He’s actually in many ways a pied piper, that whatever he says, people actually believe it,” said Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. The party has become synonymous with Modi, whose near-ubiquitous bearded and bespectacled visage appears on BJP billboards blanketing India’s vast territory. “Every vote for the lotus” — the BJP’s ballot symbol — “will go into Modi’s kitty,” Modi said recently. When Modi took the stage in his characteristic white kurta and flag-of-India sash, he started by mentioning that he’d met several people on Delhi’s Metro. Since Modi and the BJP took the helm of the Indian government, Hindu mobs have lynched dozens of people — mainly Muslims and lower-caste Dalits — suspected of illegally transporting or consuming beef.

Source: National Post May 23, 2019 10:30 UTC