In 2002, riots broke out across the Indian state of GujaratA state on India's western coast. It is home to 60 million people. Hindus make up nearly 90% of the population. . A train in the city of Godhra had caught fire, killing 59 HinduA follower of Hinduism, the third-largest religion in the world. Roughly 95% of Hindus live in India. pilgrims. Many local Hindus claimed a Muslim crowd had deliberately burnt it.

For two months mobs ranged across the state, smashing and killing. By the end, 1,044 people were dead, the majority of them Muslims.

Independent investigators concluded that the train fire had been an accident and that the riots had not been a spontaneous reaction to the tragedy, but part of a premeditated plan of ethnic cleansingThe systematic forced removal from one area or killing of an ethnic group, with the aim of creating a region that is ethnically homogeneous. against the Muslim population. They claimed the state government had allowed the anti-Muslim riots to happen.

But the local state authorities quashed these findings and convicted 31 Muslims for the train fire. The Gujarati government at the time was led by a right-wing Hindu nationalistA person who believes strongly that their country is better than all others. named Narendra ModiThe prime minister of India. He inspires passionate support from many in his country, but his critics regard him as populist, anti-Muslim and authoritarian..¹

Twenty years later, Modi is prime minister of the whole country and the most successful politician in Indian history. After ten years in office he still has an 80% approval rating.² And next Tuesday he will stand for a historic third term.

Modi's supporters say he has won the Indian people over through his policies and his charisma. During his term India has become a global economic powerhouse, overtaking the UK as the world's fifth-largest economy and now eyeing up Germany and Japan.³

And Modi has a reputation as a modest, piousDeeply religious, following all the codes of the religion. man. Most of India's past leaders have been secular liberals from its English-speaking elite, and have sometimes seemed to disdain traditional, religious India.

Modi, in contrast, is the son of poor grocers who underwent a spiritual awakening as a young man and became a devout Hindu. Many, especially young Hindu men, feel his life resonates with their own. Last week, he told supporters that he was convinced that "God has sent (him) for a purpose".

But critics say he is not all that he seems. They argue India's economic miracle is more of a mirage. While Modi's government claims India's economy is growing at a staggering 8%, a former chief economist says the government cooked the booksA saying meaning "to alter official records in order to deceive". and India's growth is actually slowing down. Unemployment is high and the cost of living still higher.⁴

Instead of economic performance, critics believe, what is really driving Modi's support is his tolerance of violent Hindu nationalism. Up and down the country, religious mobs have subjected Muslims to beatings and lynchingsWhen a mob of people kill someone without legal approval. that Modi has consistently refused to condemn.⁵

Modi has also won right-wing loyalty by clashing with India's northern Muslim neighbour Pakistan, long the focus of nationalist ire, over the disputed region of Kashmir, the Indian portion of which he put under a two-year "security lockdown" that Kashmiris said turned their homes into prisons.

He has installed his loyalists in important government institutions which he can now use to intimidate his opposition. And if that fails he can call upon the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the world's largest right-wing paramilitary organisation, linked with his party. Between state persecution and street thuggery, critics say, he always gets his way.

The result, they argue, is a country where the whole state is in the hands of one man, where hate mobs rule the streets and minorities are under constant threat of violence. In Europe, they say, that would be called fascismA political ideology that rose to power in 20th-Century Europe. It stressed militarism and order over personal freedom, and often divided society according to racial hierarchies..

Is India sliding towards fascism?

Yes: Modi has solidified a personal grip on power by ginning up hate mobs and defying the rule of law. If he wins a new term India's democracy will likely collapse.

No: Modi is certainly a right-wing populist but he has not expressed any desire to abolish elections or suspend the constitution entirely. India's political system will survive.

Or... Modi is nothing new. India has had many charismatic leaders who have played fast and loose with democracy for their own personal popularity. In fact Modi had his political start in the opposition to Indira GandhiIndia's prime minister between 1966 and 1977, and again from 1980 until she was assassinated in 1984. 's decision to suspend the constitution in the 1970s.