The crush of people at the rally was suffocating, although in India a crowd is no index of popularity. At 53, with a well-salted beard and serious eyes, he’s too old to be called Congress’s “scion,” but he still wears the sheen of dynasty. Then, on the heels of several corruption scandals, the mighty party — 140 years old next year — came unstuck. One of Modi’s successes has been not just to trounce the Congress Party but also to persuade people that the party has weakened India and emasculated its Hindus. (Amnesty itself halted its work in India in 2020, in the midst of what it later called an “incessant witch hunt” by the government.)

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Persons: —, Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, Sonia, Modi, ” Organizations: Congress, Party, Amnesty, World Press Locations: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Russia