Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of the accompanying video from professor Peter St. Onge.
As anti-elite populism rises worldwide, from the U.S. and Europe to Latin America, the socialists are fighting tooth and nail, using everything from cynical election coalitions in France to outright censorship and jailing dissenters in Britain.
But there’s one big country where populism has now taken over: India.
Since first taking office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to gain widespread support for populism: He regularly polls around 80%, gaining support from both working-class and middle-class Indians. And he’s won an unprecedented three terms in India’s rambunctious democracy.
A recent Ipsos poll found 77% of Indians think the country is on the right track, compared to 35% of Americans, 30% in Canada, 21% of Brits, and 18% of the…
