The Prague Post - Hardline Hindu monk seeks re-election in key Indian state

EUR -
AED 4.177115
AFN 81.881407
ALL 99.252011
AMD 444.59148
ANG 2.049629
AOA 1037.159602
ARS 1294.14051
AUD 1.780172
AWG 2.047025
AZN 1.937816
BAM 1.956825
BBD 2.294803
BDT 138.092365
BGN 1.957857
BHD 0.428625
BIF 3332.101328
BMD 1.137236
BND 1.492134
BOB 7.854392
BRL 6.605299
BSD 1.136596
BTN 97.022843
BWP 15.66621
BYN 3.71968
BYR 22289.824581
BZD 2.282996
CAD 1.574122
CDF 3271.828234
CHF 0.930817
CLF 0.028662
CLP 1099.88957
CNY 8.306268
CNH 8.306019
COP 4901.486936
CRC 571.199327
CUC 1.137236
CUP 30.136753
CVE 110.77121
CZK 25.063093
DJF 202.11002
DKK 7.466603
DOP 68.807192
DZD 150.758867
EGP 58.143353
ERN 17.058539
ETB 151.279275
FJD 2.59711
FKP 0.856519
GBP 0.857288
GEL 3.116471
GGP 0.856519
GHS 17.695835
GIP 0.856519
GMD 81.31675
GNF 9843.350125
GTQ 8.754588
GYD 238.429138
HKD 8.827817
HNL 29.46444
HRK 7.519522
HTG 148.317723
HUF 408.38716
IDR 19177.096068
ILS 4.189521
IMP 0.856519
INR 97.094367
IQD 1489.779092
IRR 47906.064711
ISK 145.100373
JEP 0.856519
JMD 179.644139
JOD 0.806646
JPY 161.682017
KES 147.276378
KGS 99.205077
KHR 4566.00273
KMF 492.996098
KPW 1023.486197
KRW 1613.044532
KWD 0.348711
KYD 0.947196
KZT 594.971784
LAK 24598.413953
LBP 101896.34134
LKR 339.937138
LRD 227.418803
LSL 21.444738
LTL 3.357963
LVL 0.687903
LYD 6.221113
MAD 10.547908
MDL 19.662304
MGA 5177.713287
MKD 61.514233
MMK 2387.750039
MNT 4034.978004
MOP 9.086962
MRU 44.847502
MUR 51.278399
MVR 17.517685
MWK 1974.241998
MXN 22.428272
MYR 5.012372
MZN 72.675107
NAD 21.444738
NGN 1824.926761
NIO 41.821916
NOK 11.919455
NPR 155.236349
NZD 1.916394
OMR 0.437833
PAB 1.136596
PEN 4.279463
PGK 4.700463
PHP 64.495498
PKR 319.112616
PLN 4.278742
PYG 9097.767521
QAR 4.140226
RON 4.978937
RSD 117.291464
RUB 93.451578
RWF 1609.188866
SAR 4.267179
SBD 9.516785
SCR 16.196165
SDG 682.914367
SEK 10.955779
SGD 1.490626
SHP 0.893689
SLE 25.900592
SLL 23847.250746
SOS 649.934509
SRD 42.248737
STD 23538.488054
SVC 9.945212
SYP 14785.985057
SZL 21.403201
THB 37.92345
TJS 12.206811
TMT 3.980326
TND 3.398104
TOP 2.663525
TRY 43.355779
TTD 7.712041
TWD 36.987505
TZS 3056.325739
UAH 47.101683
UGX 4166.329832
USD 1.137236
UYU 47.664978
UZS 14768.739292
VES 91.955341
VND 29420.293975
VUV 138.058823
WST 3.166177
XAF 656.312471
XAG 0.034867
XAU 0.000342
XCD 3.073437
XDR 0.816192
XOF 653.911048
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.907529
ZAR 21.425938
ZMK 10236.492294
ZMW 32.36396
ZWL 366.189511
  • RELX

    1.0000

    52.2

    +1.92%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    21.96

    +0.18%

  • VOD

    0.1400

    9.31

    +1.5%

  • GSK

    0.5600

    35.93

    +1.56%

  • NGG

    0.6300

    72.11

    +0.87%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1400

    9.36

    -1.5%

  • SCS

    0.0500

    9.76

    +0.51%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    21.82

    +0.18%

  • RIO

    1.0100

    58.17

    +1.74%

  • RBGPF

    63.5900

    63.59

    +100%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.47

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    0.5400

    67.59

    +0.8%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    12.4

    +1.29%

  • BP

    0.6600

    28.32

    +2.33%

  • BTI

    0.5400

    42.37

    +1.27%

  • BCE

    0.4200

    22.04

    +1.91%

Hardline Hindu monk seeks re-election in key Indian state
Hardline Hindu monk seeks re-election in key Indian state

Hardline Hindu monk seeks re-election in key Indian state

India's most populous state went to the polls Thursday in a key popularity test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.

Text size:

Victory in the northern state of over 200 million people, and strong performances in four other state polls in the coming weeks, would boost Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party ahead of 2024 national elections when he will likely seek a third term.

"We will win all five (states)... They (the people of Uttar Pradesh) will accept us in 2022 after seeing our work," Modi, 71, said in an interview with ANI news agency on the eve of the election.

Uttar Pradesh, home to more people than Brazil, is run by Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand monk from the BJP who has implemented a string of policies seen by critics as anti-Muslim.

- 'Jobs lost' -

The BJP's main rival is the Samajwadi (Socialist) Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav who has been seeking to tap into discontent over job losses and rising prices.

The state government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has also been widely criticised, with hundreds of bodies floating in the Ganges or buried in its banks last year.

"The government should address what happened during Covid (in) the past two years. Many people have been affected and suffered losses no doubt," voter Amit Pratap Singh, 48, told AFP.

"People's businesses have been impacted. Jobs have been lost. So the government should plan to address it."

Keen to make up lost ground, the BJP has promised a job for at least one member of each family and free electricity for farmers -- a key voting bloc -- if it retains power.

Opinion polls have indicated that the BJP will retain power -- something no party has done since 1985 -- with an increased vote share.

"I don't think the government should change if there's good governance. I have seen good governance in this regime. Yogi (Adityanath) has performed well. Because he's done well, he should stay," said Sandeep Sharma, 46, a voter from the state's Ghaziabad district.

- 'Love jihad' -

Since winning power in 2017, Adityanath's government has tightened curbs on slaughterhouses killing cows -- sacred in Hinduism -- and on loudspeakers for the Muslim call to prayer.

It also brought in a law against "love jihad", the alleged masterplan by the Muslim minority to hoodwink Hindu women into marriage in order to convert them to Islam.

The shaven-headed 49-year-old, who has been touted as a possible successor to Modi, has also given several cities new names in place of Islamic-sounding ones.

More than 100 alleged criminals -- mostly Muslims or low-caste Dalits -- have been reportedly extra-judicially killed by police, a charge Adityanath denies.

The state was one of the worst affected when deadly violence erupted in late 2019 following protests against the federal government's amendments to India's citizenship law that was seen as anti-Muslim.

One of those to die was Aleem, who according to his brother Shahbuddin was shot dead by police in the town of Meerut. Police have denied shooting anyone during the unrest.

"Injustice is at its peak under Yogi's government. It can't get worse than this," Shahbuddin, 28, told AFP.

Results from the election, as well from the four other polls, are due after counting begins on March 10.

U.Pospisil--TPP