Narendra Modi is the 14th Prime Minister of India, holding office since May 2014. He is the first prime minister born after India’s independence and a prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Prior to becoming the nation’s prime minister, Modi served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, where he gained national prominence. He represents the Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, a seat he has held since 2014.
Narendra Modi joined the RSS, the BJP’s ideological parent, in the 1970s and joined the BJP in 1987. The following year he was chosen as the party’s general secretary for Gujarat. Modi took oath as Gujarat CM in 2001, after replacing Keshubhai Patel, who was held responsible for the government’s poor response to the Bhuj earthquake. Modi contested his first-ever election in 2002, shortly after which the Gujarat riots fueled controversy over his leadership. The Supreme Court in 2022 gave a clean chit to Modi and 63 others in a plea exploring a larger conspiracy behind the riots.
Known for his extensive foreign tours, Modi has been credited with raising India’s global profile. Events like “Howdy Modi” in the U.S. and his visits to countries such as Israel, Japan, and the UAE have underscored his foreign policy successes. He is said to have developed strong relations with top world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Modi’s leadership has been marked by several controversial statements, especially leading up to the 2024 elections. These include remarks on national security, religion, and political opposition, which have ignited debates.
it is all fair and square to discuss the economics and moral part of holding simultaneous elections. one important aspect left out of the discussion is: with aya rams and gaya rams ruling the roost till date, toppling duly elected ruling parties are always at the risk of losing their power, especially on razor thin margins. when a government falls, and people find horse trading will not solve the problem, will it be governor’s rule till the next elections? what is the cure when a state experiences political vacuum like that of Tamilnaadu ? will aya rams take the reins of the state? talking about governor’s rule, someone like romesh bhandari or that infamous indira gadhi cook in Jharkhand is in the hot seat, i shudder to think what will the political status.
anyone willing to risk a reply?
Your assertion that ‘With simultaneous elections, that frequent bouts of accountability will diminish’ is misplaced. The Union Government is accountable to the citizens of India since the citizens get the veto power every 5 years. In these 5 years, the Union Government’s focus should be on development and good governance, which unfortunately takes a back seat because of election campaigns in the states.
Why do you think all modern liberal-democracies (US, UK, Canada, and so on) have fixed elections?
Honestly I am having serious doubts about simultaneous elections giving a advantage to national parties over state parties. Of course there are real financial advantages to this, for both the government and national parties. But I don’t see it as that big.
Also, as for state issues getting lost, I don’t think that will happen. Instead, I think we have strong state parties in most states today which will ensure that state issues are brought front and center at even the national stage. Considering in the current revenue system of the nation states depend so much on funding from the center, I think this is a very very important thing and something that promotes decentralisation and federalism. In fact, here national parties will be at a disadvantage since currently they can be biased towards one state or the other.
The IDFC study data says that people are choosing different parties less. That may be true, though I doubt the causality of the fact. Also we must remember, that does not necessarily mean the people choose the national party.
In the 21st Century, simultaneous state and national elections have only happened in Andhra Pradesh(+Telangana) and Odisha. In AP 2 out of three times a national party won with the INC. In 2014 though in both AP and Telangana, the respective state parties won the state elections and majority of the MP seats as well. In Odisha, each and every time its the state party, BJD, which has continued its dominance despite significant presence of both major national parties.