for so as i go on my own experience as a journalist who examines the alarming dropped of the freedoms in india and the future of india and fabulous independent media. being the default fox we on those is either willing to run remotely. so but so to the indian prime minister is launched is parties campaign to the upcoming elections posting as a cheap minutes in the past decades. what about is controversial views on can do nationalism. this is inside story, the hello that on james base, almost 1000000000 people in india are eligible to vote in the upcoming general elections. prime minister in the run for moody is widely expected to one of the tub, hoping to stop him. thousands of all position policies of joining forces in

a coalition to rival his but rock did not to a policy mode has been passed since 2014 and is credited with revitalizing the economy. but his opponents accuse him of stifling descent and crushing political rivals. so how much has moody achieved and all controversial views and criticism enough to full spoke to is to seek an alternative lead up? plenty to discuss. but 1st, let's seeing with this report from veronica pedrosa. tom pain season has begun in the world's largest democracy. later in april, 6 weeks of voting gets on the way in india. more than 968000000 people are eligible to cost ballots for the new government in national elections. prime minister there under moody is hoping to win a good time. speaking to supporters in india's largest state or to a per dash on sunday. moody said his cabinet was already hauled at work on the,

on the box side, road map, panata and the operating road map for the next 5 years. you're working on the decisions. do you need for making the 1st time to do the next tome? moody came to pilot in 2014. never before had a chief minister with no federal experience become the head of government in india . his but i t a jumped to policy one with an absolute majority for the 1st time in 3 decades. as prime minister moody is credited with transforming the country, making it one of the largest developing economies in the world, revitalizing infrastructure, and even landing a space mission on the move. but critics say his hindu nationalist focus has shrunk. the space for descent, minorities, especially muslims, have been harassed and attacked as have activists, journalists, rival politicians,

subsidies in the bid to challenge moody and his policies dominance. in this election, thousands of opposition parties have united to form a coalition. quote, the indian national development inclusive alliance, a sub drug, but got the advantage of leadership interested. it'd be free when you uphold the constitution. when it comes to the elections, you have to vote and press the button that removes his government and brings the rule of the people. opinion polls suggest moody will be victorious and set to him on a path to become india's longest serving prime minister. veronica pedroza out to 0 to inside story the so let's get a measure of prime minister modi's political ambition and discussion with our impressive panel of guests today. in the indian capital up we have, you mean e i a he's, she's a public policy scholar who specializes in governance politics and social policy in

new york, robbie agra awhile is editor in chief of foreign policy magazine and host of its video channel and pulled cost f p live, he's also the olsa of india, connect to it, have a smart phone, is transforming the world's largest democracy. and again, in new delhi we have no on general capacity. i right to enjoy this with a special interest in hindu nationalist. politics is also the olsa of the biography and a run from ody, the man the times. thank you all of you for joining us. this is the biggest democratic exercise in the world. i was stunned to read that with 960000000 eligible voters, that smaller than the populations of the us, european union, and russia combined the launch and starting with you, of course it's up to the votes has given out many i've just mentioned. there are, but it looks very strong, doesn't it full prime minister mode, it looks like he is by far the favorite. but at the moment, uh all the survey said that mr movie is a ppo frontrunner. uh that he has

a clear cut not active, but the voters are looking at him as the only possibility. and the challenges have not been able to come together as it appeared at all the opposition parties would be able to come together. but what has been done so far as far as awful decision consolidation is concerned. uh there are uh, still a lot more. it has to be done. uh at the moment. yes, of course. uh the feel is that mr. moody, getting uh, a code tom. uh it is going to be actually the most important collection for him because if he wins this, he is actually going to be stepping into some kind of uh, politically mortality becoming the 1st 5 minnesota off to india as 1st problem. so there are a lot of narrow to win 3 consecutive terms and get into office. it is also going to mean a lot for the future of india as democracy for the future of india's development

programs. and most importantly, but uh uh, not really less uh for the minorities that really just minorities of the country, especially the muslims and the cushions. and also people who disagree, who are not the minorities, but on in those. but to disagree with mr movie and his party, the b j b is going to get very difficult for the media for the civil society and for the anybody who is willing to disagree and say's. views openly in the public. in india, of course, has a probably a proud tradition of democracy. this is 18th general election. robbie in a full is coming off. go what you call and leave shared with me in advance. but you make the point that india's been shaped by democracy rather than culture. and religion and that you just had lunch and talk about narrow the founding prime

minister. you say that he believed in a liberal secular country that would serve as a contrast to park a song which of course as pulled as a muslim homeland. then you say somewhat controversial sleep mode in many ways is metro's office that explain well that's right movie is um you know, in terms of personality and background. very different from jabbar la. narrow, narrow, of course, very anglicized. uh cambridge, uh, educated uh, went by the 1st name, jo until this twenties came from india's upper classes and movie has a very different background. he is in the lower middle class, lower cost background, and it doesn't shy away from that really. this is a man who has a very different vision of what india should look like. but the say that i wrote, which you've kindly mentioned um i titled it the new idea of india. and that's because i'm like nat route movie is vision for india. why that does premise itself

on elect tauriel democracy and welfare. isn't it actually centers? religion and culture in the states of fans. and so movie has, in the sense of vision of a country that is in do 1st, that is in the 1st, which prioritizes a vision of what it means to be indian. and it's a vision that not everyone in india agrees with, of course. but the way like tauriel democracy in india works is that he doesn't need everyone to agree with that. in in 2014, when more the one the election, the 1st time around his party did, i should say he's probably the only 131 percent of the national vote in 2019 his party 137 percent of the national vote. and to do all of this, he only needs about half of all the votes from india is him to induce, comprise about 80 percent of, of the 1400000000 people in the country, of which,

as you pointed out, 960000000 can vote so he's able to mobilize in a way that him to vote, to be able to win elections in a way that is unprecedented in indian history. and i'm therefore, furthering this vision of what it means to be indeed in a sense mode the is, you know, while on some counts, democracy has been voted in india. whether it's freedom of the press, whether it's free speech, whether it's freedom of the courts. movie still succeeds at the polls and he's turned and is turning india into a classic in liberal democracy where he's still able to further his vision, his idea of india x at the polls. but to do so in a way, in which classic liberalism, as we see it in the west and has never believed and has been shawn. and this is something that i should say is quite popular in india again, as evidenced by mode,

these elect towards success in 2014, in 2019. and presumably, in the next few weeks, you mean a rubbing makes a good point there about the share of a, because it's worth remembering. this is a parliamentary, 1st part of the post system. but his b j. p. policy seems to be very, very good at translating that is going to the election, make machine to translate the votes into seats in the parliament. absolutely. i think uh it just to build on what my federal panelists have said. that 2 things to keep in mind. one um the stations of, uh, what it means to be indian or what the imagination of india um as of more than nation state is i have had a deep history embedded in the freedom of mind. leading up to 1947 went into about independence on the framing of being in constitution, i'd be idea that india is a,

has a deep civilizational history that brings together into the formation of the more the nation. state posts, independence is one that is fairly widely accepted and critically told the independence movement whether we were a single nation or a nation who civilizations e pulse was one of why the tolerance of dualism of diversity. diversity or religion, diversity of ethnic diversity. that was the language that was deal region, and that's the side of contest ation. when india gained independence of founding fathers, not just a rule that was brought to a consensus within the constitution, which famed in constitution that can yeah, in fact rejected the donation majority that think of that is a hindu india and a muslim tech, a nation that indeed india was a genuinely secular nation, with the under guarding of tourism and dollars building to our everyday life. i

didn't. why imagination of a more the nation state, in this sense, what the project of, of india, whether in some sense, is very different through the project or more than nation state, say in europe, which tended to go here or around the idea all these things. and i think i did the region, the national i of i religious identity. i'm actually, i didn't do what made in your unique was this coming together? what the political find this video game, the other have in a different context, input to other state nation, rather than a nation state even is this idea that is now being contested, contested with this is a far deeper unity imagination under guarded by hindu nationalism, which is very my daughter darian and it's imagination. it also is translating into a very got different kind of democracy. why probably is right that in some senses we have a vibrant, like the democracy. and it is on the basis of that elect or democracy that they handle. the project is gaining legend to meet legitimacy. medium size is

undoubtedly a remarkably popular prime minister it's, it's rare for the private and so to go into a tough job to seek a tow done and get be a frontrunner. remarkably pop, you know, but it is what is recognizing that the nature of his governors, in fact displacing several pressures, even on the fundamental dynamics. so we like our democracy. what are the conditions of robust elect or democracy, active contestation and all positions on just ation of ideas on discussion on policy and widespread participation? we're doing well and participation, indeed increasing. in fact, women and participation in voting has increased remarkably. but when it comes to active contestation, there are significant challenges. in fact, i will go so far as to say, these are really, really increasing the seizures. see the form of the left? let me, let me bring in. let me bring it in the launch on the and on the whole issue of hindu nationalism. yes, i mean,

they are hindus of by far majority 80 percent. but in the country side of aust, 20 percent is a huge number of people about 300000000. i mean, do you not in a, in a country like india need to govern for old? yes, of course, you know, uh because very clear that in an ideal situation, and in something that is modeled the cutting, you need to actually go one for all. but if you have the numbers on your side, as mr movie has, he is not really being going for on and see if they continue with the same kind of electronic performance. because they had in 2014 and in 2019. i'm good. majority for the 3rd time, maybe even a big majority. then i think that they are going to become more and more than to be able to govern only for the majority. and the more demands on the minorities, especially the muslims and the cushions to assimilate themselves. and then the

majority in do community that has to be that long standing demand of the hindu nationalist in this country that everybody in this country is a hindu. regardless of the faith that they practice, you know that there's openly said, mr. moody, in fact, even told me that the people already come to uh, to practice various religions. but they must actually, you know, accept our ideas. and the idea of the got it goes and all the great people who are concerned so they must be accepted by the minorities also. there's a 2nd question, you know, which keeps on coming up in all our discussions that in the eyes of the mid to get them majority, which is the link to really, very little conducted. i think, you know, it's time now for us to actually look at the manner in which it does elections are conducted, especially in this particular moment. you know, we need to flag to very important issues which have so faced in the past few weeks

. the 1st is about what is called the political funding. you know, it has been talked about for a long time. the political parties in india get funding from various corporate houses in a very discrete tomato for which that i would pro cool arrangements. but this was never proven. there's also been a lot of talk about a slash money being used in india and elections working in what capital it is quite a black money, something which is actually on accounting money, which is actually we had to complete a different job in, in, in 2017, and 2018. mr. moore, these government had bought laws to create a new system of political donations. now that political says that system of making political donations has been recently struck down in the month of february law. yeah, just in february it was struck down by the supreme court of india and the data has been put in the public domain. so the data which shows that over the mean,

the more than 50 percent of the political donations were given to the b j. b, the names of the donors at all to their, in the public. and we can actually link that i've various of the civil society organizations, as well as a very specialized media organization. so we just trying to track down the various wood protocol arrangements that to make a donation. you can either escape imminent ad addressed by the law in order missionary or a policies change which benefits a particular company which made that donation. so these are being, these instances are being proved. okay? and the, i'd like to, i'd like to go back to the, some of the other criticisms will be an option for the luncheon. i'd like to come back to some of the other criticisms of the opposition. a little later in the program, but sure, i think it's important just to set the context here with regard to india is current situation. rabbit. your sitting the in new york right now in the us the, you know,

the, the, the, the view certainly there is, it's the economy, stupid and elections in the united states in the us, the fastest growing major economy in the world. i mean that is there any bought so that there is the immediate but is that it's starting from a very low base. so it's much easier to grow foster when you're starting from a low base. there is also greater imperative to grow. foster indian needs a rapid, high speed growth to be able to pull more people out of poverty to be able to expand its middle classes to be able to compete with its neighbors, to compete with other asian countries. if you look at how india is g, d, p per capita has grown since a 1970 countries that were at the same point as it then china, south korea are orders of magnitude bigger in terms of the size of very economies.

and so in that sense, india has a lot of catching up to do. it has been going fast. um, over the last decade, 1520 years or so. not fast enough. many would say, one of the things that this administration, most of these administration has focused on a lot, you've heard the term welfare is. and in this discussion already is the delivery of subsidies and services to people hyped access to water, for example, has called tripled in the last decade, electricity connections that have have expanded dramatically in the last decade. pilots, for example, um, have been built across the country whether these work or not is another point. one of the things that this administration in particular is very good at is marketing, whatever games it does make, but it has a very mixed record. despite these advances on wells far as them, for example,

this government, for example, has not been able to attract enough foreign direct investment, which is actually declined in recent years. it has not been able to urge its own companies with in india, to invest in the economy is much, much of it states, spending infrastructure spending is internal. that's not good enough. it needs a lot more. so there are things and forces that continue to hold in the as economy back. it is not growing as fast as it should use. unemployment is a serious problem. in india, it has a higher rate of utah unemployment than many of its appears in the region. women are chronically under employed and yet despite all of this, you have the paradox. that movie is actually quite popular among women. so it's a, it's not easy to have a simple answer um on the economy. it's a mixed picture. okay, let me the thing is let me bring in. yeah. meaning now i'm ready that talks about

how good the government is at marketing. much of that marketing is around the $19.00. i mean, do you think it's fair to say there's a personality cult going on here? right. i've only been in recent years wants to deli, which was at the end of last year for the g. 20. and rarely of, i've seen a city where there was a post of one mind in so many places. it wasn't quite the scale of saddam hussein's iraq cuz i could remember, but it was guessing close. absolutely. the governing style of the b j. b is very much a one off centralize ation. built around about vanity. got a big, got it up, mr. movie and his, the, the, the beauty of his marketing is that is very carefully been deployed to been, i'm the father, the car is my and the personality guided of mr. movie himself. so all these welfare schemes are very much of sold as movies guarantees. you see the prime

ministers photograph everywhere i go. sure to do it. and by the way, so just the brian minute though, we have a much more vibrant um set of political bodies that are governing at the state level. they monitor of picked up on this and you will see a similar version of how verify schemes are being marketed now, increasingly at the state level. what sky and this are 2 things. one, when the use of technology, india has been able to drive to graduate rather quickly into a kind of a website is um, based on direct benefit transfer. so it's basically to unplug and, gosh, and kind that are delivered directly into manufacturing bank accounts that are beneficial to you home. and they cut all the intermediaries that, well, could you go in uh, without technology. uh, in order to do the website themes, what this direct benefit does is that it very effectively then creates a very direct and very emotive connect with the beneficiary the border. so you, when your deductible is um,

going to be mentioned women voters. mr. moody is very popular amongst women boulder . they will tell you more, they have given me this, or the chief minister has given me that the building that a motive connect which creates a kind of politics that is very much based on the loyalty and trust of the picture and the manufacturer of the politics of the schwab says, political scientist, religion say god has gold, which wants me to distrust it's about extracting boats on the basis of trust and be, or ease that this is the manufacturer who can indeed help us in, in difficult time. let me bring by lead, bring back time the launch on now, because the other thing, of course, that people repeatedly allege is that they're all socratic tendencies. can you tell me how worried you out with regard to the election? because the as being arrest as being what's called tax way for noise ation, tax terrorism, the opposition cool. cool that they've been, i think currently the one of one of the demons is now being put aside until the end

of the election. but they've been told to pay huge amounts of tax, however, it all you about of power and free campaign and election here. but the opposition parties have caused the 2024 elections as a fixed match. you already have, besides the tax notices, which you say, which had been sold on the congress party to chief ministers of democratically elected. but, you know, states have been, have been, it has to do, you know, you have the hugely popular chief minister of the daily state. that is, i've been case where you live, who started this new b party about a decade ago called the ahmad me, particularly common mind, spotty. he has had an overbuilding majority whenever it comes to local elections and any, he has to be noticed. it hasn't been put in june and out of the state which is in the northeast and in the eastern part of indiana. that is job credit, which is essentially a tribal belt of the country. they're also the chief minutes. it has been put in

jail on all cases of allegation that they have participated in various kind of practices. thomas, a movie has come to the stage, you know, being able to win elections in 2014 and also in 2019, primarily on focusing on the issue of corruption, you know, in 2014, he level massive corruption charges that against that then congress led call, ition government. but in 10 years he has not been able to get a single conviction. all the cases that jeff, i have been, you know, you know, dismissed by various levels of court including the highest ones. so be the only do not know the kind of offensive which he has mounted against the adversities regarding corruption with at this level get approved or not. but some more the definitely, because of the advantages which he has, because of what, uh, it'll be said in marketing. also publicizing grounds. one of the biggest,

popular city mission, nobody which any political leader on send the word he can ok. let's be finally bringing me the because because of we've heard, we've heard that from the lounge on the obstacles. the opposition say that facing. but even though the opposite opposite have come together as an alliance, all of a still not some was disorganized and divided. is it partly the, the weakness of the opposition here as well. and election requires a fed contestation the fact that 95 percent off of cases again, about that data been initiated by investigative agencies, are targeted at opposition. politicians. the bulk of political financing has been centralized into the routing body, are on indications of the extent to which the space on the patient has been caught up. sure, the old position is, i have a little bit divided and is big is, is trying hard to build out it's narrative, but it doesn't necessarily have

a free and even space in order to be able to do that. ultimately, an election can only be effect on test if everybody gets a level playing field. when civil society is called, when you use investigative agencies against only dog at all, positions, politicians, when you, when i have law, the limited space for people are going to station for sharing of ideas. and 4 of the oldest will be presented with a wide range of options before they make the choices when they go to the boarding boat. so this is not necessarily a sign candle. thank you very much. thank you very much. all of you. thanks to all of our guest today, many i robbie agra. well on the launch on new capacity, i go be plenty of coverage of the elections which starts on april. the 19th here on out to 0 with detailed analysis on our website out. is there a dot com, we'd like to hear your views on the election and other issues. go to our facebook page, that's facebook dot com, forward slash h, a inside story. overall, next or a handle is at a inside story from me and the production team here though, ha,

please stay safe, bye bye. for now the these are some of the 1st images from the aerial assessment of coal bleaching in the great value range. bleaching occurs by moment ocean temperatures and pollution force call to expel the algae to get the color range of color. at extreme marine wise for an extended period of time means some structures have been severely damaged. scientists have declared 2020 full mass bleaching events. what's happening here on the great fire roof is also happening on rapes around the world. or the last 12 months warming sea surface temperatures have caused bleaching events in the northern hemisphere. and the only near conditions in the pacific have amplified the situation. marine biologist, jodi rama says ocean temperatures are increasing at

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coverage can have on democracies everywhere. here at the listing the best, the of the infinity back to this is in use our own ouch is 09 from del hot coming up in the next 60 minutes. and he's really as try kills 6 for an aid workers and fair palestinian driver in central garza, the n g o wells central kitchen says it's positing full operations ccs, i human tragedy that should never advocate. that is completely unacceptable. australia demands answers and the us calls for us we have to investigation into the attack. also this our yvonne ones, they will respond decisively.