A saffron fever has gripped India. For several weeks, garlands of orange pennants have invaded markets across the country. At all the red lights, on the main roads of New Delhi, flags in the colors of Hinduism are sold. Cars and tuk-tuks sometimes display huge ones, depicting the blue-skinned god Rama, worshiped by Hindus.
On January 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a cream and gold outfit, chaired, alongside Hindu priests, the inauguration of a temple dedicated to this deity, built on the ruins of a mosque, in Ayodhya , in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A few weeks before the legislative elections this spring, the festivities kicked off the Hindu nationalist’s campaign. In power for ten years, Modi is seeking a third term.
Civil servants were granted half a day off, central government offices, schools and also public banks closed for the occasion. Even the Stock Exchange has not opened its doors. The construction of this temple, which is 50 meters high and cost nearly 200 million euros, was financed by private donations. But the central government and the state of Uttar Pradesh have spent a colossal sum of 3.4 billion euros on the creation of an airport and works intended to make the city of Ayodhya a “Hindu Vatican” .
Elites co-opted by the regime
The vast majority of the population, 80% Hindu, succumbed to the excitement. But the opposition parties preferred to boycott the ceremony, considered too political. Among the distinguished guests present were Bollywood stars, but also tycoons close to Modi, like Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in the country. “Indian elites have been successfully co-opted by the ruling party [NDLR : le Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)]which excludes any possibility of significant challenge to his increasingly authoritarian regime,” judges Asim Ali, an independent analyst based in New Delhi.
For the BJP, the temple inauguration caps a decade of efforts to make secular, multi-faith India a Hindu nation. Blurring the lines between politics and religion, Modi began a ritual fast eleven days before the inauguration. “The Lord has made me an instrument to represent all the people of India,” he said. “Narendra Modi as high priest of the Hindu nation, while he is also Prime Minister, is indicative of the turn towards a theocratic India,” underlines Christophe Jaffrelot, researcher at the CNRS.
For Hindu nationalists, Ayodhya embodies revenge on History. January 22, 2024 “announces the advent of a new era”, proclaimed the head of government, who called on the country to “get back up” by “breaking the chains of slavery” and “learning the lessons of pass”. Modi particularly harbors a detestation towards the Muslim emperors who reigned over India from 1526 to 1857 – Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, had the Ayodhya mosque built, now destroyed. “This idea of the regeneration of an ancient civilization – essentially Hindu – is powerful. With an evocative reminder of past greatness, it resonates beyond the classic supporters of Hindu nationalism,” explains Nalin Mehta, author of a book on the BJP and on Narendra Modi.
Explosion of crimes against religious minorities
The spectacle of the inauguration, however, leaves a bitter taste for the defenders of a secular India, desired by the founding fathers of the nation. Since Modi came to power, crimes against religious minorities have skyrocketed. The triumphalism with which the temple was celebrated raises fears that the situation will deteriorate further for the approximately 200 million Muslims.
It must be said that the conquest of this religious place was done by force. On December 6, 1992, during one of the darkest episodes in the history of independent India, a horde of Hindu fanatics attacked the Babri Mosque, convinced that it had been built on the ruins of a temple marking the birthplace of Rama. With their bare hands, hammers and picks, they demolished the 16th century building under the gaze of the police. Intercommunal riots then sowed death throughout the country, leaving more than 2,000 victims, most of them Muslims.
The affair inflamed Indian political life for more than thirty years, until a controversial decision by the Supreme Court put an end to this dispute in 2019. It ruled that the destruction of the mosque constituted a “violation blatant” of the law, but agreed with the Hindus by authorizing the construction of the temple.
After ten years in power, the Indian leader, with his insolent popularity, intends to capitalize on this “gift” to stay in office for five more years. But critics fear that a new victory for the BJP will further accelerate the autocratic excesses observed over the past ten years. The most populous country in the world now ranks among the “electoral autocracies”, according to the independent Swedish institute V-Dem. It also fell in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom rankings, relegated to 161st out of 180. The Hindu nationalists’ victory “would mark another major turning point for the country’s constitutional republic regime.” [NDLR : permettant la séparation des pouvoirs]which is already on the brink of collapse,” insists analyst Asim Ali.
A protectionist policy that penalizes international players
Particularly ambitious, the BJP’s political-religious project is accompanied by a desire to shine internationally and gain economic strength – India is already the 5th largest GDP in the world. For the moment, domestic abuses do not thwart these plans. Having become essential on the diplomatic scene, the South Asian giant is courted by Western powers, who hardly dare to criticize the Modi regime. The United States, but also France (Emmanuel Macron has just returned) see in New Delhi a partner of choice to counterbalance China in the Indo-Pacific and an outlet for, in particular, their military equipment. Attracted by a vast and expanding market, giants like Apple, Samsung and Airbus have bet on India over the last ten years.
Still, India is not a business paradise either. Among all G20 countries, it has the lowest per capita income, with less than 2,000 euros per capita per year. Above all, Modi’s power is characterized by his incestuous relationships with the business world, and more particularly with a few tycoons to whom he is close. Since his arrival at the head of the country, the conglomerates of these men have prospered to the detriment of small businesses, but also of foreign multinationals which have invested billions in the subcontinent. Overall, Modi’s protectionist policy, which seeks to create national champions in all areas, penalizes international actors.
The retail sector is the most emblematic example. While the Americans Amazon and Walmart had already sunk billions of dollars into the country, the government changed the legislation along the way, thus favoring an Indian player – Reliance Industries, owned by Mukesh Ambani. Enough to deter foreign investors, which the country sorely needs. Especially if the autocratic drift, which weakens the country’s institutions, accelerates.
.