I am officially calling the popping of the Modi bubble: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/08/narendra-modis-party-concedes-defeat-in-bihar-election ---------------------------snip
India’s ruling party has conceded defeat in a provincial election seen as a test of the vote-winning abilities and political strategy of the prime minister, Narendra Modi <http://www.theguardian.com/world/narendra-modi>. [...] So far, the economic takeoff Modi promised during last year’s election has proved elusive. More broadly, Sunday’s defeat in Bihar, which has a population of 105 million, might indicate that though Modi, a Hindu nationalist who started his career with a rightwing religious and cultural revivalist organisation, still retains significant national popularity and momentum, his appeal to voters has begun to wane. An anti-Modi alliance was ahead in 125 seats in the 243-seat regional assembly by noon, enough for an outright majority, unofficial tallies compiled by television channels showed. “The writing is on the wall. Modi’s magic has failed and we have clearly won the battle,” said Sanjay Singh, a spokesman for the regional parties led by the incumbent leader of the state, Nitish Kumar <https://twitter.com/NitishKumar> of the Janata Dal party. [...] Modi turned the election into a referendum on his leadership after he addressed at least 30 campaign rallies, a departure from tradition in state elections, which usually centre on local issues and regional leaders. The poll came against a background of concern in India at incidents in which Muslims have been targeted by Hindu extremists. There have been protests by prominent intellectuals <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/05/arundhati-roy-returns-award-protest-religious-intolerance-india-bollywood-modi-government-violence> at what they call a climate of rising intolerance. It is unclear to what extent such concerns are more widely shared, though defeat in Bihar may indicate that the BJP strategy of simultaneously stressing both development at a national level and using more sectarian rhetoric at a local level may be becoming less effective.
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