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CANVA Ai Image Generator / Elias Marini-Schäfer

End of Hindu nationalism or return of caste politics?

Lessons from the Indian parliamentary elections

In the wake of the Indian parliamentary elections, a number of German media outlets saw the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) loss of its parliamentary majority as a victory for democracy and a sign of the Indian population's resistance to Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalism. Headlines included slogans such as: "India decides against Hindu nationalism and authoritarian tendencies” and “Democracy won instead of Modi”. But did the voters really turn against the Hindutva ideology of the BJP? Has the BJP overplayed its Hindu nationalist card? This article attempts to find answers to these questions and explain why the general election result was much more than a vote against Hindutva and perceived authoritarian tendencies.

Konrad Adenauer School for Young Politicians KASYP Batch 16 (2025-2026)

Programme Information

The Konrad Adenauer School for Young Politicians (KASYP) is a capacity-development programme implemented by the Regional Programme Dialogue Asia of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KASPDA) since March 2010. Applications for the Konrad Adenauer School for Young Politicians (KASYP) - Batch 16 are open until 31st of August 2024. The application form should be emailed to Mr. Rey Uzhmar C. Padit (rey.padit@kas.de; kasyp.singapore@gmail.com).

IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

The dawn of the gods in India?

An analysis of the Indian parliamentary elections

India has voted and the Prime Minister is called Narendra Damodardas Modi once again. Contrary to the latest election forecasts, however, Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered significant seat losses. While the BJP had won a landslide victory in 2019 with 303 seats, this time it won 240 seats. This means that the BJP can no longer rule alone in the 543-seat lower house, the Lok Sabha. For the first time, Modi will now have to rely on his coalition partners from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form a government. The party alliance received a total of 292 votes. India is now returning to a coalition government after a decade-long hiatus - a phenomenon that Modi did not experience during his three terms as chief minister of the state of Gujarat or during his two terms as prime minister.

IMAGO / Hindustan Times

India's parliamentary elections 2024

The invincible against the disunited

When the world's biggest elections are held in India from 19 April to 1 June this year, two unequal opponents will be running against each other for the third time in a row. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is seeking his third consecutive term in office, will once again face Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi had always lost to Modi in his previous two attempts. While Narendra Modi has never lost an election in his political career, in which he has held high political office for 22 years without interruption, the opposite is true for Rahul Gandhi. He has never been a minister in a federal or state government and has not led his Congress party to victory in the parliamentary elections in two attempts (2014 and 2019). He also resigned as party leader after his defeat in 2019. Nevertheless, he remains the most well-known face and lynchpin of opposition politics. The following country report briefly explains how elections work in the world's largest democracy and examines the state of opposition politics, particularly with regard to the Congress Party, in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections. It also analyses why the next Prime Minister of India is likely to be called Narendra Modi once again.

Raisina Dialogue 2024 - The America Files

Wie der US-Wahlkampf und eine vermeintlich unvermeidliche Rückkehrs Trumps beim Raisina-Dialog in Indien diskutiert wurden

Die US-Präsidentschaftswahl 2024 könnte für das Land und die Welt von entscheidender Bedeutung sein. Die Supermacht befindet sich in einer seltsamen und beispiellosen Situation. Die Hälfte des Landes erkennt die Legitimität des Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten nicht an. Auf dem Papier sind die Wirtschaftsleistung und die Aussichten gut; Tendenz steigend. Die Inflation hat die Geschichte komplizierter gemacht, da Kommentatoren und Wahlkämpfer auf beiden Seiten den Aspekt hervorgehoben haben, der am besten zu ihrer Politik passt. Die internationalen Partner der USA sind zutiefst verunsichert über den künftigen Kurs der Vereinigten Staaten und den wachsenden Geist des Isolationismus. Für das weltumspannende Netzwerk aus Partnerschaften, Freundschaften und Allianzen, das Amerika aufgebaut hat stellen sich daher folgende Fragen: Wie sind die Wiederwahlaussichten von Präsident Biden? Können die Demokraten die Senatsmehrheit halten? Welche Botschaften verfangen im Wahlkampf? Ist Donald Trumps Rückkehr als republikanischer Kandidat unvermeidlich? Welche Rolle werden seine rechtlichen Probleme im Wahlkampf spielen? Können die Republikaner ihre laute und mächtige rechte Flanke kontrollieren oder stehen uns vier Jahre Chaos bevor? Gibt es noch überparteiliche Prinzipien, auf die sich die wichtigsten Partner der USA im Nahen Osten, im Indopazifik und in Europa verlassen können?

Call for Abstracts

Submission Deadline: 31st of January 2024

Scholars, policy makers and practitioners are invited to submit their abstracts of 250-300 words for the conference on: "Navigating the Climate Crisis in Northern Himalayan Region of India: Rethinking Federal Governance" (Kashmir, 6th-7th March). The conference specifically welcomes abstracts that delve into the intersection of climate change and federal governance. Submission deadline: 31st of January 2024. Mail to: climatefederalism@gmail.com

The White House

India and the USA

From "alienated democracies" to global shapers?

The partnership between the world's two largest democracies, India and the USA, is one of the most strategically important of the 21st century. Until recently, it was at an all-time high. However, this was not always the case. It was only at the beginning of the 1990s that both countries gradually emerged from the constraints of the bipolar world order. From a relationship of convenience, a promising working relationship has emerged that extends to many strategic areas - from trade and defense to joint space missions. How did this change come about and what potential do Indo-US relations hold for each other and for the preservation of a free and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific and beyond?

Single Title: What kind of Power will India be? The DPI Way

by Aniket Bhavthankar

From 20 to 26 November 2023, the German port city of Hamburg puts a spotlight on India. The Hanseatic city celebrates India Week bi-annually since 2005. This year India Week returns for the 10th time. The government of Hamburg in association with the Indian consulate and the Indian expat community has organised numerous events to mark the occasion. The spectrum of events is broad and covers areas such as education, art, culture, politics, society, business and trade.

Scholarships for Study and Research in Germany

Deadline for applications: 7th February 2024

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung awards scholarships to international students from India to study at one of the over 400 universities in Germany.

Lula Oficial / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0 Deed

India's G20 Presidency

A Review

India's G20 Presidency is coming to an end. The climax was the G20 summit, which took place on 9 and 10 September and turned the world's attention to the subcontinent. Surprisingly for many observers, Prime Minister Modi announced a diplomatically hard-fought final declaration on the very first day of the G20 summit. The most significant news surrounding the G20 summit came with the expansion of the G20 into a G21 with the admission of the African Union as a member. Another positive was the signing of a declaration of intent on the so-called India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which is seen by many observers as a viable alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative. But apart from many positive but also negative news around the G20 summit and host India, it also revealed a lot about the domestic and foreign policy ambitions and concerns of the world's most populous country. The following G20 review looks at how India's current domestic and foreign policies are merging, something that has arguably never been more apparent than during this year's G20 presidency.