‘Peak Modi’ has passed – for now – and what that could mean for Indian democracy and politics

Early last month, analysts began to ask when India might hit “Peak Modi” and whether the sharper, shriller tone that the prime minister and his party took following the first phase of elections may have been a response to the sense that they were frittering away the last opportunity to fully capitalise on the Modi phenomenon before Modi fatigue and anti-incumbency set in.

Instead – as scholar Devesh Kapur argues – we may well be past “Peak Modi”. That is not to say the prime minister is now widely disliked or to assert that he is no longer the country’s most popular politician, though the gap has narrowed. Neither of those claims would be accurate.

Instead, it suggests that the massive, unprecedented expansion of the Bharatiya Janata Party over the last decade, which relied heavily on the popularity of Modi and his carefully constructed image of efficient governance, civilisational pride and being chosen by god to lead India, may no longer be the defining pole around which all other Indian politics is arrayed.

Over the past decade, the BJP underwent a transformation into a cult of personality, defining governance as Modi’s benevolence towards Indian citizens, while depicting the prime minister as an otherworldly – non-biological even – figure with a “1,000-year vision”.

What happens when that image is brought to...

Read more