India’s popular but polarizing PM Narendra Modi is extending his decade in power. Who is he?

By ASHOK SHARMA, SHEIKH SAALIQ and KRUTIKA PATHI
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Popular but polarizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has advanced Hindu nationalism in India is returning for a third consecutive term in office after claiming victory in a general election that was seen as a referendum on his decade in power. The win has made Modi, 73, only the second leader in India to return as prime minister for a third-straight term. Supporters see him as a cult figure who has improved India’s standing in the world, and credit his pro-business policies with making the economy the world’s fifth-largest. To his critics, though, Modi is an authoritarian responsible for eroding India’s democratic and advancing divisive politics that have harmed Muslims who make up 14% of the country’s population.