Lost potential

Balance of Power From FOLLOW US SUBSCRIBE   Narendra Modi is on the march. India's prime minister, aided by his powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, is bent on using his second term to entrench Hindu nationalism in the world's biggest democracy, a land of multiple faiths. As the economy sputters, it's useful to corral the Hindu majority behind the ruling party. Modi already scrapped nearly seven decades of autonomy in the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. In the state of Assam, some 1.9 million people, mostly Muslims and many of them poor, risk losing their citizenship unless they can produce documents dating back decades. And Hindus won a court case over a religious site disputed for centuries in the city of Ayodhya, where Modi's party has promised a grand temple. Now, India's parliament is considering a law to prevent Muslim migrants from neighboring countries receiving citizenship. The bill has prompted protests, as Upmanyu Trivedi and Bibhudatta Pradhan explain, with concerns that millions could be left stateless. There are questions about whether it'd violate India's secular constitution, and it has set off talk of U.S. sanctions. There's also the question of priorities. Infrastructure remains patchy. The millions of jobs Modi promised in his first term have not materialized. Many live daily with deadly air pollution. Women are gang raped. With loads of untapped potential, India is often talked about as the next economic giant after China. But to take advantage of that, it may need Modi to turn his gaze back to jobs and growth. — Rosalind Mathieson Protests have erupted around India in response to the proposed bill, with many now living in fear of what Modi's government might do next.  Photographer: Biju Boro//AFP Global Headlines  Asserting themselves | U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are increasingly pushing foreign policy bills that are at odds with Donald Trump's priorities and personal style. As Daniel Flatley reports, the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee will tomorrow consider sanctions on Turkey and Russia, countries Trump has courted in the face of Congress's wariness. Impeachment articles | House Democrats plan today to unveil two articles of impeachment against Trump — related to abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Billy House reports. That could set up a floor vote next week where Trump becomes the third president to be impeached. But he'd likely be acquitted in the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority. The FBI followed the rules and there was no political bias in its 2016 probe of people associated with Trump's campaign, the Justice Department's inspector general found. Click here for the key takeaways. Boris's bad day | It was the kind of moment Boris Johnson has spent the entire U.K. election campaign trying to avoid. Confronted with a picture of a sick four-year-old forced to sleep on a hospital floor because of bed shortages, the prime minister tried to change the subject. Just two days before the election, the episode supports Labour's core message that the Conservatives don't care about the National Health Service, Robert Hutton writes. Easing tension | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy agreed in talks yesterday to exchange prisoners and withdraw some troops in a bid to end the violence in eastern Ukraine. Flanked by France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, they decided to meet again in four months, even as key differences remain over the timing of elections in the disputed Donbas region and Kyiv's demand to regain control of its eastern border. Reversal of fortune | Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in The Hague today defending her country against accusations it committed acts of genocide against thousands of Rohingya Muslims. While the Burmese are celebrating her patriotism at home, her appearance before the court is seen abroad as a stunning reversal for a democratic pioneer now defending a military she once fought to overthrow. Suu Kyi at the UN's International Court of Justice. Photographer: Koen Van Weel/AFP What to Watch The Trump administration plans to sign off on changes to a free-trade deal with Mexico and Canada today, two officials said, easing the path for a possible House vote next week. Turkey could send soldiers to Libya if invited by the United Nations-backed government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as Tripoli comes under attack from strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is backed by Russia. A son of Angola's ex-president has appeared in court on charges of embezzlement, the highest-profile figure linked to the previous regime to stand trial for corruption. French labor unions today stage another mass protest against Macron's plan to rework state pensions. Air pollution in Sydney is so bad it set off fire alarms as bushfire smoke smothered the Australian city, stoking fresh debate on the policies of the coal-friendly government. Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. And finally … As anti-government protests roil Hong Kong, a new wave of online Chinese patriots has emerged to patrol the far corners of the internet. Zheping Huang delves into the world of "fangirls" — men and women who flood social media with a spirited defense of the nation in a way usually reserved for pop-culture icons. They pounce on perceived slights, sometimes with far-reaching consequences. Just ask the Houston Rockets.   They call their nation "Brother Ah Zhong" (Brother China). The tweet reads, in part, "Our Ah Zhong is the globe's cutest guy, if you are not convinced, you can battle with me."    You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Politics newsletter Balance of Power. You can tell your friends to sign up here.   Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022