd love to hear an informed comrade opinion.
Why does Modi have the highest approval rating of any world leader? It baffles the mind. Do you think that this figure is fabricated or does he really control some kind of charismatic ideological apparatus?
Propaganda plays a large part in it. BJP was the first political party to figure out how to use social media to spread their message. As they gained popularity, they got close with Adanis and Ambanis, the richest families in India, who ended up buying a lot of a media houses so the media is generally uncritical to a blatantly visible degree. There has been a long campaign of crackdown on reporters who were critical of BJP, with many labeled Maoists and put in jail waiting for trials against trumped up charges.
BJP and RSS have also exacerbated the preexisting communal tensions and used them to their advantage. A large majority of our population is Hindu and for many of them their programme of turning India to a explicitly Hindu nation unfortunately sounds desirable.
Modi individually is also generally seen positively. BJP works with PR firms for this. His image has been rehabilitated through concerted efforts after the massacre of Muslims in Gujrat while he was CM there. While other fascists like Trump and Bolsonaro are clowning around, Modi does not interact with traditional news media, social media or even his constituents directly. His main form of communication is through the speeches that he gives. Recently he went on a trip to the US where he took a couple questions from reporters for the first time in many years. Because of all this his image is relatively clean in the consciousness of the average person.
So many parallels with the religious right in the US. Weaponising faith to forward extreme right and fascist ideologies, using it as a justification to discriminate against other people, races, nations etc. The 'muslim ban' that Trump put in place was just candy for the 'evangelical' movement.
I think Hindu Nationalism is playing the same game. Modi is fucking evil but he's just another facet of an inherently evil system that rewards fascist behavior and works to oppress the working class by any means necessary.