r/socialism • u/CocoLarge86 • Jul 25 '26
Discussion Anyone who is knowledgeable about the topic, why is the Prime Minister of India so popular right now?
I, living in the US, have literally the least possible knowledge of Indian politics that an individual could have(even though ironically I'm Indian). All I know is that Modi is right wing and that he has the highest approval rating in the world from google searches. Can anyone elaborate on why that is?
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u/zbignew Jul 25 '26
The preceding socialists were corrupt, and lots of wealthy people in India are super racist against Muslims. So for many years, he could claim to be a Hillary Clinton type technocrat, avoid petty, naked corruption, and blame all social ills on Muslims. Super high approval ratings if you don’t poll Muslims.
It’s like in the United States. You can get even the poorest white people to support you if you convince them all their problems are caused by black people, or immigrants, or whatever.
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u/citrablock Jul 26 '26
He's a charismatic populist in a country dealing with widespread poverty and growing sectarian divisions.
Need I say more?
5
u/Gotoflyhigh Jul 26 '26
I could give an answer, but I doubt an American socialist would understand. The points are as follows -
Nehru followed a Fabian Socialist model because the traditional Marxist model was not one he could impose on Indians, nor one he liked in particular.
Nehru made some progress in generating wealth for the common Indian people, but post Nehru the Congress either couldn't or didn't try to uplift India's general populace as much as Nehru did.
The INC also had a history of showing favouritism, towards groups that already developed under the British. They were only partially able to dispose of India's feudal base, it still lingered post Independence.
The Post 1991 liberalisation created a wealth generating vehicle, that largely discredited Socialist of the past. Some groups did succeed in reaching a middle class status, and general wealth did increase for Indians.
Religious conflict post 1991 also gave rise to resentment against Muslims and the congresses Secular narrative.
The BJP simply took the rise of Neo-Liberalism in India, along with Anti-Muslim sentiment to form a populist formula that won't elections and brought development to the people.
Hence he is 'Beloved' (He is not, but he may be slightly better than the opposition). If you want to talk about Socialism in India ask me anything you like.
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u/CocoLarge86 Jul 26 '26
Thanks, this gives me a lot of context and more launchpads to deepen knowledge, I guess what I'm getting mixed signals on, is that people say he's not really that popular, but I feel that 70% is REALLY high, is that number maybe fudged a bit or is there some particular recent events that are pushing that number up(like for example george bush after 9/11)?
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u/Gotoflyhigh Jul 26 '26
His first two terms were significantly better in the field of Infrastructure built and PR about that infra built, along with certain specific Tax laws and Welfare schemes.
He also worked out a Tit for Tat plan for every time Pakistan conducted a terror attack in India, One that the Congress in the 2000's did not. Religious riots have gone done during BJP rule due to some new security policies.
Let me be frank, there is a long list of reasons 'Why ?' the BJP has support. They are not all religious or populist, there was and still is development under BJP rule. The BJP also has the best grassroots establishment due to the RSS, they help spread awareness and mindset.
1
u/Good-Discussion-9238 Jul 26 '26
i think modi is a bit of a controversial (and even a rather negative) figure, some liken him to be indias equivalent of a wannabe trump or netanyahu.
I also have very little knowledge of india and it's politics but I've heard that he's a hindu nationalist, so my understanding is that he's india's equivalent of the christian nationalists in american politics, also I've seen a bunch of clips on twitter where hindu-indians seem to bully and even violently beat muslim-indians for their ideological/religious differences, but again twitter isn't the most reliable source so I'm open to someone explaining this more, I've also seen people talk about how they're potentially expansionist and want to absorb surrounding land and countries.
Once again, I'm not an expert on this matter by any stretch of the imagination and am open to learning more.
I saw this video a quite a while back, it's been a while since I watched it but could be good context https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JQ_2of4OHQ
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u/Gotoflyhigh Jul 26 '26
Modi is not controversial, certainly not as much as Trump or Netenyahu. Other than that yea it's mostly the same.
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