before we get there, arunoday, lets talk numbers. there are 980 million eligible voters going to vote in 1.2 million polling booths. imagine everyone in both london and new york becoming election workers. that's 15 million humans needed to pull it off. speaking of numbers, listen to this one — a poll tracking global leaders popularity put prime minister narendra modi's approval rating at 78%. by comparison, a domestic poll in the uk recently put prime minister rishi sunak�*s approval rating at negative 48%. ten years since coming into office, how, is mr modi still so popular? a triumphant tourfor prime minister narendra modi, finally making good on a decades old promise... speaks hindi ..to bring the hindu god ram back to his birthplace here in ayodhya. translation: ram is the faith of india. - ram is the foundation of india. ram is the thought of india. ram is the constitution of india. those are the words by the prime minister of a secular country made building a hindu temple key to his re—election campaign, it is exalted as popularity. sitting next to mr modi, chief of the rashtriya swayamsevak sangh, or rss. the right—wing hindu nationalist organisation seen as the ideological fountainhead for the ruling party. the rss is entrenched in families, and it's a deeply conservative, inward looking militia, which was founded in 1925, which mr modi and his party pays obeisance to. mr modi doesn'tjust respect the rss, he became a member in his teens. that brand of hindu nationalism was behind the demolition of the 16th century mosque three decades earlier, where the ram temple now sits. and across the country, other mosques are under threat from hindu nationalism. a court in mr modi's home constituency ruled hindus can worship in the basement of the mosque. believers in hindutva feel emboldened, but the local muslim community is fearful for their place in narendra modi's india. translation: i'm angry. i'm frustrated. there is pain, but there is also anger because we are not able to do anything. we have been praying there for 50 years, but we can't do anything to save it. i don't understand. is this the way our country will run? and for how long will you surprise us? i take his concerns to a local tea stall made famous by the prime minister when he visited two years ago. are you hindu or muslim? in response, my identity was questioned. why only muslims feel offended whenever a hindutva comes? i why only muslims feel offended? no other religion? since this country's inception, since people have known thisl country, since then it has been a hindu country. _ but only now has the word hindutva been coined. - but we have to answer again - and again whenever hindutva comes. what about muslims? away from the city and the politics of divide, india's agricultural heartland. part of mr modi's popularity has been the success of his so—called welfare schemes. sanjay prajapati shows me his crops. he tells me that he gets money and rations for free from the government, a great financial benefit for him and for mr modi, it means votes. translation: i was a congress i supporter, but then narendra modi came with his ideologies, his way of working, and the way he connects to the people on the ground. he understands people's way of thinking and what they want. now i vote for the bjp. the women in this village just a few miles away get the benefits. but what they really need is better access to water. translation: we get money. we get rice and grains. we got cooking gas, but we are struggling with water. there's no water and we have to get it from a well, far away. they blame corruption, saying it's not the fault of mr modi. a lot of schemes that used to be schemes run by governments . departments are all now - being presented and repackaged. every scheme has been pradhan mantri... - pradhan mantri meaning prime minister. so everything coming not from the government, i not from the department, i not from any other person, it's all coming from pradhan mantri. and it's that spin on the messaging that makes mr modi appear unstoppable. everywhere you go, you see his face plastered on billboards and even on covid vaccine certificates, creating an image of a prime minister that is larger than life. there is no leader within lightyears who comes close to prime minister modi. some quarters of the media does the rest of the work for him. mainstream media whose job is to ask questions or holding governments questionable or asking them questions is not happening. so what happens is that mr modi stands tall. the cult is allowed to build up because you have 500 news channels, you have 60 websites all saying the same thing. prime minister modi's carefully curated image honed over his two plus decades in politics, is likely to get him his third term. also making mr modi's electoral success. a weak opposition. the indian national congress led india to independence — but is now a shadow of its former self, seemingly unable to capitalise on government missteps. will these elections be any different? this is the man seen as the opposition�*s hope to take on prime minister narendra modi. congress leader rahul gandhi is travelling across the country asking voters what they want. translation: this is a question you will have to ask _ yourselves every day. unemployment, inflation — this is your future. well, going by the support over here, it seems like a vote of confidence, at least from the supporters of rahul gandhi for the congress party. this is a very significant, politically significant constituency of amethi, which has always belonged to the gandhi family. for 15 years, rahul gandhi represented this seat. before that, his mother, his father, his uncle. so it's really remained with the gandhi family until 2019, in a shock defeat, the congress party lost to the bjp over here. so can he win them back? an hour away from the noise of the campaign trail, i meet 65—year—old shabir khan in the village ofjagdishpur in amethi. for generations, his family has voted for the congress. but even staunch loyalists like shabir feel the party is not doing enough. translation: nothing will change i if they don't raise our issues. i rahul gandhi needs to roar like other politicians. he's a good man, but that's not enough. if he speaks with more conviction, it will be good for him, for the party and for us. since india's independence, the congress party dominated the country's political landscape — from 400 seats in parliament in the 1980s, they were down to 52 in the 2019 elections. to counter the bjp�*s rising popularity, injuly last year, opposition parties joined hands to form a united front. translation: if this alliance wins, our country will win. _ but in less than a year, there are cracks in the alliance. key partners have left joining the bjp, and others are bickering over seats. we're not worried about these differences. i'm not worried. these are differences. we have to recognise they are differences. but a divided house isn't going to win. we're not a house divided. we are a house with multiple voices. but multiple voices of dissent as well. not necessarily dissent! divergent points of view. these differences, though, are casting a doubt in voters. the most raw, yet nuanced political conversations in india often happen at these kind of tea stalls. it's the best way to get a pulse of what people are thinking. translation: since i became eligible to vote, i have only _ voted for the congress. but last time we voted for the bjp. translation: i asked them, the bjp has one face — narendra modi — but the opposition hasn't projected anyone. do you think they should? translation: absolutely. that's what we are thinking. there has to be a face, that this is our candidate. there is no leader here who can take our problems to rahul gandhi. translation: whoever builds this road for us, i we will vote for them. there is no bigger issue for us than this. this is interesting because in the middle of all the national issues that are being debated, for the people over here, something as small as building a road to connect this village to the city is as important to them. and just on the basis of that road being built, they will vote for the party that gives it to them. translation: young people - here are roaming around without jobs and prices are rising. translation: do you think religious politics will give i the bjp political mileage? translation: they are gaining votes only on the basis of religion. - if they set religious politics - aside, they won't even get 100 seats in parliament. they should talk about development. they should stop this i hindu—muslim politics. carrying on the conversation over tea, i asked them what their message to the congress party is. translation: rahul gandhi should i realise he won't get votesjust i by waving at crowds. he has to find a way to listen to our problems. just a cross—country road show short of elections is not enough. when you are in the opposition, you need to be hungrier. you need to be bolder. you need to be more imaginative. and above all, you've got to work harder. i think if mr modi is looking like a front runner, i think the full credit for this anomaly has to be given to the congress party. the opposition says they are up against a lot more — multiple raids, several arrests and over 140 opposition mps suspended in the last session of parliament, all being seen as an act of intimidation. rahul gandhi's show of strength is an attempt to reclaim a space for the opposition. but can these crowds turn into votes and can rahul convert this roadshow into his victory lap? so, one thing that's really come out of the piece is the fact that really congress hasn't been able to manage the message. but that's certainly not a problem for the ruling bjp party. they've been really successful at it. now, what's really changed the landscape also is just how successful the government has been at getting people on the internet. in fact, we're actually on the lawns of parliament and you can see them just behind me right now. so let's talk aboutjust how important the digitisation of india is. and i want to start with shruti. you're with bbc verify. you do a lot of work looking at these numbers. just what kind of an impact has this digitisation or getting so many people on the internet had on the voters? let's start with 2014, when the bjp first won the election. the internet penetration or internet subscriber base that india had stood at around 18%. and in 2015, the government launched the digital india mission, which was to bring more people online and also democratise the sort of social welfare benefits that people get. and cut to 2023, it has now grown to 63%. so that sort of tells you the growth in the way india's internet subscriber base and the digital economy has grown. i want to throw this next to you, shazia. how has your party really been able to take advantage of that in getting the message out to voters? well, partyjanata party is the largest party, not just in india, but in the world. l if you look at the sheer numbers, i and every day we have new members and as shruti just explained, i the active internet base is huge. we're looking at more _ than 800 million internet users. so because a party also has a huge political base, - it's a cadre—based party. so it's also what we have to say then how we say l it. looking at the numbers, and so all the all the achievements of modi government in the last tenj years, we are looking at them, - talking about them through different platforms and social media becomes very important to us. _ now, jerry, in your pieces for the washington post, you've actually looked at a lot of tech, really, and the role of tech. yeah, well, samira, you know, what shazia said was absolutely true. the bjp is the world's largest political party. and many political scientists, i think, that have observed indian politics and compared it to other democracies would say that the bjp, arguably, for better or worse, has one of the most efficient, largest sort of well—drilled messaging and arguably propaganda machines that we've seen sort of anywhere in any country. they dominate the traditional media. but i would argue that that what they really have cracked, that no other party in the world really has, is the ability to deliver messages into the pockets of indian voters. as shazia had mentioned, whatsapp in the last decade has become a crucial venue. and many people would say that, yes, while the bjp is very efficient in spreading positive news about its accomplishments, it's also been very capable of spreading misinformation, disinformation, that has a corrosive effect on indian political discourse. shazia, how do you respond to that? all that bjp is talking - about and doing is also talking about the various accomplishments. these are facts and figures - of what bjp has delivered in terms of governance, and there have been similar charges- and some canards, too. for instance, the wire, - which speaks against the bjp, had a story on tech fog, which actually they had i to retract and apologise for. so there have been those you know, there have been spread stories- of misinformation, _ but which have been corrected and retracted later. so i don't think there's this much disinformation you can do - where numbers are concerned. you can do it with incidentsj and events, but where sure delivery mechanisms go, bjp tops it all. so what bjp's official media handle does is what we would take - l responsibility for, but not anybody. posing to be a bjp member or wanting to be a bjp member. so we're not responsible i for all information out there, but only for the official i handles that we represent. if i could interject, what shazia says is true. you know, i spent several weeks last year sort of observing kind of how the social media landscape works during elections. and what we noticed was that, you know, the the bjp sort of it established social media cells and war rooms and basically every single voting district in the state. often on the official handles that are sort of run technically by the party. it was mostly positive. these these were mostly, almost all fact based kind of positive messaging, the stuff that you would see in any sort of country. but the bjp is backed by what many would say are hindu nationalist groups, some of which are quite extremist in their views that sort of prop up and mobilise the foot soldiers of the party. and it's within the vast whatsapp ecosystem of these groups that are intermingled with the official whatsapp groups of the bjp. that's where you see the most virulent material. it's really difficult often to sort of separate what is the official bjp material and what is a lot of this other more virulent material that is being spread by its base. let me tell you, there's a lot- of propaganda and disinformation coming from non bjp handles also. my name is shazia. i'm a muslim. i'm in the bjp, the kind of filth i'm subjected to day after day. so propaganda happens across the spectrum i where all the parties are concerned. so if you want to just vilify bjp and bjp supporters i as those spreading the wild word, so to speak, i would disagree. i it happens at all levels. i was taking responsibility for the bjp official media. j would i say that the congress party is spreading horrible rumors- about me and other women members of my party? i no, because i will not. hold them responsible. i would hold congress handle responsible i if it were to do it directly. that's all i'm saying. clearly so much more that we can talk about, but we actually have to go and look at some other voices across the country. here in the central indian state of madhya pradesh, caste politics still remains the major deciding factor. those from the socially and economically marginalised castes such as the 0bcs constitute half of the state's population. they play a significant role in deciding the election results. the bjp has been trying to entice the 0bcs by giving them more representation in the cabinet. the congress is also trying to play the same political card by demanding caste based census to determine which caste is occupying cream positions in the government, jobs and businesses. the fate of the candidates and the parties depends on the social makeup of population in every individual seat. there are 29 seats, out of which 28 are with the ruling bjp here. other issues like unemployment, poverty, inflation and farm subsidies also play a major role in decision making. here are the hindu heartland of ayodhya, in the north indian state of uttar pradesh, where india's prime minister narendra modi launched the ram temple, calling it the culmination of centuries of patience and sacrifice and ushering in what he calls a new era in india. there are more than 900 million hindus in india declaring the ram temple as a seminal moment the prime minister hopes will restore a sense of pride in most hindus and make him and his party, the bjp, politically invincible in india's 2024 elections. and it's this model of nationalism rooted in religion that will be tested. as indians prepare to vote in the days and weeks ahead. the western state of maharashtra is one of the politically most influential states of the country. it sends 48 mps to the parliament. maharashtra is always seen as swing state and a difficult state to win. but it is not only about the political power. home to india's financial capital, mumbai, it also has financial power. so whoever wins maharashtra has firm hand over the economic power. although one of the most industrialised and urbanised states of the country and leading destination for automobile and service sector development, plays an important role on voter's agenda. with a perceived decrease in fdi and employment generation in last few years, it will impact the voters decision. across india, women could be the game changers an approximate 330 million are expected to go to the polls. and that's a number more than ever before. so every political party wants this. world bank, those in power at the federal or local levels, have brought in exclusive schemes that provide subsidised health and education, free gas cylinders, easy loans for small businesses, build toilets at homes and open bank accounts so women can receive benefits directly. but this alone may not be enough because women don't necessarily vote as a bloc and their caste, class and religious identity wane, too. and those would be important factors in deciding which party's promises win their trust. going into the elections — as i've travelled around the country i've noticed there are cranes and things being built everywhere. and this infrastructure growth — is marketed by the government as one of their big achievements — like this one being opened next week calcutta, now kolkata. it used to be the country's number one commercial trading hub. the first capital city of british india. the relics of empire are all around. there's even a big ben here. the oldest and only operational tram network in india is open here in kolkata. it's old and rusty and a quaint reminder of the past. but it's also a symbol of the city's decline over the last century. it's a metropolis that's now bursting at the seams with traffic. its most congested stretch is on the mighty hooghly river, connecting kolkata with the twin city of howrah on the opposite bank. but there is a solution in sight. kolkata is now finally getting a long—pending transport upgrade, especially to its 40—year—old metro system. and the centrepiece of it is this the upcoming underwater section of the east—west metro line. so we've just entered the stretch of the metro that is below the river. it's about 100 feet under the water. and it is quite surreal. this is a first for india. it was a project that was dreamt up by a british officer over 100 years ago, but it's now finally been completed. it's a prized addition to india's growing list of marquee infrastructure projects, hoping to give the world's fifth largest economy a shiny makeover. the next few weeks will be nonstop, intense but also really exciting. but for now, goodbye from the team at "this is india" welcome to bbc news. let's take you straight to the funeral of alexei navalny which is due to start in the next few minutes. hundreds of mourners have been gathering in moscow for the funeral of the russian opposition leader, there has been a heavy police presence including masked guards around a perimeterfence. the including masked guards around a perimeter fence. the service including masked guards around a perimeterfence. the service is being held on the outskirts of the capital where alexei navalny lived. the organisers of the funeral have faced a number of difficulties, they say his body was only handed over to his relatives in the past couple of hours. there have also been reports that his team hadn't been able to find a funeral hurst to drive the body. we have had reports that the hearse carrying the coffin has now arrived inside the church. that has taken place but earlier on the family did have issue getting hold of a hearse and finding a venue for the wake. the kremlin says it doesn't have anything to say to the family, one of the spokespeople was asked by reporters earlier today to comment and that is all they had to say. the russian opposition leader died in arctic prison where he had been held on politically motivated charges. few details have been released on the cause of his death, officials say he collapsed after a walk. his wife alleges he was killed on the orders of president vladimir putin. so far there haven't been any reports of arrests at the funeral, but we have heard that the authorities have been warning that any dissent or appearance of political protests such as banners or slogans would be dealt with and clamped down on. foreign diplomats including the german, french and us ambassadors have arrived to pay their respects to alexei navalny. you can see on the bbc live page images of those western ambassadors wearing black and carrying red roses as they turn up at the church. i'm joined in the studio by my colleague who is the russia editor at bbc monitoring. wejust mentioned who is the russia editor at bbc monitoring. we just mentioned some of the issues that the team have in terms of organising the funeral, including struggling to get hold of a hearse or a place for the wake. what were some of the other challenges they had in trying to give him a funeral? the original lan give him a funeral? the original [an was give him a funeral? the original plan was to _ give him a funeral? the original plan was to hold _ give him a funeral? the original plan was to hold the _ give him a funeral? the original plan was to hold the funeral i give him a funeral? the original plan was to hold the funeral on | plan was to hold the funeral on thursday, but alexei navalny�*s the states say they couldn't find a grave—digger, apparently because if the funeral was to be held on thursday, it would have clashed with the state of the nation address. then they were not able to find a hall where supporters could be able to say farewell to the late opposition leader. all they are left with is a church and a funeral. that wasn't easy to arrange because at one point a representative of the team had to meet a representative of a funeral home at a cemetery at night. that was the shroud of secrecy that surrounded the whole plan. there are numerous allegations of the authorities trying to put pressure on hearse drivers, funeral homes, trying to force them not to cooperate with associates of alexei navalny. but right now the service is about to begin, we have seen pictures of the hearse with the coffin carrying the body of alexei navalny arriving inside a church with people applauding and chanting his name. and we saw images of the crowds gathered, lining the church. we also saw a snippet of the youtube channel thatis saw a snippet of the youtube channel that is being run by mr novelli's team because obviously russian tv, viewers will not be surprised to hear, they are not covering mr navalny�*s funeral, so it is his team thatis navalny�*s funeral, so it is his team that is providing a live stream. that is footage that has come directly from their youtube channel. that is what they are putting out. within the past hour, there are 130,000 people tuning in and watching their streaming, their footage of that. but what we understand is that in terms of what is able to be streamed from within the church because as i said, there are lots of people lining the church there, but we understand that the investigative media outlets reported that there is a warning posted at the church