If there’s a silver lining to this, is that the people of one of the most populous countries in Earth are going to become far more likely to support policies against climate change.
I wouldn’t bet on it. They have just re-elected Modi, whose record is pretty sketchy.
Modi’s party lost its majority to a bunch of smaller parties, forcing him into a coalition government. The Bharatiya Janata Party is sixty seats off its 303 seat peak in 2019, in a year when Modi himself predicted a 370 seat landslide in his favor.
That said, the coalition is still largely composed of business-focused neoliberals and religious fascists. I suspect we’re more likely to see Modi pivot to direct military conflict with his Muslim neighbors in an effort to shore up his nationalist base. Also isn’t helpful that Indian social media is awash in “China rigged our elections!” conspiracy theories, as tensions of the border escalate again. It doesn’t look like they’ll be overly invested in climate change mitigation when they’re building up their military and cranking up their fuel consumption.
