Latest India News

Modi accused of hate speech for calling Muslims 'infiltrators' at a rally days into India's election

Apr. 23, 2024 05:03 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's main opposition party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after he called Muslims “infiltrators" — some of his most incendiary rhetoric to date about the minority faith in a campaign rally days after the country began its weekslong general...

Voting begins for Maldives Parliament, watched by India and China vying for control of Indian Ocean

Apr. 21, 2024 03:11 AM EDT

MALE, Maldives (AP) — Maldivians voted in parliamentary elections Sunday, in a ballot crucial for President Mohamed Muizzu, whose policies are keenly watched by India and China as they vie for influence in the archipelago nation. Both countries are seeking a foothold in the...

Indians vote in the first phase of the world's largest election as Modi seeks a third term

Apr. 19, 2024 12:22 PM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting on Friday in a six-week election that's a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics and is seeking a rare third term as the country's leader. People...

AP PHOTOS: For the world's largest democratic exercise, one village's polling officers are all women

Apr. 19, 2024 06:52 AM EDT

CHEDEMA, India (AP) — The line was orderly at Government Middle School as people waited patiently to vote Friday, even after one of the voting machines malfunctioned. The officers at the polling station in Chedema village in India's tiny mountain state of Nagaland had arrived the...

Here's what you need to know about the world's largest democratic election kicking off in India

Apr. 19, 2024 00:09 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The world’s largest democratic election could also be one of its most consequential. With a population of over 1.4 billion people and close to 970 million voters, India’s general election pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against...

Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi's decade in power

Apr. 18, 2024 20:49 PM EDT

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders. And no entity has had more influence on his...

This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton

Apr. 18, 2024 17:15 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ancient giant snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton, researchers reported Thursday. Fossils found near a coal mine revealed a snake that stretched an estimated 36 feet (11 meters) to 50 feet (15 meters). It's comparable to the...

AP PHOTOS: Colorful roadshows and rallies mark India's election season before voting starts Friday

Apr. 17, 2024 03:32 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Every five years, the world’s most populous democracy holds a giant election for millions of Indians to cast their vote on a new parliament. And it does so in its usual flamboyance — with a spectacle of dance, drumbeats and firecrackers echoing across India as...

Indian police kill 29 suspected Maoist rebels in a gunbattle in a central state

Apr. 16, 2024 14:03 PM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Police in India killed at least 29 suspected Maoist rebels in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, authorities said, three days ahead of the start of a national election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term. According to a...

AP PHOTOS: What's on the voters’ minds as India heads into a 6-week national election

Apr. 16, 2024 00:26 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Raj Sud, 94, has voted in almost every election held in independent India, bearing witness to the eventful journey of a diverse, and now the world’s most populous, democracy over the last 76 years. Nearly 970 million people are eligible to vote in India’s...