ABOARD THE THIRUKKURAL EXPRESS, India (AP) — The 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) journey south from New Delhi to Kanyakumari is one of the longest train rides in India, passing through cities, villages, scrub forests and deep ravines.
The 22-car Thirukkural Express is a microcosm of India, carrying passengers from different castes and religions and with wide-ranging ambitions and grievances — from migrants crammed into sweltering no-frills cars to well-heeled families luxuriating in air-conditioned sleeper cabins, and everyone in between.
![Illustrated map of the train route](images/map-frame_1.webp)
Passengers can also be divided by their politics, a topic that is top of mind with a consequential election underway. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to win and reappoint Prime Minister Narendra Modi — the leader for the past decade — for another five years.
India's economy has grown rapidly under Modi, but the strong-arm tactics he has deployed to push his Hindu-nationalist agenda has sharpened religious divisions in the country of 1.4 billion people – roughly 200 million of whom are Muslim – and raised fears of a slide from secular democracy toward religious autocracy.
The Associated Press recently made the 48-hour train journey to interview Indian voters about the election, whose results will be announced on June 4. Below are some highlights: