India’s elections, Modi, and Guyanese

Dear Editor,
India’s final phase of voting, for general elections to elect 543 members to the Lok Sabha for 57 of 543 seats, is on June 1, and the seat of PM Narendra Modi is included.
Balloting was completed in the previous six phases for 486 seats thru last Monday. There was lower-than-usual turnout, causing jitters among voters, analysts, and political parties. Polls had projected an easy re-election of incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling BJP, which is the dominant partner of the National Democratic Alliance. However, the opposition Congress claims it will emerge victorious. Congress is the dominant partner of the INIDA bloc opposition alliance.
Will Modi win? Modi is on course to victory, based on an analysis conducted by this writer after several trips to India over the last few years. The question is the number of seats BJP and NDA will win. Voters are rewarding Modi for performance over the last ten years since becoming the PM in May 2014. This is his third stint contesting for the Lok Sabha, having won from the holiest city of Varanasi in 2014 and 2019.
Varanasi, over 5,000 years old, is the world’s oldest continuous city, with an ancient civilization. Varanasi has been transformed under Modi, with modern buildings, highways and other infrastructure. This writer fist spent time in Varanasi as a student in August 1985, and returned some two dozen times thereafter. Thousands of Guyanese have visited the city annually, going back to the last fifty years; and many Guyanese have also studied in Varanasi at the prestigious Benaras Hindu University.
This writer was a guest lecturer at BHU and other colleges dozens of times. As this writer can attest, the holy city has been transformed with major developmental projects since he first visited in 1985, and from 2014. Since Modi was elected in May 2014, this writer has visited Varanasi a dozen times, most recently in April and last February, querying views about their parliamentary rep and the PM.
Modi has consistently had very high approval ratings in his constituency, and is expected to win by a huge margin. This writer polled constituents on Modi’s performance. Modi has been the best parliamentary rep of his constituency since elections were first held in the early 1950s; and, in fact, he has been the best rep of all constituencies over the last decade. He has been a fantastic rep, bringing back memories of effective representation of MPs in Trinidad like Trevor Sudama in Oropouche, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj in Couva South and Tabaquite, Chandresh Sharma of Fyzabad, Rushton Paray of Mayaro, among others.
There is keen interest in India’s elections among Indians in the diaspora. Indians globally want Modi to win, so that he can continue the transformation of India that he began in 2014. India achieved record growth under Modi’s leadership. Guyana and the Caribbean cemented ties with India under Modi’s leadership. In addition, Guyana and the region received record benefits from India under Modi’s leadership.
Thousands of Guyanese have received scholarships to study in India under Modi’s generosity. India rushed assistance to Caribbean countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. India has been very generous with all kinds of assistance, from health, to loans, to infrastructure, to technology, among other areas.
I travelled around the Caribbean region and in USA, Canada, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad, Suriname, St. Martin, Aruba, Antigua, Jamaica, Singapore, Malaysia, among other countries over the last eleven years. The journey started in the year (2013) when Modi was nominated Prime Ministerial candidate for the BJP and the NDA. Everywhere I travelled, Indians were favourably disposed towards Modi, viewing him as the leader who restored national pride in their ancestral homeland. They love him. Modi is mainly responsible for India becoming the world’s fifth largest economy two years ago. Modi is aiming for India to become the third largest economy by 2027.
Modi is no stranger to Guyana, having visited once in his private capacity, when he was hosted by Ravi Dev and other prominent Indians in 2000, just before he became Chief Minister of Gujarat (2001 till 2014). He was set to revisit Guyana and Trinidad in November 2018 following a G-20 summit in Argentina, but the trip was cancelled at the last minute because of the need to rush to Delhi for a political emergency. This writer has been lobbying for a Modi visit to the Caribbean (Trinidad, Guyana) for a summit with Caribbean leaders. It is hoped that it will happen in 2025 or 2026 if Modi wins re-election.
Since Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname would hold elections in 2025, and incumbents are preoccupied with re-election, a Modi visit is unlikely, unless it takes place early in 2025. It is possible for the PM to visit later this year, when he attends the G20 in Brazil. The President of Guyana and other Caricom leaders should invite the Indian PM for an official visit in order for him to strengthen relations with the region.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram