[Mr. Modi is a prominent
politician in the Bharatiya Janata Party,
which for years tried to win elections by uniting the country’s Hindu majority
— in part by demonizing its Muslim minority. Indeed, shortly after Mr. Modi
came to power a decade ago, riots convulsed Gujarat and cost the lives of about
1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Mr. Modi has been accused of not doing enough to
stop the riots and of possibly of encouraging them, making him one of the most
divisive figures in Indian politics.]
 |
Supporters of the
Bharatiya Janata Party waved party flags and lighted firecrackers
on Thursday
as they celebrated outside a vote-counting center. More Photos »
|
NEW DELHI —
The polarizing leader of the western state of Gujarat, Narendra
Modi, inched closer on Thursday to becoming the leading political
challenger to India’s
dominant Gandhi family by winning a resounding re-election as
chief minister.
“My biggest dream is to
serve my masses, my people,” Mr. Modi said in a speech before a cheering throng
that eventually began to shout “Delhi, Delhi, Delhi,” and then amended that to
“P.M., P.M., P.M.,” signaling a hope that he wins the post of prime minister in
national elections scheduled for 2014.
Mr. Modi had campaigned
in the Gujarati language, but he gave his widely televised victory speech in
Hindi — a clear sign that his intended audience extended well beyond his 60
million constituents. His message in the speech, as it has been throughout his
campaign, was that he has brought wealth to Gujarat, which lies on the coast of
the Arabian Sea, by encouraging economic development. His party won 115 seats
in the state legislature. Although a decline of two seats, it is nonetheless a
comfortable majority in a house of 182 seats.
Mr. Modi is a prominent
politician in the Bharatiya Janata Party,
which for years tried to win elections by uniting the country’s Hindu majority
— in part by demonizing its Muslim minority. Indeed, shortly after Mr. Modi
came to power a decade ago, riots convulsed Gujarat and cost the lives of about
1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Mr. Modi has been accused of not doing enough to
stop the riots and of possibly of encouraging them, making him one of the most
divisive figures in Indian politics.
He has since sought to
broaden his national appeal by softening his overt Hindu nationalism and
instead claiming the mantle of good governance and economic growth. In a
country where new corruption scandals seem to emerge every month and economic
growth has slowed, that message may have broad resonance.
But whether minorities
and moderate Hindus in the rest of India will forgive or forget the government
failures during the 2002 riots is very much of an open question.
Indeed, some leading
members of the Bharatiya Janata Party have resisted Mr. Modi’s rising
prominence because they fear that he will cost the party votes among religious
minorities.
Nitish Kumar, the
powerful chief minister of Bihar in the northeast, has promised to withdraw his
support for the Bharatiya Janata Party if it selects Mr. Modi as its prime
ministerial candidate for 2014. That would reduce the party’s chances of
gaining a majority in the national Parliament, but whether Mr. Kumar would
follow through on his threat is uncertain.
Mr. Modi’s role in the
2002 riots has long been a concern for governments in the West. The United
States refuses to provide Mr. Modi with a visa.
But as he grows into a
national political figure, more Western countries may rethink their refusal to
talk with him in an official capacity. In October, Britain ended a 10-year
diplomatic boycott of Mr. Modi when its high commissioner met with him for 50
minutes.
India’s religious, caste
and regional differences have increasingly splintered the country’s politics.
Since Hindus represent 80 percent of the electorate, they could dominate
national politics if they managed to overcome the caste differences that divide
them. But caste has long been the dominant nexus of Indian politics. The
Bharatiya Janata Party has led the national government for only one period,
from 1998 to 2004.
Leaders of the party
said that Mr. Modi had solidified his place as one of India’s most important
politicians, although top party officials refused to speculate on whether he
would be its candidate for prime minister in 2014.
“This shows the people’s
confidence and trust in the B.J.P. and Narendra Modi’s leadership,” said
Dhansukh Bhanderi, a top party official.
Mr. Modi’s opponents
played down the importance of his victory. Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s
finance minister and a leader of the governing Indian National Congress Party, said in a
televised interview that he thought it had done well on Thursday because Mr.
Modi had not managed to expand his political dominance in Gujarat.
In a related political
development, it was announced Thursday that the Congress Party had defeated the
Bharatiya Janata Party in state assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, a hilly
state in the Himalayas. The victory was an important balm to the Congress
Party, which has been buffeted in recent years by corruption allegations and
the rise of regional parties.
The election in Himachal
Pradesh was between two political leaders who have traded control over the
state between them for decades. Virbhadra Singh, 78, of the Congress Party, is
now expected to become the state’s chief minister, a post he has already held
four times. Prem Kumar Dhumal, 68, will resign after having served two
nonconsecutive terms as chief minister.
Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi,
and Haresh Pandya from Rajkot, India.
@ The New York Times
NORTH KOREA SAYS IT HASDETAINED AN AMERICAN CITIZEN
By Choe Sang-Hun
NORTH KOREA SAYS IT HASDETAINED AN AMERICAN CITIZEN
[The South
Korean daily newspaper Kookmin Ilbo earlier cited an unnamed source as saying
that Mr. Bae was detained after North Korean security officials found a
computer hard disk in his possession that they believed contained sensitive
information about the country. Mr. Do said that Mr. Bae may have taken pictures
of North Korean orphans he wanted to help and that the authorities may have
considered that an act of anti-North Korean propaganda.]
By Choe Sang-Hun
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said the
American, Bae Jun-ho, had entered the country on Nov. 3 through a port city
near the Russian border. Human rights activists in Seoul said they believed Mr.
Bae to be Kenneth Bae, 44, who they said
earlier this month had
been detained in the North.
The North Korean report said, without elaborating, that an
investigation had established Mr. Bae’s guilt and that he had confessed. It
said he had been allowed to meet with officials from the Swedish Embassy in
Pyongyang, which intervenes on Washington’s behalf on issues involving American
citizens in North Korea. Washington has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
The charge comes at a sensitive time for Washington, which
is trying to rally support for a new round of penalties against Pyongyang over
its launch of a long-range rocket earlier this month. In recent years, North
Korea has detained several Americans, in some cases agreeing to let them go
only after high-profile American figures visited Pyongyang to seek their
release. Analysts have suspected North Korea of trying to use such arrests to
counter Washington’s diplomatic pressure over its nuclear and missile programs
and force it to engage with the regime.
The human rights activists in Seoul said Mr. Bae ran a
travel company that specialized in taking tourists and prospective investors to
North Korea. Mr. Bae, a naturalized American citizen born in South Korea, was
detained after escorting five European tourists into the North, said Do
Hee-youn, who heads the Citizens’ Coalition for the Human Rights of North
Korean Refugees, based in Seoul. The Europeans were allowed to leave the
country, Mr. Do said.
The South Korean daily newspaper Kookmin Ilbo earlier cited
an unnamed source as saying that Mr. Bae was detained after North Korean
security officials found a computer hard disk in his possession that they
believed contained sensitive information about the country. Mr. Do said that
Mr. Bae may have taken pictures of North Korean orphans he wanted to help and
that the authorities may have considered that an act of anti-North Korean
propaganda.
In 2009, North Korea arrested two American journalists,
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labor for
illegally entering the North and committing “hostile acts against the Korean
nation.” But the women were pardoned and released five months later, after
former President Clinton visited Pyongyang and met with the North’s
then-leader, Kim Jong-il.
In 2010, North Korea released Robert Park, a
Korean-American Christian activist who entered the country in December 2009 to
draw international attention to the North’s poor human rights record. Another
American, named Aijalon Mahli Gomes, was arrested the same year in North Korea
and was sentenced to eight years of hard labor for illegal entry and “hostile
acts.” He was freed after former President Carter visited Pyongyang and,
according to North Korea, “apologized” for the man’s crime.
