NEW DELHI: India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to emerge as the largest party in two state legislatures where it has traditionally been weak, exit polls showed, thanks to intense campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Victory in the Maharashtra and Haryana state elections will make it easier for Modi to launch unpopular reforms to remove price caps on natural gas and diesel, which economists say will help India balance its accounts and reduce shortages of energy.
All five exit polls released late on Wednesday said the center-right party favored by investors would emerge as the largest player in the two states when results are announced on Sunday.
Two of the surveys showed the BJP with a majority, or within a whisker of one, in both states.
“Modi Magic continues. It’s a jackpot for BJP in Maharashtra,” said Today’s Chanakya, one of the few pollsters that accurately predicted the BJP’s performance in a general election in May that catapulted Modi to power.
Chanakya said the BJP would emerge with 31 percent of the vote and 151 seats in Maharashtra’s 288 member house. In Haryana, the party was headed for 52 seats out of 90 and a 32 percent share of the vote. The poll had a 3 percent margin of error.
State elections determine the number of seats parties have in the national upper house of Parliament. The party needs to do well in a clutch of state polls until 2017 in order to gain a majority in the upper house.
By expanding the BJP’s reach beyond its traditional strongholds, a strong showing in the current elections will also advance Modi’s goal of replacing the Gandhi dynasty’s center-left Congress Party as India’s default ruling party.
Congress Party governments currently rule both states and the BJP broke with long alliances to stand alone in the current elections, a sign of its new confidence.
However, the exit polls suggest that voters are drawn more to Modi’s appeal than to the BJP. The party did poorly in by-elections last month where the prime minister did not campaign.
This time he hit the stump hard, addressing dozens of rallies across Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital Mumbai, and Haryana, where the northern tech-city of Gurgaon is located.
All eyes set on Indian state election results
All eyes set on Indian state election results
Suspect arrested after a fire damages a historic Mississippi synagogue
- The 160-year-old synagogue, the largest in Mississippi and the only one in Jackson, was the site of a Ku Klux Klan bombing in 1967
- The synagogue will continue its regular worship programs and services for Shabbat, likely at one of the local churches that reached out
Congregants and leaders vowed to rebuild a historic Mississippi synagogue that was heavily damaged by fire and an individual was taken into custody for what authorities said Sunday was an act of arson.
The fire ripped through the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday, authorities said. No congregants were injured in the blaze.
Photos showed the charred remains of an administrative office and synagogue library, where several Torahs were destroyed or damaged.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn confirmed that a person was taken into custody following an investigation that also included the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“Acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” Horhn said in a statement.
He did not provide the name of the suspect or the charges that the person is facing. A spokesperson for the Jackson FBI said they are “working with law enforcement partners on this investigation.”
The 160-year-old synagogue, the largest in Mississippi and the only one in Jackson, was the site of a Ku Klux Klan bombing in 1967 — a response to the congregation’s role in civil rights activities, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which also houses its office in the building.
“That history reminds us that attacks on houses of worship, whatever their cause, strike at the heart of our shared moral life,” said CJ Rhodes, a prominent Black Baptist pastor in Jackson, in a Facebook post.
“This wasn’t random vandalism — it was a deliberate, targeted attack on the Jewish community,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of The Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement.
“That it has been attacked again, amid a surge of antisemitic incidents across the US, is a stark reminder: antisemitic violence is escalating, and it demands total condemnation and swift action from everyone,” Greenblatt said.
The congregation is still assessing the damage and received outreach from other houses of worship, said Michele Schipper, CEO of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life and past president of the congregation. The synagogue will continue its regular worship programs and services for Shabbat, the weekly Jewish Sabbath, likely at one of the local churches that reached out.
“We are a resilient people,” said Beth Israel Congregation President Zach Shemper in a statement. “With support from our community, we will rebuild.”
One Torah that survived the Holocaust was behind glass not damaged in the fire, Schipper said. Five Torahs inside the sanctuary are being assessed for smoke damage. Two Torahs inside the library, where the most severe damage was done, were destroyed, according to a synagogue representative.
The floors, walls and ceiling of the sanctuary were covered in soot, and the synagogue will have to replace upholstery and carpeting.
“A lot of times we hear things happening throughout the country in other parts, and we feel like this wouldn’t happen in our part,” said chief fire investigator Charles Felton “A lot of people are in disbelief that this would happen here in Jackson, Mississippi.”
