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MILLIONS OF INDIANS are at the polls today, marking the beginning of a six-week election where Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister, is seeking rare third term.
The vote is a referendum on Modi’s third term. Voters began queuing up at polling stations in the early hours of the morning to vote on the future of the prime minister who championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics.
Voting began at 7am local time in 21 Indian states, from the Himalayan mountains to the tropical Andaman Islands.
Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10% 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 4 June. This election is considered one of the most consequential in India’s history and will test the limits of Modi’s political dominance.
If Modi wins, he will 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.
They face a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties. It is not clear who will lead India if the opposition alliance, ‘INDIA’, wins the election.
The alliance’s more than 20 parties have not put forward a candidate, saying they will choose one after the results are in. The election comes after a decade of Modi’s leadership, during which the BJP consolidated power through 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.
Critics warn that Modi has turned increasingly illiberal and 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 favour of trusted bureaucrats and using tax authorities and the police to harass critics and opposition parties.
Christophe Jaffrelot, who has written about Mr Modi and the Hindu right, said: “Modi has a very authoritarian mindset. He doesn’t believe in democracy. He doesn’t believe in parliamentarianism.”
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.”
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His conservative views and adoration for the Catholic Church ruined the lives of many good people in this country.
@Martin Scaldbag: inadvertently, yes.
@Martin Scaldbag: Actually Dev wasn’t as pro-Catholic as either W. T. Cosgrave or John A Costello. Also he had a really bad relationship with John Charles McCabe (Archbishop of Dublin) from the time both were teaching in Blackrock.
He’s regularly contrasted with Michael Collins, but Collins is the ONLY person in the History of the State to attempt to be BOTH Head of Government AND Army Chief of Staff…
In the Post World War 1 period, many European countries gained the right to self-determination. Ireland was the ONLY one NOT to descend to Dictatorship. some credit for that MUST go to Dev!
@Martin Scaldbag: everything you say is true but he wouldn’t have been accepted otherwise. He constructed a constitution that wasn’t perfect but has shown itself to be flexible enough to stand the test of time.
In order to protect a fragile democracy he had to be a dictator. His views were conservative but there would have anarchy otherwise and the freedoms we have today are as a result of his sacrifices.
Controversial ideas but I think he doesn’t get the credit for what he eventually did
@Martin Scaldbag: founder of fianna fail
Possibly had michael collins killed
Born in USA
So so ex president has a lot to answer for
@Michael O’Donnell: The archbishop of Dublin was John Charles Mc Quaid (NOT McCabe) and he and de Valera were good friends. Also Dev sent his 1937 constitution to tbe Vatican for their perusal before the Irish people had a say on it, he created a viryual theocracy in this country.
@James Walsh: and Dev sent his condolences to another European nation on the death of their recently deceased ruler circa 1945.
@Michael O’Donnell: surely you mean John Charles McQuaid?
@Kevin O’ Brien: my no means inadvertent. He was probably the shrewdest irish politician of his day. He knew exactly what he was doing. A blight on several generations of irish people
@Kevin O’ Brien: my no means inadvertent. He was probably the shrewdest irish politician of his day. He knew exactly what he was doing. A blight on several generations of irish people.
@James Walsh: was there a Hungarian perusal after the matter or was that untoward. Dev allowed for so much in his freedoms to be pushing on the throne of Maynooths’ opening in 1950′s……hmmmmmmmmm
@James Walsh: the church were his SS.
@Michael O’Donnell: “The only country NOT to descend into dictatorship” Correct: but what would have happened had Dev & Co prevailed in the tragic civil war?
@Martin Scaldbag: Catholic influence on Ireland made us a decent and moral society.
Definitely didn’t have Collins killed. No historian even considers that as any kind of possibility.
And yeah, from a 21st century point of view, he was extremely conservative and Catholic. However, at the time, there were those who considered him quite the opposite. I doubt any leader elected at the time would be significantly less conservative or Catholic than he was and as Michael said, both the taoiseach before and after him were more so. Costello in particular. Dev explicitly acknowledged all other religions in the country in the constitution and while he gave the Catholic church a “special position,” this was meaningless and was basically a way of shutting up those who were calling for a state religion.
He began his time in power by cutting government salaries and having social housing built – not exactly conservative. There were those at the time who suspecting him of communism. Clearly ludicrous, but it shows how very far from conservative he was considered by the people of his day. And yeah, it does say something about the society of the ’30s that he was considered dangerously radical by some, but it does also indicate that it was pretty unlikely any leader of Ireland at that time would be more liberal.
It wasn’t Dev who made Ireland conservative or who adored the Catholic church – remember this is the man who led the anti-Treaty side, which were excommunicated by the church; hardly somebody who followed them blindly. It was a large proportion of the Irish people at the time.
@Michael O’Donnell: I believe Dev was a maths teacher at Castleknock College!
@Margaret Lane: That’s a bit blinkered considering that several European countries had governments containing local variations of labour parties and liberal parties in coalitions all during DeValera choke hold on Irish society.
Haven’t bothered to do the quiz, the man sold big Mick down the river and had a bigger ego than Charlie Haughey, which tells you everything you need to know.
@Seosamh: ya big Mick who borrowed English guns and money to murder his fellow country men and women.
@Seosamh: “Big Mick”, personally started the Civil War!
He sent the assassins who killed General Sir Henry Wilson. The assassination was then blamed on the group in the Four Courts. Collins, rather than admitting his own culpability, then shelled the Four Courts.
Also, in the History of the State, Collins is the only one to combine the roles of Army Chief with Head of Government. Had Collins survived the Civil War, we could easily have had a Military Dictatorship
@Michael O’Donnell: check out a guy called rob cross on Twitter. Posted some great colourised video footage of michael collins funeral yesterday.
@Daniel Roche: you mean the pointless civil war where Dev opposed swearing allegence to the English king and when he got into government tore up that treaty anyway?
@Kev: no I mean where the majority of the IRA opposed the treaty under the real chief Liam lynch.
@Seosamh: Its just a quiz, you don’t have to sign up.
@Seosamh:
Why Devalera didnt lead the treaty negotiations in London himself still points to political acuity. The British team knew a million committed covenanters in Ulster would never relent to Pope rule.
Dev set Collins fall on that grenade. That stupid civil war and subsequent Extreme jesuitical “God is everywhere” totalitarianism stayed with us until the church got bored with us and found a new plaything
@Michael O’Donnell: sh it talk
he sold Collins out,was the cause of the civil war and handed the keys of the state to the Catholic Church
“It’s my considered opinion that in the fullness of time history will record the greatness of Collins and it will be recorded at my expense.”
@Ian Downes: Collins caused the civil war and borrowed English guns and money to murder his fellow country men and women.I’m no means a Dev supporter, I’m a Liam lynch man, Collins sold out.
@Daniel Roche: for goodness sake, would you actually read our history of the period and not parrot out the usual divisive civil-war claptrap!
@silentbob2012: please tell me what I said was wrong, yes I know our history, maybe you might want to educate yourself.
@Daniel Roche: Lynch was a fanatic, he was unwilling to accept the will of the people.
@James Walsh: the will of the people never supported the arm struggle.
@Ian Downes: Dev Bad enough, Collins just another conservative that the Blueshirts claim as an icon. They both betrayed the Republic. And to this day FF/FG. Will sprout why the six counties erupted .Because successive FF/FG buried their heads in the sand.
@Ian Downes: WT Cosgrave gave Ireland to the church not Dev
@Ian Downes: Collins sold the country out and there’s no proof Dev ever said that quote.
Nobody has been able to explain why Éamon de Valera ordered the bulk of the money for the irish press newspaper to be left in New York when he returned to Ireland so back then there was dodgy stuff happening
Examine the case in more detail Frankie…it’s been well explained over the years. The funding for the Irish Press for example but yes, it was not exactly ‘proper and above board’. At any rate, de Valera managed to hold the nation back and effectively gave the Catholic Church a degree of carte blanche which we all experienced to some degree.
@frank_1916: Thank you Frank, I’ve let my Children know this from an early age, now they are telling my Grandchildren. Never forget.
@frank_1916: He just left it resting in his New York account!
6/10..way hay!! Who knew I had so much knowledge about Éamon de Valera!! My Mother was born in 1926 and had nothing but bad to say about him and the way he ruled the country. My Father was the same.. He was born in 1925 and loved soccer but couldn’t play it on the streets because of de Valera’s vigilantes…. Yes de Valera was very pro Ireland and rightly so… But my Dad was a kid just wanting to kick a soccer ball about. They were really tough times!
@DeeM:
And him featuring for Munster as a rugby player before Independence!
But was it not the GAA that banned its members from participation in ‘foreign games’ as opposed to then political masters.
Rugby and Soccer leagues were in full swing in Ireland in the twenties, so who stopped anyone from kicking a ball on the street?
@Rory J Leonard: Yes you are coreect. The GAA did not like anyone playing any “British” (as they would have called them) sports but was it not Dev who said “Burn everything British except their coal”.
@DeeM: Arthur Griffith in fact
De Valera drove an even bigger wedge between north and south with his adoration for the Catholic church. When Carson said “Home rule is Rome rule”, he wasn’t wrong.
If Collins hadn’t been assassinated and maintained his political position, he could have pursuaded the unionists into a united Ireland.
@Kev: if only Collins didn’t sell out the Republic, Dev was no better than Collins, enjoying the easy life in Dublin, while the war was fought down the country, one third of the British forces were stationed in Cork and the only town to be fully captured under the IRA was fermoy under command of the real chief Liam lynch
@Kev: Collins sold us out. Dev tried to fix that.
You are so very wrong.
He was treacherous
@Canyon: in the eyes of some, and that, alas, is why we killed eachother in the 20s
@Côte D’oherty: errrrr ….. the Irish have been killing each other ever since Dev made a balls of it.
@Canyon: yes Collins and Dev sold out
@2thFairy: since Dev and Collins sold out, fixed it for you.
Born New York, baptised in St Agnes Church beside Grand Central, according to little plaque beside the baptismal font.
Fál is also a poetic name for Ireland, and Ireland is referenced as such many times in Gaelic literature. Technically, the answer “Soldiers of Ireland” to that question would also be correct. Not sure if it would have gone green as I selected the more common translation.
Was either president or Taoiseach for almost 40 years. Frightening. Indeed the only politician to have been both president and Taoiseach in the history of the state. Erskine Childers Jr who succeeded him was Tánaiste and president.
@Alex Marquis: Erskine Childers Jr father murdered by the free state government, he was the true son of Ireland that was part of the treaty team sent to England that didn’t sell out.
@Daniel Roche: Go to bed you’ve clogged this comment section with enough uneducated nonsense already.
@Cian: can you please point out my uneducated nonsense or are you the typical no facts and just moan.
I’ll take it. Good quiz, 5/10
Dev, Collins the same, conservative Irishmen who replaced British conservatives. Their legacy lives on today with the three ring circus that now is in government.
8/10
Knew a lot more than I realised.
Roberto Devilera.
@Peter Coen: who does he play for?
I only got 2 out of 10 right.
@John Hazelnut: Your the Phil Hogan equivalent in performance, soo !
@John Hazelnut: You obviously don’t know about Éamon!! Lucky you!!
The ultimate trickster!! Dev was a rare breed .I often wonder if that shot had of missed in cork what would have happened after
Soldiers of Destiny, such humble people and so forward thinking.
Up the big man.i say
Ireland’s closest resemblance to a dictator.
De Valera had a Cuban-Hispanic name. Lemass had a French, possibly Huguenot, name. Pearse had an English monumental stonemason’s name. Furriners.
Does Eamonn O Cuiv still collect his Grandfathers state pension or is this fake news?
The greatest leader this country ever had.
It forgot to mention he was onlly a bollox!
1 out of 10 and that was a guess. The shame is a little overwhelming.
8/10, B. Could have done better.
9/10 I need to get out more lol
9/10. Sport isn’t my forte.
It forgot to mention he was only a bollox!
I scored a D for devastated
10/10 yeah result
8 out of 10 – I never knew he was a rugby player
have your say