ICC Note: Christians across India will be watching this year’s elections closely. The possibility of a change in power and the election of Nerandra Modi as prime minister has many worried that religious intolerance, already a serious problem, will increase. Modi, currently the “chief minister” of the Indian state of Gujarat, did little to stop a massacre of Muslims citizens by Hindu fanatics in 2002. In 2008, tens of thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes in Odisha State when Hindu radicals launched waves of mob attacks, burning down entire villages and murdering dozens. Radical offshoots of Modi’s BJP party are highly influential and tend to inflame emotions against religious minorities.  
3/7/2014 India (CIC) – There’s a revival in India, although not the kind you might think.
According to persecution watchdog groups, Hinduism is experiencing a revival in India, but with that, religious intolerance is on the rise. Todd Nettleton, a spokesman with the Voice of the Martyrs USA, agrees, especially with election season under full swing. “Elections are a time, obviously, when emotions are running high, particularly with some of the Hindu nationalist ideology that is espoused by some of the parties involved. It CAN be a time where we see increased persecution, not only for Christians, but for Muslims and for other religious minorities in India, as well.”
The Election Commission of India announced that the vote will begin on April 7 and continue on nine separate dates until May 12, with results expected to be announced on May 16. By virtue of the size of India and its population, the vote will be the world’s largest, with 814 million eligible voters set to choose 543 members of the lower house of Parliament, possibly making this vote the most consequential since 1977.
Although the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys a lead in the popular opinion polls, some analysts think no party is expected to win an outright majority in Parliament. Nettleton says, “The election of the BJP, which holds to sort of a ‘Hindu-only’ ideology for India, would be a bad signal for our Christian brothers and sisters there. They are very concerned about what a [Narendra] Modi government would do, what policies they would put in place with regard to religious freedom.”
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