Commentary
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Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur, Andy Robaina, …
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"Milan Vaishnav"
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"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
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Source: Getty
In The Media
A Familiar Story: Donald Trump and India’s Criminal Politicians
In India, distrust of government and social cleavages encourage voters to support those who bend the rules to defend their communities. Similar conditions in the United States contributed to Trump’s election.
Published on Jan 4, 2017
Source: Diplomat
An outsider runs for political office in a hotly contested election. He has a closet full of skeletons the conventional wisdom views as a liability, but he regards as an asset. He preys on distrust of the government, vowing to obliterate “politics as usual.” Against a backdrop of demographic change and economic disruption, the candidate exploits a once-dominant group’s fears of being left behind. His behavior may be unorthodox, but it is authentic and even reassuring to his base.
The United States, the world’s oldest democracy, has just watched this political story unfold, but it has played out many times before — including in the world’s largest democracy, India. For the past several years, I have been researching a book on politicians in India, where as many as one-third of national politicians won office in 2014’s general election despite being named in at least one ongoing criminal case. Rather than experience rejection at the ballot box, these non-traditional politicians have been richly rewarded. And their playbook is strikingly similar to the one Donald Trump executed with aplomb to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
About the Author
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.
- Indian Americans Still Lean Left. Just Not as Reliably.
- Indian Americans in a Time of Turbulence: 2026 Survey ResultsPaper
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Milan Vaishnav, Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur, …
Recent Work
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.
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