As India votes in a six-week general election, Narendra Modi's image adorns everything from packs of rice handed out to the poor to large posters in cities and towns.
Item 1 of 5 A supporter wears a mask depicting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign rally of Amit Shah, Indian Home Minister and a leader of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party , in Ahmedabad, India, April 30, 2024.
To examine how the right-wing National Democratic Alliance aims to achieve that feat - and the obstacles it faces - Reuters spoke to nine NDA officials, three opposition leaders and two political analysts, as well as voters in six opposition-held seats the alliance is targeting. The constituency, home to a sizeable Christian minority, has been held by Congress since its creation in 2009.
In 2019, the NDA won just 31 of 130 seats across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, all of which are linguistically diverse and have many Muslim and Christian voters. Jayant Joseph, a Keralan Christian voter, said he backed the BJP because he had read media reports about Muslim men marrying Christian women and converting them to Islam. Most moderate Hindus consider allegations of large-scale forced conversions to be a"Kerala is a secular state," he said. "But for it to continue to be a secular state, the Muslim population and their conversion strategy must be kept under check.
Ranaut, a political novice who calls herself a "glorious right-wing" personality, has starred in popular movies with nationalistic themes. She is known for her criticism of Bollywood executives who she said favoured the relatives of famous actors for opportunities.No opinion polling on the Mandi race is publicly available.
Singh, a state minister responsible for urban development, told Reuters that his family's experiences gave him a better understanding of politics. Charges of nepotism were "shallow", he said.The NDA is hoping for gains in the northeastern state of Assam, where it won nine of 14 seats in 2019. Assam's BJP chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said in March he was confident of winning 13 seats.
He estimates that there are now 1.2 million Hindu voters in Barpeta, where he is campaigning on development and protecting the rights of what the NDA calls "indigenous Assamese" voters, who are mostly Hindu.
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