The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) win in recent state elections in Uttarakhand, Manipur and particularly in Uttar Pradesh (UP) — India’s most populous state—shows that the party is firmly entrenched to win the 2019 parliamentary election. With these victories, two-thirds of the Indian population now lives under BJP rule.

The BJP rose to power on the strength of its economic policies that it claimed to have particularly benefitted the poorer sections of the society. However, the controversial appointment of the firebrand Hindu cleric Yogi Adithyanath as the chief minister of UP has renewed fears of Hindu extremism in the country.

… Mohammed Sinan Siyech is a Research Analyst with the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.