Narendra Modi, the recently re-elected chief minister of India's western state of Gujarat is a hardline Hindu nationalist. For his legions of fans, including many in big business, the corporate media and expat communities, he is a man with a vision – and the best possible future prime minister of the country. To his detractors, he is man who presided over an anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002 (a claim Modi denies) and shows a scant regard for democratic principles of inclusivity. His party did not field a single Muslim candidate this year despite them being the largest minority in the state, constituting one-tenth of its population.

A growing section of India's mainstream media is presenting the election as a shift away from identity politics and towards a politics of development. They point to the fact that unlike 2002, when Gujarat went to polls after an orgy of anti-Muslim riots characterised by Modi as a spontaneous reaction of an awakened Hindu nation, 2012 saw Modi concentrate on his record as a pro-growth leader and an efficient administrator. Foreign governments, including the UK's, that had avoided Modi are now wooing him. As the Congress-led government in Delhi faces one crisis after another, and the opposition rightwing BJP flexes its muscles, the prospect of Modi as a future prime minister is real. The image makeover from "Butcher of Gujarat" to "Mr Growth" appears complete.

What the debate ignores is that development is not an abstract practice immune from identity. Economic reforms are being used in parts of India to depoliticise development and crack down on the marginalised. For instance, tribal peoples and those from lower castes are the biggest victims of forced eviction by the state for its development projects. Impressive economic figures from Gujarat belie the fact that on the human development index the state remains far behind. Gujarat, which once had a robust trade union movement, has witnessed a decline in working-class organisation, the marginalisation of Muslim workers and the assimilation of Hindu workers into Hindu nationalism.

Democratic reality requires compromises and negotiations, including with those one sees as the underclass However, this makes some of the middle class uncomfortable and prone to majoritarian and authoritarian politics. Brand Modi is a manifestation of such a politics. Modi provides an alternative – where minorities, Dalits and tribals are made to feel that their safety and survival depends on their silence. Instead of protesting as citizens, the marginalised groups have to appeal to Modi and the BJP for favours. Civil society organisations deemed troublesome face severe restrictions and are labelled pseudo-secularists.

Admiration for Modi among many reflects an authoritarian fantasy nurtured by the beneficiaries of economic growth, but democracy must not be traded for development. Security is derived from the virtue of citizenship and cannot be dependent on political gratitude and quietude. In Gujarat, the "lesson" of the 2002 violence seems to have been that democracy is based on majority rule with no genuine commitment to minority rights. The lesson was that majority Hindus will remain silent or even reward those who intimidate and brutalise minorities, and other political parties will pay no more than lip service to them. That some Muslims vote for Modi is not a sign of his acceptance by minorities. It is a function of fear politics and the lack of any progressive alternative. The Gujarati pride Modi harps on about remains completely Hindu.

Gujarat – where progressive political forces including trade unions have been decimated, minorities crushed, and tribals and Dalits largely Hinduised – is a fantasy land that many upper- and middle-caste well-off Hindus in the country look longingly towards. Will Modi succeed in transplanting the Gujarat model of disenfranchised minorities, capitalist growth, and a media-obsessed personality cult on the rest of India? Or will the impoverished poor who constitute the majority of the electorate see through this propaganda and save Indian democracy? That will be the most pertinent question for India in the coming years.