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Wall Street Journal

The Promise and Peril of Modi’s Triumph

Hindu nationalism made India governable. Can it stay that way?

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
 Narendra Modi waves to the supporters from the public rally May 26, 2019 in Ahmedabad, India. (Atul Loke/Getty Images)
Caption
Narendra Modi waves to the supporters from the public rally May 26, 2019 in Ahmedabad, India. (Atul Loke/Getty Images)

Narendra Modi’s triumphant re-election as India’s prime minister may not have been a shock—ever since Indian forces retaliated in February against Pakistan-based attacks in Kashmir, the contest had been moving in his direction—but it does represent an important tipping point in Indian history, and therefore in world history.

As Tunku Varadarajan wrote in these pages last week, decisively away from the Western ideological foundations of its founding fathers. The secularist and liberal beliefs that grounded Indian politics during the long era of Congress Party domination have lost majority support. Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalism can do what the Congress vision no longer can: assemble a consensus that makes India governable.

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