Le Gujarat de Narendra Modi : les leçons d'une victoire électorale

Abstract

<titre> Narenda Modi's Gujarat: Lessons of an Election Victory </titre> Narenda Modi's triumph for the BJP (Indian People's Party) during the regional elections of 2007 strengthened the hold of Hindu nationalism in this state. As long as Modi and the local Congress leaders occupied front stage, the election campaign was dominated by economic development and governance issues, given that Congress hesitated to attack Modi over the anti-Muslim pogroms of 2002. However, the campaign tours of national Congress leaders such as Sonia Gandhi brought this issue back to the fore, to the delight of Modi who reacted by posing as defender of law and order it in the face of the Muslim threat. Modi's Hindu national hostility is, however, merely his most salient trait. It is blended with a form of high-tech populism, a strong personality cult, a definite authoritarianism and constant praise for managerial governance. This combination has rallied around Modi the business world and the new middle class, whose anti-parliamentarianism is tending to spread elsewhere in India. The Modi phenomenon &#8211; an atypical within the BJP where individuals usually take a back seat to organizations &#8211; could well hail a transformation in the Hindu nationalist movement, even in Indian politics.