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For decades aFter the British departed the indian
subcontinent, its history was one of painful cleavings. The 1947 Parti-
tion is a bland label for a division that produced two countries, 15 mil-
lion refugees and at least a million deaths. When Pakistan, founded
as a Muslim homeland opposite a secular India, itself split in two,
the war that created Bangladesh in 1971 undid the assumption that a
common faith alone could bind a nation. But in 2019, Narendra Modi
began his second term in office having revived the premise in India.
In May, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a months-long
election in a landslide that established Modi as the most powerful
Prime Minister in more than a generation. But as Modi has consoli-
dated power, India’s Muslims—who make up 14% of the country’s
population—are questioning whether they count as Indian anymore.
The BJP exalts Hindu nationalism, the identity politics of a religious
majority that has been emergent for decades but for which Modi’s
unprecedented majority marks a historical high watermark.
When the Dalai Lama spoke with TIME in the Himalayan foot-
hills where he lives in exile from Tibet, he repeatedly praised In-
dia’s tradition of multifaith harmony. The country’s 1.3 billion peo-
ple include not only Hindus and Muslims, but also Christians, Sikhs,
Jains and Buddhists. But Modi has abandoned that tradition, becom-
ing instead a hero to Hindu extremists. In August, the Prime Min-
ister revoked the constitutional autonomy of Kashmir, India’s only
Muslim- majority state, imposing a curfew and imprisoning politi-
cal leaders. His government is pushing through new measures that
could make it easier to imprison and deport Muslims who cannot
prove their Indian citizenship, even if they have lived in the coun-
try for generations.
Abroad, however, Modi retains the image etched early in his first
term, of a populist economic reformer toting a yoga mat. In Sep-
tember a crowd of some 50,000 attended a “Howdy Modi” rally
in Houston, with President Trump in the front row. But India’s re-
nown as the world’s largest, most vibrant democracy is being tested
by Modi’s divisive politics. Now, with an enormous mandate, he can
govern almost as he pleases.
NARENDRA
MODI
Prime Minister of India
BY BILLY PERRIGO
PORTRAITS OF INFLUENCE
ILLUSTR ATION BY TR ACIE CHING FOR TIME
