After six weeks of voting in the world’s largest democracy, on June 4, Indians will learn who is to be their next prime minister. Narendra Modi, standing for a third term, is the frontrunner.
Critics of Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) warn that India’s democracy has been hollowed out during his premiership, including through its treatment of religious minorities, most notably Muslims, the targeting of political adversaries, and by pushing through laws with little debate in the Lok Sabha, India’s parliament.
Thousands of Indians have taken to the streets to protest against Modi’s policies. And for Indrajit Roy, professor of global development at the University of York in the UK, this pushback by Indians against threats to their democracy is an example of an audacious type of hope. He talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast about what it means to be living in hope, and where he sees examples of that in India.
