Whether intended or not, global acclaim for India’s rise translates into votes for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, says Mihir Sharma for Bloomberg Opinion.
India n Prime Minister Narendra Modi displays a copy of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto for the general election, in New Delhi, India , Apr 14, 2024. , unemployment doesn’t seem to be under discussion. Voters don’t appear to be as concerned about “democratic backsliding” as the liberal elite is.
Naturally, not everything about this story is strictly accurate. India’s apparently robust economic record doesn’t stand up to comparative scrutiny, for example. Its peers are doing far better at opening export markets and creating jobs. Members of India’s vast Western diaspora, who are among Modi’s strongest supporters, loudly echo the BJP’s narrative. The prime minister himself told a diaspora crowd once that while they may have been ashamed of the backward country they had left, he had transformed their Indianness into a source of pride.
For Western nations, such fulsome public tributes cost nothing, and they have the considerable benefit of keeping New Delhi on-side diplomatically. The dangers of withholding such approbation to populists is well-known: Consider how Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan basked in European adulation early on, and how much of a thorn in his neighbours’ sides he became when those encomiums turned to criticism.
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