INDIA - ‘We Want Modi’
“He has done very good work, that’s why we’ve come,” Satish told CBC News, before his friend, Suresh Dowda, interrupted to add, “especially strong Hinduism.”
The adoration for the prime minister and his Hindu-majority ideology are even stronger in the Hindu heartland, in India’s north.
Supporters at a recent rally near Jaipur in Rajasthan state repeatedly mentioned two moves that impressed them the most—Modi’s inauguration earlier this year of the Ram Temple, which is built on the ruins of a demolished mosque, and his 2019 move to revoke the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.
Both were the fulfillment of long-standing promises the BJP had made to its Hindu nationalist base.
“I trust Modi, I vote Modi,” said Mangaluru resident Sinchana Harish, 20.
“To develop our India, Modi is needed. He’s the one person who can change our India.”
“There is talk about changing the constitution in very fundamental ways,” said Delhi-based political scientist Rajeev Bhargava, who also spoke of what he sees as a lack of independence of India’s institutions such as the media and the judiciary.
India is now the world’s fifth-largest economy, with analysts predicting it will climb to third in the next three years, and it’s a growing economic powerhouse that foreign leaders are trying to woo. The value of India’s stock market has tripled since Modi took office, but the growth has been vastly unequal.
-www.cbc.ca, 18 April 2024
Arno's Commentary
Contrary to Europe and the West, religion plays a greater role in India.
Here we recall the Islamic Revolution of Iran, which was established on 5 May 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini.
We also learn from Christianity, which was made the official Roman religion under Constantine the Great in 300 AD. On 27 February 380, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius I signed a decree with the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian II, making Christianity the state religion and punishing pagan rituals.
History documents the horrendous bloodshed committed under the auspices of religious Rome. Howbeit, the Roman Empire under the Vatican contributed to the proclamation of the Christian faith literally around the world. That must also be acknowledged.
As the article indicates, India is destined to be the world’s fifth largest economy within three years. The nation has recently displaced China as the most populated.
From the Bible, we know Jesus’ strict instruction to separate the state from religion: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him” (Mark 12:17). Most Western nations support religion by granting tax exemptions and other benefits to religious organizations. Such, however, is not the case in China. Yet, based on multiple sources, the Church in China is growing leaps and bounds.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
