India's election season kicked off on 7 April and will continue until 16 May. In place of my regular India Links, here is the second edition (part 1 here) of the best election-related reading of the week:
- Christophe Jaffrelot argues that the BJP's election manifesto demonstrates the party's emphasis on politics over policy.
- It looks like India's communist parties are now in decline.
- The BJP's election manifesto stated its intention to revise and update India's nuclear doctrine. Ajai Shukla makes the case for abandoning India's 'no first use' pledge, but Vipin Narang argues that doing so would be unnecessary and dangerous.
- Rare pictures of India's first election.
- Samir Saran: why Arvind Kejriwal is a product of India's 5% growth rate.
- The New York Times interviews Sanjaya Baru, former media advisor to Manmohan Singh, on his new book The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh.
- What can 100 days of social media tell us about the Indian elections?
- How India's electronic voting machines work.
- In this excerpt from a forthcoming Carnegie playbook for Indian policy makers, Ashley Tellis looks at how to bring India back to high growth.
- Ashutosh Varshney asks:
Is Modi committed to minority rights? Comparisons with fascism, often made, are too facile. India simply does not have the conditions of 1930s Germany. But will he take India towards a Sri Lankan-style majoritarianism? This is a more relevant question.