Could Narendra Modi Be India's Next Prime Minister?

07:01

December 16, 2013

India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vasundhara Raje, center, greets party prime ministerial candidate and chief minister of Gujarat state Narendra Modi, left, and party president Rajnath Singh before her oath taking ceremony as the chief minister of Rajasthan state in Jaipur, India, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. (Deepak Sharma/AP Photo) — India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vasundhara Raje, center, greets party prime ministerial candidate and chief minister of Gujarat state Narendra Modi, left, and party president Rajnath Singh before her oath taking ceremony as the chief minister of Rajasthan state in Jaipur, India, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. (Deepak Sharma/AP)

A controversial candidate has emerged as a potential prime minister in the 2014 general elections in the world's largest democracy.

Narendra Modi is the chief minister for the state of Gujarat and his opposition party BJP, which is a Hindu nationalist party, did well in four states during the recent local elections.

But while he has been praised for the economy in his home state, he's also been criticized for not doing enough to stop anti-Muslim riots in 2002 that left more than 1,000 people dead.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson to discuss the controversy surrounding Modi.

Guest

Sanjoy Majumder, reporter for the BBC in Dehli. He tweets @BBCSanjoyM.

This segment aired on December 16, 2013.