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Countdown Begins to India’s 2019 General Election

Tue. May 8th, 2018
Washington, DC

This May, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked important milestones. First, the Modi government completed the fourth year of its five-year term in office. And second, the BJP attempted to wrest control of the critical southern state of Karnataka from its arch-rival Indian National Congress Party.

Taken together, these two political events herald the unofficial start of the campaign leading into India’s 2019 general election. What is the Modi government’s record thus far, and what impact will its performance have on national political dynamics? Three leading experts of India’s economy, foreign policy, and domestic politics—James Crabtree, Sadanand Dhume, and Tanvi Madan—examined these questions. Carnegie’s Milan Vaishnav moderated the discussion.

James Crabtree

James Crabtree is an associate professor in practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and was previously the Mumbai bureau chief at the Financial Times. His first book, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age, will be published in July.

Sadanand Dhume

Sadanand Dhume is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a South Asia columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

Tanvi Madan

Tanvi Madan is a fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy Program and director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution.

Milan Vaishnav

Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he leads Carnegie’s India Elects 2019 initiative.

In the months ahead, Carnegie scholars will analyze various dimensions of India’s upcoming election battle—including coalition dynamics, the shifting demographic trends in the country’s electorate, and the impact of elections on India’s foreign policy. Keep up to date at CarnegieEndowment.org/IndiaElects2019.

DemocracyEconomyForeign PolicySouth AsiaIndia
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Milan Vaishnav

Director and Senior Fellow, South Asia Program

Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the Grand Tamasha podcast at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, distributive politics, and electoral behavior. He also conducts research on the Indian diaspora.

James Crabtree

James Crabtree is the executive director of IISS–Asia. Prior to joining the IISS, he was an associate professor of practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. His best-selling 2018 book, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age was shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey book of the year.

Sadanand Dhume

American Enterprise Institute

Tanvi Madan

Tanvi Madan is the director of The India Project and senior fellow for foreign policy and the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution.