Catholic Church Leaders in India Optimistic after Narrow Victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi - in the World's Largest Democracy

India, the most populated country in the world with over 1.4 billion people, just completed their general election. Over 640 million people voted in the elections, over seven-week period. “I am happy that democracy is thriving in India. It shows that the country is vibrant, and people are politically conscious and are voting rightly,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias told Crux. 
 “Whatever government comes to power, the Church will certainly cooperate,” Cardinal Gracias said. “What is joyful is that the whole process has gone on so peacefully and orderly. It shows that there will also be a healthy opposition. I think this is good for the country, good for democracy and good for the future,” the cardinal explained.  About 80 percent of India's population is Hindu. with Muslims at about 15 percent, and Christians at nearly 3 percent of the population. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won a majority in the parliamentary elections, but by a narrow margin according to analysts.  BJP, which received the most votes in the country, will not have an absolute majority in Parliament (the Lok Sabha, with 543 seats), will not be able to govern alone and will therefore need the support of allied groups. The Election Commission revealed the party obtained a total of 240 seats, 62 fewer than in 2019. This is less than the 272 seats required for a parliamentary majority. With its partners in the "National Democratic Alliance", the coalition has 292 seats and can form a majority government for the next five years under the leadership of Narendra Modi, who is entering his third term as president. Rahul Gandhi's center-left opposition coalition, the "Inclusive Alliance for India's National Development" (acronym "INDIA"), received more than 230 seats. The 25-party alliance ran together against the BJP coalition for the first time. The main party in the "India" coalition, the Congress Party, won 99 seats, doubling its 2019 result, when it won 46 seats. The Socialist Party (SP), on the other hand, will have 37 MPs, while it had no representatives in the previous legislative period. 

 For the estimated 28 million Christians on the Indian subcontinent, criteria and values such as religious freedom and the secularism of the state remain fundamental to the preservation of the world's largest democracy. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has been in power since 2014. Since then, the past decade has seen repeated incidents of violence, discrimination and harassment against religious minorities, especially Christians and Muslims. Extremist Hindu groups, emboldened by the ideology of "Hindu supremacy" ("Hindutva"), have committed abuses ranging from physical assaults to false accusations of forced religious conversions. There is now hope that the BJP will correct course towards a more inclusive policy that guarantees civil rights to the country's more than 200 million Muslims, Christians and other religious minorities. 

These results, which preserve democracy and pluralism, have come about thanks to the tireless and selfless efforts of many people at all levels of civil society across the country and they should be welcomed as they do not give anyone the opportunity to implement unconstitutional projects," comments Ahmedabad-based Indian Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash. "Indian civil society will continue to fight corruption, inter-religious hatred, polarization and manipulation of society by money and mass media or by entities subordinate to nationalist politics," said the Jesuit.
(PA) (Edited from Agenzia Fides, 5/6/2024 with excerpts from Crux - https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia/2024/06/church-leaders-happy-with-peaceful-election-in-india-strengthens-opposition)