..we talk disinformation.... there's a lot of propaganda and disinformation coming i from non—bjp handles, also. ..and we ask what matters. the most raw yet nuanced political conversations in india often happen at these kind of tea stalls. welcome to this is india. today, we're talking elections. india is the world's largest democracy, an economic powerhouse set to become the world's third—largest economy. internationally, india is having its moment, courted by the united states as a counterweight to china, a voice for the global south. any day now, india will call elections. voting will take place over several weeks. and the results don'tjust matter to the people living

in it, it matters to the world. now, in india, there are dozens of political parties in this country, but two really dominate — the bjp and the congress. before we get there, though, let's take a look at the election in numbers. 968 million eligible voters. 1.2 million polling booths across the country. 15 million election workers. that is almost the populations of both london and new york combined. ok, so speaking of numbers, get this one. a poll that tracks the popularity of global leaders put prime minister narendra modi's approval rating at 78%. by comparison, a domestic poll in the uk put prime minister rishi sunak�*s approval rating at —48%. 50 ten years on, how is it that mr modi remains so popular?

a triumphant tourfor prime minister narendra modi, finally making good on a decades—old promise... ..to bring the hindu god ram back to his birthplace here in ayodhya. translation: ram is the faith of india. - ram is the foundation of india. ram is the thought of india. ram is the constitution of india. those are the words by the prime minister of a secular country, made building a hindu temple. key to his re—election campaign, it has exalted his popularity. sitting next to mr modi, chief of the rashtriya swayamsevak sangh, or rss, the right—wing hindu nationalist organisation seen as the ideological fountainhead for the ruling party. the rss is entrenched

in families, and it's a deeply conservative, inward—looking militia which was founded in 1925, which mr modi and his party pays obeisance to. mr modi doesn'tjust respect the rss. he became a member in his teens. archive: they raise the saffron flag. - that brand of hindu nationalism was behind the demolition of the 16th—century mosque three decades earlier where the ram temple now sits. and across the country, other mosques are under threat from hindu nationalism. a court in mr modi's home constituency ruled hindus can worship in the basement of the gyanvapi mosque. believers in hindutva feel emboldened, but the local muslim community is fearful for their place in narendra modi's india. translation: i'm angry. i'm frustrated. there is pain, but there is also anger because we are not able to do anything.

we have been praying there for 50 years, but we can't do anything to save it. i don't understand. is this the way our country will run? and for how long will you surprise us? ———supress us. i take his concerns to a local tea stall, made famous by the prime minister when he visited two years ago. are you hindu or muslim? in response, my identity was questioned. translation: why only muslims feel offended? | whenever a hindutva word comes, |why only muslims feel offended? i no any other religion. since this country's inception, since people have known this| country, since then, - it has been a hindu country. but only now has the word "hindutva" been coined. . but we have to answer again and again, whenever a hindutva word comes, "what about muslims?"

away from the city and the politics of divide, india's agricultural heartland. part of mr modi's popularity has been the success of his so—called welfare schemes. sanjay prajapati shows me his crops, and he tells me that he gets money and rations for free from the government, a great financial benefit for him. and for mr modi, it means votes. translation: i was a congress supporter, but then _ narendra modi came with his ideologies, his way of working and the way he connects to the people on the ground. he understands people's way of thinking and what they want. now i vote for the bjp. the women in this village just a few miles away get the benefits. but what they really need is better access to water. translation: we get money. we get rice and grains. we got cooking gas, but we are struggling with water. there's no water, and we have to get it from a well far away.

they blame corruption, saying it's not the fault of mr modi. a lot of schemes that used to be schemes run by government departments are all now being presented and repackaged. every scheme has been pradhan mantri, pradhan mantri... so everything... pradhan mantri meaning prime minister. so everything coming not from the government, not from the department, not from any other person. it's all coming from pradhan mantri. and it's that spin on the messaging that makes mr modi appear unstoppable. everywhere you go, you see his face plastered on billboards and even on covid vaccine certificates, creating an image of a prime minister that is larger than life. there is no leader within light years who comes close - to prime minister modi.

some quarters of the media does the rest of the work for him. mainstream media, whosejob is to ask questions, holding governments questionable, of asking them questions, is not happening. so what happens is that mr modi stands tall. the cult is allowed to build up because you have 500 news channels, you have 60 websites all saying the same thing. prime minister modi's carefully curated image, honed over his two—plus decades in politics, is likely to get him his third term. also making mr modi's electoral success — a weak opposition. the indian national congress party led this country to independence but now is a shadow of its former self, seemingly unable to capitalise on government missteps. so will these elections be any different? arunoday: this is the man seen as the opposition's hope to take on prime

minister narendra modi. congress leader rahul gandhi is travelling across the country, asking voters what they want. translation: this is a question you will have to ask _ yourselves every day. unemployment, inflation, this is your future. well, going by the support over here, it seems like a vote of confidence, at least from the supporters of rahul gandhi, for the congress party. this is the very significant, politically significant constituency of amethi, which has always belonged to the gandhi family. for 15 years, rahul gandhi represented this seat, before that, his mother, his father, his uncle. so it's really remained with the gandhi family, until 2019, in a shock defeat, the congress party lost to the bjp here. so can he win them back? an hour away from the noise of the campaign trail, i meet 65—year—old shabir khan in the village of chachkapoor

in amethi. for generations, his family has voted for the congress. but even staunch loyalists like shabir feel the party is not doing enough. translation: nothing| will change if they don't raise other issues. rahul gandhi needs to roar, like other politicians. he's a good man, but that's not enough. if he speaks with more conviction, it will be good for him, for the party and for us. since india's independence, the congress party dominated the country's political landscape. from 400 seats in parliament in the 1980s, they were down to 52 in the 2019 elections. to counter the bjp�*s rising popularity, in july last year, opposition partiesjoined hands to form a united front. translation: if this alliance wins, our country will win. . but in less than a year, there

are cracks in the alliance. key partners have left, joining the bjp, and others are bickering over seats. you're not worried about these differences? i'm not worried. these are differences. we have to recognise they are differences. | but a divided house isn't... it's not a house divided. we are a house - with multiple voices. but multiple voices of dissent, as well. not necessarily. just divergent points of view. these differences, though, are casting a doubt in voters. the most raw yet nuanced political conversations in india often happen at these kind of tea stalls. it's the best way to get a pulse of what people are thinking. translation: since i became eligible to vote, i have only i voted for the congress, but last time we votedi for the bjp. i asked them — the bjp has one face, narendra modi,

but the opposition hasn't projected anyone. do you think they should? translations: absolutely. that's what we are thinking. there has to be a face, i that this is our candidate. there is no leader here who can take our problems to rahul- gandhi they need to build our road. whoever builds this road for us, we will vote for them. there is no bigger issue for us than this. this is interesting, because in the middle of all the national issues that are being debated, for the people over here, something as small as building a road to connect this village to the city is as important to them. and just on the basis of that road being built, they'll vote for the party that gives it to them. young people here are roaming around withoutjobs, _ and prices are rising. do you think religious politics will give the bjp political mileage? they are gaining votes only on the basis of religion. if they set religious politics aside, they won't even get 100

seats in parliament. they should talk about development. they should stop this hindu—muslim politics. carrying on the conversation over tea, i asked them what their message to the congress party is. rahul gandhi should realise he won't get votes just by waving at crowds. he has to find a way to listen to our problems. just a cross—country roadshow short of elections is not enough. when you are in the opposition, you need to be hungrier. you need to be bolder. you need to be more imaginative. and above all, you've got to work harder. i think if mr modi is looking like a frontrunner, i think the full credit for this anomaly has to be given to the congress party. the opposition says they are up against a lot more. multiple raids, several arrests and over 140 opposition mps

suspended in the last session of parliament, all being seen as an act of intimidation. rahul gandhi's show of strength is an attempt to reclaim a space for the opposition. but can these crowds turn into votes and can rahul convert this roadshow into his victory lap? so one thing that's really come out of the piece by arunoday is the fact that, really, congress hasn't been able to manage the message. but that's certainly not a problem for the ruling bjp party. they've been really successful at it. now, what's really changed the landscape also is just how successful the government has been at getting people on the internet. in fact, we're actually on the lawns of parliament and you can see them just behind me right now. so let's talk aboutjust how important the digitisation of india is. and i want to start with shruti. you're with bbc verify. you do a lot of work

looking at these numbers. just what kind of an impact has this digitisation, or getting so many people on the internet, had on the voters? let's start with 2014,| when the bjp first won the election. the internet penetration. or internet subscriber base that india had stood at around 18%. - and in 2015, the government launched the digital india - mission, which was meant. to bring more people online and also democratise the sort of social welfare benefits - that people get. and cut to 2023. it has now grown to 63%. so that sort of tells - you the growth in the way india's internet subscriber base and the digital- economy has grown. i want to throw this next to you, shazia. how has your party really been able to take advantage of that, in getting the message out to voters? well, the party, janata party, is the largest party,

notjust in india, but in the world, if you look at the sheer numbers, and every day we have new members, and as shruti just explained, the active internet base is huge. we're looking at more than 800 million internet users. so because a party also has a huge political base, it's a cadre—based party. so it's also... it's also what we have to say, then how we say it, looking at the numbers, and so all the achievements of modi government in the last ten years, we are looking at them, talking about them through different platforms, and social media becomes very important to us. now, gerry, in your pieces for the washington post, you've actually looked at a lot of these. ..of tech, really, and the role of tech. what really stands out for you? yeah, well, samira, you know, what shazia said was absolutely true. the bjp is the world's largest political party. and many political scientists, i think, that have observed

indian politics and compared it to other democracies would say that the bjp, arguably, for better or worse, has one of the most efficient, largest sort of well—drilled messaging and arguably propaganda machines that we've seen sort of anywhere in any country. they dominate the traditional media. but i would argue that what they really have cracked, that no other party in the world really has, is the ability to deliver messages into the pockets of indian voters. as shazia had mentioned, whatsapp in the last decade has become a crucial venue. and many people would say that, yes, while the bjp is very efficient in spreading positive news about its accomplishments, it's also been very capable of spreading misinformation, disinformation, that has a corrosive effect on indian political discourse. shazia, how do you respond to that? all that bjp is talking about and doing is also talking about the various accomplishments. these are facts and figures of what bjp has delivered

in terms of governance, and there have been similar charges and some canards, too. for instance, the wire, which speaks against the bjp, had a story on tech fog, which actually they had to retract and apologise for. so there have been those... ..you know... there have been stories of misinformation, but which have been corrected and retracted later. so i don't think there's this much disinformation you can do where numbers are concerned. you can do it with incidents and events, but we're sure delivery mechanisms go, bjp tops it all. so what bjp's official media handle does is what we would take responsibility for, but not anybody posing to be a bjp memberorwanting to be a bjp member. so we're not responsible for all information out there, but only for the official handles that we represent. if i could interject... i mean, what shazia says is true. you know, i spent several weeks last year sort of observing

kind of how the social media landscape works during elections. and what we noticed was that, you know, the bjp sort of... it established social media cells and war rooms in basically every single voting district in the state, often on the official handles that are sort of run technically by the party. it was mostly positive. these were mostly...almost all fact—based kind of positive messaging, the stuff that you would see in any sort of country. but the bjp is backed by what many would say are hindu nationalist groups, some of which are quite extremist in their views, that sort of prop up and mobilise the foot soldiers of the party. and it's within the vast whatsapp ecosystem of these groups that are intermingled with the official whatsapp groups of the bjp. that's where you see the most virulent material. it's really difficult, often, to sort of separate what is the official bjp material and what is a lot of this other more virulent material that is being spread by its base.

but let me tell you, there's a lot of propaganda and disinformation coming from non—bjp handles also. let's also get into it. my name is shazia ilmi. i'm a muslim. i'm in the bjp. the kind of filth i'm subjected to day after day. so propaganda happens across the spectrum where all the parties are concerned. so if you want to just vilify bjp and bjp supporters as those spreading the wild word, so to speak, i would disagree. it happens at all levels. i was taking responsibility for the official media. would i say that the congress party is spreading horrible rumours about me and other women members of my party? no, because i will not hold them responsible. i would hold congress handle responsible if it were to do it directly. that's all i'm saying. clearly, so much more that we can talk about, but we, actually, have to go and look at some other voices

across the country. here in the central indian state of madhya pradesh, caste politics still remains the major deciding factor. those from the socially and economically marginalised castes, such as the 0bcs, constitute half of the state's population. they play a significant role in deciding the election results. the bjp has been trying to entice the 0bcs by giving them more representation in the cabinet. the congress is also trying to play the same political card by demanding caste—based census to determine which classes occupying cream positions in the government, jobs and businesses. the fate of the candidates and the parties depends on the social make—up of population in every individual seat. there are 29 seats, out of which 28 are with the ruling bjp. here, other issues like unemployment, poverty, inflation and farm subsidies also play a major role

in decision—making. we're in the hindu heartland of ayodhya in the north indian state of uttar pradesh, where india's prime minister narendra modi launched the ram temple, calling it the culmination of centuries of patience and sacrifice, and ushering in what he calls a new era in india. there are more than 900 million hindus in india. declaring the ram temple as a seminal moment, the prime minister hopes will restore a sense of pride in most hindus and make him and his party, the bjp, politically invincible in india's 2024 elections. and it's this model of nationalism rooted in religion that will be tested as indians prepare to vote in the days and weeks ahead. the western state of maharashtra is one of the politically most influential states of the country. it sends 48 mps

to the parliament. maharashtra is always seen as a swing state and a difficult state to win. but it is not only about the political power. home to india's financial capital, mumbai, it also has financial power. so whoever wins maharashtra has firm hand over the economic power. although one of the most industrialised and urbanised states of the country, and leading destination for it, automobile and service sector, development plays an important role on voters' agenda. with perceived decrease in fdi and employment generation in last few years, it will impact the voters' decision. across india, women could be the game—changers. an approximate 330 million are expected to go to the polls, and that's a number more than ever before. so every political party wants this vote bank. those in power at the federal or local levels have brought

in exclusive schemes that provide subsidised health and education, free gas cylinders, easy loans for small businesses, build toilets at homes, and open bank accounts so women can receive benefits directly. but this alone may not be enough because women don't necessarily vote as a bloc and their caste, class and religious identity wane, too. and those would be important factors in deciding which party's promises win their trust. there's been a lot of infrastructure growth in india. new bridges, roads and even metros. calcutta. now kolkata. it used to be the country's number one commercial trading hub. the first capital city of british india. the relics of empire are allaround.

there's even a big ben here. the oldest and only operational tram network in india is open here in kolkata. it's old and rusty and a quaint reminder of the past, but it's also a symbol of the city's decline over the last century. it's a metropolis that's now bursting at the seams with traffic. its most congested stretch is on the mighty hooghly river, connecting kolkata with the twin city of howrah on the opposite bank. but there is a solution in sight. kolkata is now finally getting a long—pending transport upgrade, especially to its 40—year—old metro system. and the centrepiece of it is this, the upcoming underwater section of the east west metro line. so we've just entered the stretch of the metro that is below the river. it's about 100 feet

under the water. and it is quite surreal. this is a first for india. it was a project that was dreamt up by a british officer over 100 years ago, but it's now finally been completed. it's a prized addition to india's growing list of marquee infrastructure projects, hoping to give the world's fifth—largest economy a shiny makeover. the next few weeks will be a dynamic ride for this country. join us for the adventure. this is india.

hello there. low pressure has been dominating our weather picture this weekend. and on saturday, we had widespread showers around, the vast majority of them coming through as rain. we did see some snow return to parts of cumbria and also some snowfall from somerset through the west midlands and into parts of wales as well. quite localised snowfall, but a covering in places. cold air, then, firmly in place at the moment, with our area of low pressure spiralling around, with further showers gradually moving their way northwards for the time being. again, the vast majority of these are coming through as rain. a little bit of sleet or snow mixed in across some of the higher parts of dumfries and galloway. and over the next few hours, we'll also see a bit of snow across higher parts of the grampians. otherwise, any showers will come through as rain. it will then get cold with clearing skies across wales, the middle and southern county of england, lowest temperatures about —2, so some frost and a few icy stretches to watch out for. sunday morning,

few mist and fog patches around as well. by and large, though, a decent kind of day coming up on sunday. there will be some high cloud affecting eastern parts of both scotland and england. the best of the sunshine will be further west, withjust one or two showers running through across parts of western scotland, northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england. but even here, the showers will be pretty well spaced, so you've got a decent chance of having a dry day. through sunday evening and sunday nighttime, we'll start to see the next weather system approaching, and that will be bringing more rain our way into monday. so the rain making inroads in across parts of southwest england and wales pretty quickly monday morning. after a dry and bright start in northern ireland, it turns wetter through monday afternoon. we hang on to some brighter weather for scotland and northeast england, that's where the best of the sunny spells will be. temperatures continue to be a little bit below average for this time of the year, with highs between 9—11 celsius. deeper into next week, areas of low pressure in the atlantic will continue to threaten outbreaks

of rain in the west. high pressure close to the near continent will keep the north and east largely dry, so we'll see some changes in the weather from place to place. western areas likely to see the heaviest of the rain, particularly towards wales and southwest england. the driest, brightest weather is likely to be across more eastern parts of the uk as we go through the week ahead. that's your latest weather. bye for now.

live from washington. this is bbc news. the us airdrops thouands of meals to hungry gazans: it's a joint operation withjordan. aid experts say it's not enough to address a deepening humanitarian crisis. ukraine shakes up its military leadership as kyiv says children are among eight people killed in a russian drone attack in odesa. and former us president donald trump and his republican

presidential challenger, nikki haley, return to the campaign trail, as super tuesday approaches. lam i am helena lam helena humphrey. it is good to have you with us. the us has carried out an airdrop of aid into gaza, using three military cargo planes. us central command said it dropped more than 38,000 meals along the gaza coastline in a joint operation with jordan's air force. the uk, france and egypt have already airdropped aid into gaza, but this is the first time the us has done so. negotiations over a temporary ceasefire are expected to restart sunday in cairo. us officials say israel hasendorsed a framework of a proposed truce and hostage release, but hamas has yet to agree to it. —— has endorsed. meanwhile, israeli war cabinet member benny gantz will visit the white house monday to meet with us vice president kamala harris. they're expected to discuss a humanitarian truce as well as reducing palestinian civilian casualties and increasing deliveries of aid. inernational calls are intensifiying for accountability for recent violence, including the killing of more than 100 people at an aid

convoy on thursday as well as the killing of at least 11 people,