Name: India Elections: How Modi Tried to Use a Religious Crisis to Win Votes | The Dispatch
Uploaded: 2020-03-25T07:39:28.000Z
Duration: 7 min 49 s
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I’m trying to get to Sabarimala Temple,

“’New York Times. The New York Times, over.”

and I walk among thousands of pilgrims who are here

The devout believe Ayyappa is a celibate god

are here to stop any young women from entering.

“Right here, what are you looking for?”

“Right here, we’ll be asking: How old are you?”

The decision erupted into a religious crisis

They said it was an assault on their religion.

And the political right wing seized an opportunity.

So, I came here to feel the reverberations.

How much can a controversy over one temple

shape politics in the world’s largest democracy?

It’s election time, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi

This is the first time I’ve actually seen Modi in person.

And wow, to rouse his base, he knows exactly what to say

He’s trying to leverage the controversy over Sabarimala Temple

Reporter: “Some people say B.J.P. divides India

Reporter: “So, you think of it as Hindus or Indians?”

Among many Modi supporters, this is a core belief,

that India is a Hindu nation, despite the fact that people

And I wonder what this means for minorities,

See, since Modi came to power five years ago,

hate crimes against Muslims have shot up.

Lynch mobs have killed dozens of people suspected

of slaughtering cows, which are sacred to Hindus.

To be clear, Modi doesn’t encourage the violence,

Now, his party is riding this wave of Hindu nationalism

into the most secular parts of the country.

That’s another reason why I came here, to Kerala.

Modi’s party has never won a single Parliament seat

This is the party that hold the most seats in Kerala,

It stands for a pluralist, secular India.

But the state has turned into a real battleground,

He’s a B.J.P. candidate for Parliament,

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India Elections: How Modi Tried to Use a Religious Crisis to Win Votes | The Dispatch

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crisis

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campaign