India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic in which the president of India is the head of state. India is a country with 28 states and 8 Union territories. Currently, general elections are being held in India from April to June 2024 in phases. According to the report of liberal democracy index that finds India to be between Niger (better) and Ivory Coast (worse).

The liberal democracy index comprises the evaluation of the rule of law, checks and balances, and civil liberties, along with the ideas measured in the electoral democracy index.

Major national political parties of India are the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI) (Marxist), Indian National Congress (INC), and National People’s Party (NPP). The BJP has always been the strongest political party in India. The Indian National Congress is a political party with deep roots in India. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress was Founded in 1885, and it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress are dominating politics at the national level. The previous general election was held in 2019, after which the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the union government with Modi as Prime Minister.

The BJP and Congress have announced manifestoes for the 2024 elections. Both the national political parties talked about their idea of foreign policies and national security in manifestoes. While the BJP desired to manage policies to further India’s “interests”, the Congress promised to “pay greater attention to immediate neighbours”.

Their manifestoes addressed issues regarding the China border dispute and India’s engagement with Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism.

Regarding India’s future relations with Pakistan, the BJP aims to proceed with the development along the Indo-Pakistan borders. On fighting terrorism, the BJP manifested, “We will continue our efforts to create a consensus among all members of the United Nations on the Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism and other such efforts to combat terrorism. We will focus on the ‘No funding for Terror’ to build better coordination on countering terrorism financing”. On the other hand, Congress states that “engagement with Pakistan depends fundamentally on its willingness and ability to end cross-border terrorism. We will work with other countries to eliminate terrorist groups, terrorist acts, and cross-border terrorism”.

Who? will win the 2024 elections is the biggest question all over India. BJP and Congress are both discordant political figures in India. According to Lok Sabha polls 2024 updates: On 3rd May 2024, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi filed his papers from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli constituency, just an hour before nominations closed for the Lok Sabha seat. At the same time, Mahabal Mishra, member of AAP (Aam Admi Party) and Lok Sabha 2024 candidate from West Delhi, appreciated the work done by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal when he said: “guarantees are visible on the ground while Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantees are jumla (rhetoric)”. On the other side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi argued that Congress’s score in the Lok Sabha polls would be an “all-time low” as the grand old party would struggle to cross even the “half-century” mark. The impolite behaviour of BJP’s PM is evoking mischief between the political parties of India.

As the BJP is the strongest party in India, there is a major chance that it will win the 2024 elections and rule India. However, Modi’s BJP has its roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which advocates Hindu supremacy within India.

The BJP manifested the “Mohabbat Ka Jod Hai, Tootega Nahi” concept. Although the BJP has repeatedly said it does not discriminate against any minority but still the BJP’s Hindutva ideology affects Indian Muslims.

In the view of Hindutva, the BJP supports the construction of the Ram Mandir temple at the disputed site of the Babri Mosque. In April 2024, while addressing a rally in Rajasthan, Modi suggested that if Congress came into power, it would divide the wealth among Muslims. Modi alleged that the Congress has outlined to give people’s hard-earned money to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children” he was referring to Muslims.

As a result, the activist students of the Islamic Organization of India (SIO) took to the streets in Kerala to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hate speech against Muslims in the election campaign. Students raised the slogan “punish the hate monger” during the protest.

According to the World GDP Ranking List 2024, India is the fifth largest economy in the world. Despite a good economy and good relations at the international level, India is lacking domestically in fulfilling minority rights such as farmers and Muslims. To reduce the domestic instability in India, much must be focused on minority rights.

Hindutva a rising ideology in the Modi era is the right-wing political movement advocating Hindu nationalism as a means to achieve a holy Hindu state in India. If BJP comes into rule, Modi’s government has to modify its manifestoes regarding minority rights to achieve domestic stability.  Modi’s government needs to modify its politics as well as its economics.