India has a general election coming up in 2014 and identity, as you have been learning, is thought to be central to an understanding of Indian politics. The BJP has recently made Narendra Modi, an important, but divisive political figure, the head of its opposition campaign for the upcoming election. Many believe this to be a signal that if the BJP, as the head of the National Democratic Alliance, comes to power in 2014, Modi will be prime minister. As Modi is a Hindu nationalist and has been blamed for his complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots (he was sitting Chief Minister there at the time), and as India is a multi-cultural, multi-faith and multi-lingual state, there is some question as to whether he is even an appropriate and/or electorally viable choice.

This question was debated publicly in the Indian press starting in December of 2012, shortly after the BJP managed to secure an absolute majority-something that is fairly unusual in Indian politics-in the Gujarat state assembly elections. Links to the op-ed pieces that are central to this debate are included here:

Please read each of these op-eds over carefully and think about what you have learned about Indian politics thus far in this course. Your assignment is to write an additional op-ed that responds to the debate that has already played out in the above articles and that takes into account Narendra Modi's recent appointment as head of the BJP opposition campaign for the 2014 elections. You make stake out any intellectual position you like.

Additional information

This kinds of essay is a part of Political Science and it is about Indian politics. The question here is about Narendra Modi being chosen as the Prime Ministerial candidate by Bharatiya Janata Party for the elections to be held in the year 2014. This essay focuses on whether or not this decision by Bharatiya Janata Party is right in the solution.

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