As he campaigned across India for one election began on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about his insatiable ambition for taste at the dinner table.
Roofs over heads, water lines, cooking gas cylinders – Mr. Modi recited the menu of what he called the abundant “development” he has provided to India's poor. But he didn't stop there. “What Modi has done so far is just an appetizer,” he said immediately, referring to himself in the third person, as he often does. “The main course hasn't arrived yet.”
For many of Modi's supporters, a third term will bring many of the things they find so appealing about him. He is a rare type of strong person who always pays attention to the ground. He was a charismatic figure and a powerful orator. He has built the image of a tireless and incorruptible worker for a developing country.
But for his critics, Mr. Modi's talk of the “main course” is a warning bell for the future of the world's largest democracy.
Modi, 73, enters the election as a popular favorite, his party's hold on India's more populous central and northern regions firmer than ever, the opposition in the same geographical area the decision is even reduced. Yet even as India's unrivaled leadership seemed secure, he launched a growing crackdown on dissent.
In the run-up to the vote, this will runs for six weeks Before the results were announced on June 4, agencies under Mr. Modi's control had Freeze bank accounts of the largest opposition party. The leaders of two opposition-run countries have been jailed, in what they say is a politically motivated case. (The New Delhi capital region is now headed by a chief minister who sends his instructions from behind bars.)
Modi's critics say all this shows a trend full control that became clear during his decade as prime minister. They say that Mr. Modi will not stop until he turns India's democracy into a one-party regime. Yamini Aiyar, a policy analyst in New Delhi, said power is being consolidated “around the cult of personality.”
“The deep centralization of power has significantly weakened the institutional checks and balances in India's democratic fabric,” Ms. Aiyar said.
Many Indians seem willing to accept this. Mr. Modi remains deeply popular even as he becomes more autocratic. He paid a low price – even found support – for his effort to turn India into what analysts call an illiberal democracy.
He exploits contradictions. The right to vote is considered sacred in a country whose democracy has provided protection in a chaotic region. But the poll also points to large numbers of Indians willing to cede civil liberties to support a powerful ruler whom they saw as having done the job.
Another point that seems out of place: Those who talk about their own economic strife also often express faith in Mr. Modi's handling of the country's affairs, a testament to the powerful narratives he weaves. .
Indians also have more tangible reasons to support him. Mr. Modi relentlessly targets his broad support base through generous proposals across society: deals that benefit business elites in a growing economy, welfare programs strong benefits for India's poor majority and a strong dose of Hindu nationalism for those in between.
A campaign stop this month in his party's stronghold of Uttar Pradesh illustrated this winning formula.
Mr. Modi stood behind a saffron-colored truck as it moved slowly down a shopping street flanked by global brands and jewelry stores, a sight that spoke of the new wealth that had lifted the goods. million Indians into the middle class.
Above, billboards featuring Modi – his face is everywhere in India – tout achievements such as installing more than 100 million toilets for the poor and the growing stature of India.
At the end of the “roadshow”, at the junction where Mr. Modi's car turned right and returned to Delhi, there was a stage with loudspeakers installed. As Hindu nationalist songs played, actors dressed as deities Ram and Sita took selfies with the crowd.
by Mr. Modi inaugurated in January of a huge temple dedicated to Ram, on the disputed site of a mosque razed by Hindu mobs three decades ago, has been a major election-year gift to the base follow his Hindu religion.
“We are Hindus, we are Hindus, we will only talk about Ram,” a song goes. “Those who brought Ram, we will bring them to power.”
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, began life in 1980 as an urban middle-class organization centered around a Hindu-majority nucleus. Under Modi, the party has reinvented itself as the party of the poor and the villages in northern India, analysts say.
Some in India believe that poorer people are simply being manipulated by Mr. Modi. Nalin Mehta, author of “The New BJP,” says that is fundamentally wrong.
“The fact that the BJP continues to rack up these wins reflects how successful they are in attracting newer voters who have never voted for the BJP before and may not even be Hindu nationalists”.
Mr. Mehta attributes much of that success to the expansion and branding of the party's welfare programs as well as efforts to promote itself as Hindu, actively reaching out to the excluded classes marginalized society in India.
By prioritizing direct digital welfare payments, the BJP has cut out the middleman and ensured that the grants are seen to come directly from Mr. Modi.
Technology also allows the party to track, with BJP workers – armed with data – knocking on the door of anyone who receives a water tap, gas cylinder or government subsidy to build a house.
The data creates layers of feedback that help the party select its candidates, eliminating a large number of incumbents before each election. “This BJP is very strict about its ability to win,” Mr. Mehta said.
Tying it all together is Mr. Modi's enormous appeal as well as his political and technological acumen.
He placed his personal story at the center of the narrative of a rising India, a key pillar of his election campaign. If a lower-caste son of a bottle seller could become one of the most powerful men in the world, he said, then other ordinary Indians could also dream.
As inequality grows and 800 million Indians depend on monthly food rations, many are instead focused on the belief that Modi is not a thief. He claims to be a bachelor with no children or grandchildren who only works for the people of India, unlike what he calls politically corrupt people in the opposition.
“Modi was not born into some royal family to become prime minister,” he told a crowd of tens of thousands in Maharashtra state. “It was you who brought him this far.”
The political opposition has been severely weakened by infighting, a leadership crisis and its struggle to present an ideological alternative to the BJP
But it also faces a playing field that Mr. Modi has tilted.
He terrified the media. Independent journalists who questioned his policies were jailed or subjected to legal harassment. India leads the world in internet shutdowns, covering up unrest that looks bad for the government. And officials under Mr. Modi have forced social media platforms to remove important content.
Investigative agencies have let loose on Mr. Modi's political opponents – more than 90 percent Of the cases involving politicians in the past decade, all involved the opposition. Many languish in prison or the court system. Those who switched allegiance to the BJP found that their case had disappeared.
On the campaign trail in the state of West Bengal, an opposition candidate, Mahua Moitra, spoke of saving democracy from the authoritarianism that she said led to her expulsion from Parliament – in a messy case involving an ex-partner, an ex-partner. Rottweiler's name is Henry and allegations of corruption.
Modi's autocratic regime and supposed friendliness with billionaires are the opposition's two main lines of attack. While campaigning, Ms. Moitra told a group of women that they were still waiting for government money to build houses because Mr. Modi was “busy building palaces for his friends.”
Analysts doubt that either issue will be a big hit. Many Indians, especially in his stronghold in the north, which has a say in who rules from New Delhi, like exactly what they are getting from Mr. Modi.
“He is the prime minister, if he is not strong enough then what is the point?” said Anjali Vishwakarma, 37, an interior designer, as she strolled along the Ganges River on a recent day with her family in Modi's Varanasi constituency.
Suhasini Raj Contributing reports from Varanasi, Sameer Yasir from Krishnanagar and Hari Kumar from Ghaziabad in India.
