NEW DELHI: Millions of Indians began voting Friday in a six-week election that’s a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics and is seeking a rare third term as the country’s leader.
The voters began queuing up at polling stations hours before they were allowed in at 7 a.m. in the first 21 states to hold votes, from the Himalayan mountains to the tropical Andaman Islands. Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10 percent of the world’s population — will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years during the staggered elections that run until June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4.
One voter said she came early to avoid the summer heat later in the day.
Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers. “I particularly call upon the young and first-time voters to vote in large numbers. After all, every vote counts and every voice matters!” he said in a message on the social media platform X.
This election is seen as one of the most consequential in India’s history and will test the limits of Modi’s political dominance.
If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term, after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
Most polls predict a win for Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, who are up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties.
It’s not clear who will lead India if the opposition alliance, called INDIA, wins the election. Its more than 20 parties have not put forward a candidate, saying they will choose one after the results are known.
The BJP is facing the toughest challenge in southern Tamil Nadu state with 39 seats where the voting is being held on Friday. The BJP drew a blank in 2019 and won one seat in the 2014 elections with the region dominated by two powerful regional groups, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Modi focussed on the state this time and visited it more than a dozen times, holding several rallies and roadshows.
P. Chidambaram, an opposition Congress party leader and the country’s former finance minister, said after voting in Tamil Nadu state that people would not vote for the BJP in the state as “It is imposing one language, one culture, one system and one kind of food.”
The voting also is taking place in the northeastern state of Manipur that was ravaged by a near-civil war for a year caused by fighting between the majority Meitei and tribal Kuki-Zo people. Mobs have rampaged through villages and torched houses.
The election authority has set up voting stations for nearly 320 relief camps where more than 59,000 men, women and children are living. The state stands divided between a valley controlled by the Meiteis and the Kuki-dominated hills.
More than 150 people were killed and over 60,000 displaced. The voting for two seats will be completed on April 26.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP and its allies had won 39 of 102 seats where the voting is taking place on Friday. These include Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and West Bengal states.
The election comes after a decade of Modi’s leadership, during which the BJP has consolidated power through a combination of Hindu-first politics and economic development.
Modi has ratcheted up Hindu nationalist rhetoric on the campaign trail, and has sought to present himself as a global leader. His ministers tout him as the steward of a surging India, while his supporters celebrate his campaign promise to make India a developed nation by 2047, when it marks 100 years of independence.
But while India’s economy is among the world’s fastest-growing, many of its people face growing economic distress. The opposition alliance is hoping to tap into this, seeking to galvanize voters on issues like high unemployment, inflation, corruption and low agricultural prices that have driven two years of farmers’ protests.
Critics warn that Modi has turned increasingly illiberal and that he could use a third term to undermine India’s democracy. His Hindu nationalist politics, they argue, has bred intolerance and threatens the country’s secular roots.
The alliance has promised to arrest the democratic slide it says India has witnessed under Modi’s rule. They accuse Modi of sidelining elected ministers in favor of trusted bureaucrats and using tax authorities and the police to harass critics and opposition parties.
“Modi has a very authoritarian mindset. He doesn’t believe in democracy. He doesn’t believe in Parliamentarianism,” said Christophe Jaffrelot, who has written about Modi and the Hindu right.
Modi insists that India’s commitment to democracy is unchanged. He told a Summit for Democracy meeting in New Delhi in March that ‘“India is not only fulfilling the aspirations of its 1.4 billion people, but is also providing hope to the world that democracy delivers and empowers.’’
The Indian leader enjoys vast popularity among India’s 1.4 billion people. His BJP dominates in Hindi-speaking northern and central parts of India, and is now trying to gain a foothold in the east and south to capture a two-thirds majority. Modi and other BJP candidates have repeatedly vowed to take at least 400 seats.
The party hopes for a landslide win powered by its popular welfare programs, which it says have improved access to clean toilets, health care and cooking gas, as well as providing free grain to the poor. Moves like the construction of a controversial temple to Ram on the site of a demolished mosque, and the scrapping of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir’s former autonomy, may resonate with supporters who hail him as the champion of the Hindu majority.
“Any party that comes back for a third term, and with a brute majority, is a scary prospect for democracy,” said Arati Jerath, a political commentator.
Modi’s two terms have seen civil liberties in India come under attack and it implementing what critics say are discriminatory policies. Peaceful protests have been crushed with force. A once free and diverse press is threatened, violence is on the rise against the Muslim minority, and government agencies have arrested opposition politicians in alleged corruption cases.
The BJP has denied its policies are discriminatory and says its work benefits all Indians.
India starts voting in the world’s largest election as Modi seeks third term as PM
https://arab.news/b98gx
India starts voting in the world’s largest election as Modi seeks third term as PM
- Nearly 970 million voters will elect 543 members to lower house of Parliament
- The staggered elections will run until June 1, votes will be counted on June 4
Heat wave in Southeast Asia closes schools, triggers health alerts
- In-person classes were suspended at public schools in the Philippines for two days as the heat index has jumped to a record 45 degrees Celsius
- Warmer temperatures in Indonesia are driving a surge in cases of dengue fever, with cases more than doubling to 35,000 from a year earlier
- In Vietnam, people are seeking respite from the heat in air-conditioned shopping malls in the business hub Ho Chi Minh City
MANILA: Authorities across Southeast Asia have issued a series of health alerts for a crushing and deadly heat wave aggravated by the El Niño weather pattern.
In the Philippines, the education department closed down schools as energy officials warned of overloading on the nation's power grid.
“We already have reports of high blood pressure and dizziness, and fainting for pupils and teachers in the past days,” Benjo Basas, chairperson of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, a group of educators, told DWPM radio station.
Temperatures in the Philippines are forecast to reach 37 degree Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in the next three days, with many classrooms crowded and without air conditioning. This has prompted the education ministry to cancel in-person classes at public schools for two days.
PAGASA, the country’s weather agency, said the heat index — the actual temperature felt by the body to include relative humidity — is expected to remain at a record 45 degrees Celsius (113° Fahrenheit), in the range which it classes as “dangerous” as conditions can trigger heat stroke from prolonged exposure.
The heat wave is also putting pressure on power supplies on the main island of Luzon, which accounts for three-quarters of economic output, with reserves thinning after 13 power plants had shut down earlier this month, the Philippines’ grid operator said in a statement.
In Thailand, temperatures are forecast to surpass 40 degrees in Bangkok and the country’s central and northern regions with the meteorological agency advising people to avoid being outdoors for extended periods.
Temperatures soared to 44.2 degrees Celsius in the northern city of Lampang on April 22, with the meteorological department saying on Monday it expects the extreme heat will continue this week.
In the past month, 30 people have died from heat stroke, data from Thailand’s health ministry showed.
Dehydration, heat stock
In Vietnam, people are seeking respite from the heat in air-conditioned shopping malls in Vietnam’s business hub Ho Chi Minh City, state media reported, with the country’s national weather agency warning of risks of forest fires, dehydration, and heat shock.
Maximum temperatures measured in several parts of northern and central Vietnam ranged from 40.2 and 44.0 degree Celsius the agency said on Sunday, adding that temperatures won’t subside until Wednesday.
Vietnam’s state electricity company has also urged consumers to refrain from overworking their air conditioning units, warning that electricity consumption has reached record highs in the recent days.
Malaysia meteorological department issued hot weather warnings on Sunday for 16 areas that have recorded temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees (95 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit) for three consecutive days.
A total of 45 cases of heat-related illnesses have been reported in the country as of April 13, the health ministry said, without specifying when it began tracking the cases. Two deaths due to heat stroke have been reported, the ministry said in a statement.
4th warmest since 1929
In the neighboring city state of Singapore, the meteorological service said the country’s temperatures could soar higher in 2024 than last year, which was Singapore’s fourth-warmest year since records began in 1929.
Singapore’s hottest day recorded was May 13 last year when the highest daily maximum temperature hit 37 degrees Celsius.
Since last month some schools have relaxed rules on uniforms to allow students to wear more comfortable physical education attire amid the persistent heat.
Meanwhile, warmer temperatures in Southeast Asia’s most populated nation of Indonesia are driving a surge in cases of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne infection, with cases more than doubling to 35,000 from 15,000 a year earlier, the health ministry has said.
The El Nino weather pattern has prolonged the dry season and hotter temperatures have accelerated the mosquito lifecycle, Indonesian health ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi told state news agency, Antara.
Pro-Palestinian banners. Blazing Olympic rings. Workers’ May Day rallies confront turbulent times
ISTANBUL: Workers and activists around the world marked May Day with largely peaceful protests Wednesday over rising prices, low wages and calls for greater labor rights. Pro- Palestinian sentiments were also on display.
Police in Istanbul used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse thousands of people who tried to break through a barricade and reach the main Taksim square in defiance of a ban. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said at least 210 people were detained.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has long declared Taksim off-limits for demonstrations on security grounds. In 1977, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a May Day celebration there, causing a stampede and killing 34 people. On Wednesday, a small group of trade union representatives lay a wreath at a monument to victims.
May Day, which falls on May 1, is observed to celebrate workers’ rights. It’s also an opportunity to air economic grievances or political demands. “Tax the rich,” one banner in Germany read. “Don’t touch the eight-hour workday!” another read in Sri Lanka.
In Paris, police fired tear gas as thousands of protesters marched through the French capital, seeking better pay and working conditions. Police said 12 officers were hospitalized after a homemade explosive was set off on the sidelines of the march and at least 45 people were detained after instances of scattered violence
A group of protesters set makeshift Olympic rings on fire to show discontent with the Summer Games that start in less than three months. France’s unions have warned of a strike during the Games if the government does not adequately compensate people forced to work during summer holidays.
Pro-Palestinian groups joined the Paris rally, chanting slogans in support for people in Gaza. There were similar scenes in other parts of the world. In Greece, pro-Palestinian protesters joined May Day rallies, waving a giant Palestinian flag as they marched past the Greek parliament. Others displayed banners in support of pro-Palestinian protesting students in the United States.
“We want to express our solidarity with students in the United States, who are facing great repression of their rights and their just demands,” said Nikos Mavrokefalos at the march. “We want to send a message that workers say no to exploitation, no to poverty, no to high prices,” he added.
Several thousand protesters joined the Athens marches as labor strikes disrupted public transport across Greece. The largest union demands a return to collective bargaining after labor rights were scrapped during the 2010-18 financial crisis.
In the German capital, around 11,600 people marched through the immigrant neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Neukoelln, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners that read “No weapons for Israel” or “Free Palestine,” German news agency dpa reported.
Throughout Latin America, workers marched to protest austerity measures and demand higher wages. In Argentina, unions galvanized crowds to vent their rage over libertarian President Javier Milei’s economic policies, which they say benefit the wealthy while inflicting pain on the poor and middle class.
“Paying rent is difficult, buying rice is difficult, everything under this guy (Milei) is difficult,” said 40-year-old garbage collector Leandro Rosas, trailing protesters down the street with a broom because this May Day, he said he couldn’t even surrender a shift’s pay.
Meanwhile, Bolivian President Luis Arce joined the workers’ march and decreed a 5.8 percent increase in the national minimum wage, a bid to mobilize support as a worsening economic crisis raises the specter of social unrest. The thousands-strong protests in Santiago, Chile, turned violent in some areas as security forces unleashed water cannons and tear gas on corwds, drenching and dispersing protesters who vandalized shops and government buildings.
In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ratified a law that extends income tax exemptions to those earning up to two minimum wages per month, or about $544.
“In our country there will be no tax breaks to favor the richest, but to favor those who work and live off their wages,” Lula told a crowd sweltering in the sun at a soccer stadium in São Paulo.
In Nigeria, where inflation is the highest in 28 years, at over 33 percent, unions demanded bigger salary increases. In South Africa, pro-Palestinian demonstrators joined May Day events and in Kenya, President William Ruto called for an increase in the country’s minimum wage.
In Lebanon, pro-Palestinian marchers mingled with workers demanding an end to a miserable economic crisis. “Politicians do not feel the pain of the worker or the economic conditions,” said one demonstrator, Abed Tabbaa. In Iraq, protesters demanded better wages, the reopening of closed factories and the end to privatization of certain businesses.
Tens of thousands Sri Lankans paraded through the capital as the country struggles through its worst economic crisis, two years after declaring bankruptcy. Discontent has grown over efforts to increase revenue by raising the price of electricity and imposing taxes on professionals and small businesses.
In South Korea’s capital, thousands of protesters shouted pro-labor slogans at a rally that organizers said was meant to step up criticism of what they call anti-labor policies pursued by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government.
“In the past two years under the Yoon Suk Yeol government, the lives of our laborers have plunged into despair,” Yang Kyung-soo, leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said in a speech. Union members criticized Yoon’s recent veto of a bill aimed at limiting companies’ rights to seek compensation for damages caused by union strikes.
In Japan, more than 10,000 people gathered in Tokyo, demanding salary increases to set off price increases.
Indonesian workers demanded protections for migrant workers abroad and a minimum wage raise. They gathered amid a tight police presence, chanting slogans against the new Job Creation Law and loosened outsourcing rules.
In the Philippines, hundreds of workers and left-wing activists marched to demand wage increases and job security amid soaring food and oil prices. Riot police stopped them from getting close to the presidential palace.
Biden blames China, Japan and India’s economic woes on ‘xenophobia’
- Concern about irregular migration has become a top issue for many US voters ahead of November’s presidential election
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that “xenophobia” from China to Japan and India is hobbling their growth, as he argued that migration has been good for the US economy.
“One of the reasons why our economy’s growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said at a Washington fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign and marking the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
“Why is China stalling so badly economically, why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong.”
The International Monetary Fund forecast last month that each country would see its growth decelerate in 2024 from the year prior, ranging from 0.9 percent in highly developed Japan to 6.8 percent in emerging India.
They forecast that the United States would grow at 2.7 percent, slightly brisker than its 2.5 percent rate last year. Many economists attribute better-than-expected performance partly to a migrants expanding the country’s labor force.
Concern about irregular migration has become a top issue for many US voters ahead of November’s presidential election.
Biden, who has condemned the rhetoric of his Republican opponent Donald Trump as anti-immigrant, has worked to court broad economic and political relations with countries including Japan and India to counter China and Russia globally.
Trump blasts Biden in rare day on campaign trail
WAUKESHA, US: Donald Trump used a break in his hush money trial to stage back-to-back appearances in two Midwestern battleground states Wednesday — but kept his legal woes front-and-center as he accused President Joe Biden of weaponizing the courts against him.
The former Republican president, who is running for a return to the White House, rallied supporters in Wisconsin and Michigan, among the most hotly contested states in his expected rematch with Democrat Biden in November.
The speeches featured all of Trump’s go-to set-pieces, from complaints about environmentally friendly household appliances to apocalyptic warnings of a looming world war — but his evening speech in Michigan was notable for its vitriol.
“Every single thing he touches turns to shit,” Trump said of Biden in a speech in Freeland, Michigan peppered with profane language about his criminal charges, his 2020 election defeat and his determination to win reelection in November.
Trump had already spoken in an afternoon rally in the Wisconsin town of Waukesha, where he railed against Biden’s handling of the economy and immigration.
In both appearances he accused Democrats of “executing” newborn babies as he turned to the deeply divisive issue of abortion rights, and in both he revived baseless claims that Biden is behind the 88 felony charges he is facing.
“I’ve got to do two of these things a day,” he told a sea of red hats at his Michigan rally.
“You know why? Because I’m in New York all the time with the Biden trial — a fake trial that all of the legal scholars say is a disgrace,” he said in Michigan.
Trump regularly claims that his indictments — three for alleged cheating in elections and one for hoarding classified documents — are being orchestrated as part of a political witch hunt, but never offers any evidence.
The 77-year-old tycoon used his rare day on the stump to project his preferred image as a confident, seasoned campaigner, far from the Manhattan courtroom where he is accused of covering up payments to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges, and the trial appears to have annoyed him to no end.
For two weeks he has been sitting through long hours of witness testimony, visibly bored and angry at no-nonsense Judge Juan Merchan, who required him to be present — and then imposed a gag order prohibiting Trump from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors or court staff.
Before and after each day’s proceedings, Trump has been addressing journalists outside, venting about his legal problems, the US economy, his wife’s birthday and the “freezing” temperature inside the courtroom.
“He hates being there in court, where he is just another criminal defendant,” political expert Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia told AFP. “He has no control and is not in charge.”
Biden’s campaign has not missed a chance to bait his opponent over his legal troubles — referring to Trump as “Sleepy Don” after reports from the courtroom that the Republican was nodding off during the proceedings.
The nickname evoked the “Sleepy Joe” taunt Trump has long used for Biden.
Biden has advanced in the polls since March, with the two candidates now running neck and neck.
But Trump and his supporters hope to harness the media attention surrounding the trial to fire up his base, and push his message that Democrats are destroying the country through negligence on border security and poor economic stewardship.
In Waukesha, the former president accused Biden of being too passive on the pro-Palestinian student demonstrations that have convulsed college campuses nationwide, and of allowing the country to be “invaded” by migrant hordes.
Although Trump is energized by his campaign rallies, he had not held a single one since the start of his trial on April 15, with the only planned event canceled due to weather.
“I have come here today from New York City where I’m being forced to sit for days on end in a kangaroo courtroom with a corrupt and conflicted judge enduring a Biden Sideshow trial at the hands of a Marxist district attorney,” he complained in Michigan.
Georgian police disperse protesters as parliament approves ‘foreign bill’ on second reading
- 11 people, including six police officers, were injured after Wednesday’s altercations, say health ministry officials
- Critics have dubbed the bill “the Russian law,” saying it is inspired by laws used to suppress dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia
TBILISI: Georgia’s parliament on Wednesday approved the second reading of a bill on “foreign agents” that has been criticized as Kremlin-inspired, as police fired tear gas and stun grenades to clear a large crowd of protesters opposed to the draft law.
The bill, which would require organizations receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, has sparked a rolling political crisis in the South Caucasus country.
Ever-growing numbers of protesters have been taking to the street nightly for almost a month, with a heaving crowd tens of thousands strong shutting down central Tbilisi on Wednesday, the largest anti-government demonstration yet.
Georgia’s Health Ministry, in a bulletin quoted by Georgian media, said 11 people, including six police officers, had received hospital treatment after Wednesday’s altercations.
Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, quoted by Georgian media, said protesters had tried to push their way into parliament using various objects and were attacking policemen.
Darakhvelidze said police action on Tuesday resulted in 63 arrests and six police officers injured.
President says to look to the election
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who opposes the bill but has only largely ceremonial powers, told protesters in a video posted on social media to show restraint. The real task, she said, was to oust the government in an October election.
“Our fate will not be determined by this law,” she said in comments quoted by media. “This fight will take place in the forthcoming parliamentary election after which (this) law and many others will be rescinded.”
Georgian media cited the country’s Orthodox Church, one of its most respected institutions, as calling for the government and protesters to hold talks to resolve a “political crisis.”
Protester Sergi Kapanadze said that for him the protest movement amounted to a struggle for Georgia’s national survival.
“What are we afraid of more?” he told Reuters. “Being gassed, being beaten up, or losing the country?“
Georgian critics have dubbed the bill “the Russian law,” saying it is inspired by laws used to suppress dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Russia is unpopular among many citizens of Georgia, which lost a brief war with Moscow in 2008.
Both the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, condemned the violence. The EU gave Georgia candidate member status in December but has said the bill could halt its integration into the bloc.
Police cleared the crowd by the parliament building using tear gas and stun grenades fired from within the fortress-like complex. Water cannon were also deployed.
Protesters regrouped, with some lighting a bonfire outside parliament, and others attempting to build makeshift barricades to block key roads. A Reuters eyewitness saw at least one man carried away from the action, his face bloodied.
The protests have pitched the ruling Georgian Dream party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society groups, celebrities and the president.
Parliament, controlled by Georgian Dream and its allies, voted to advance the bill, prompting a boos from protesters outside. The bill must pass one more vote before becoming law.
Wednesday’s parliamentary debate was tense, with opposition members expelled and scuffles between legislators, a not uncommon occurrence in Georgia’s often-rowdy parliament.
One pro-government deputy was seen throwing a book at opposition legislators, while others shouted and physically confronted opponents.
Levan Khabeishvili, leader of the United National Movement party, Georgia’s largest opposition bloc, spoke in parliament with his face heavily bandaged. His party said he was beaten by police at the previous day’s protest, leaving him with concussion, broken facial bones, and missing four teeth.
The bill’s supporters, including Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream and former prime minister, say the law would bolster sovereignty amid what he said were Western attempts to pit Georgia against Russia.
