A brief thread on some much-needed good news on the populism front: The crushing defeat of Narendra Modi in a string of important state elections.
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Yesterday, five Indian states went to the polls in what was widely considered an important bellwether before next year's vital national elections.
The most important elections took place in three states in which Modi's BJP has ruled for over ten years and Congress, the country's longtime ruling party, had once faced a fall into insignificance: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Amazingly, Modi's BJP went 0/3!
Amazingly, Modi's BJP went 0/3!
In Rajasthan, the biggest prize of the night with a population of 68 million, the Congress handily beat the BJP, and even came within a hair's breadth of an outright majority, taking 98 out of 199 seats. 
In Madhya Pradesh, population of 73 million, the result was even closer. But Congress, with 113 seats just eked out the BJP, which took 109.
Finally, in Chhattisgarh, a relatively small state by Indian standards, but whose population is still the same size as that of Belgium and the Netherlands combined, Congress won a crushing victory, taking 66 out of 90 seats.
(The other two states that had elections yesterday, Telangana and Mizoram, have traditionally been dominated by regional parties. After yesterday, the BJP barely has a foothold in either.)
This is excellent news for Indian democracy: While much can change before next year, and the BJP might try to interfere with free and fair elections, the opposition has a real shot at displacing Modi next year.
And that should inspire opponents of populism around the world.
And that should inspire opponents of populism around the world.
I'll be talking about India, Modi, populism, and the reasons why liberalism is not an exclusively western ideal or inheritance on an upcoming episode of The Good Fight with the excellent @sagarikaghose. Please subscribe and tune in!
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Also, actual India experts, please feel free to correct anything I got wrong, or add important observations I missed, in this thread!
