I'm trying to think of a similar situation here.
Posted on 05/17/2014 1:40:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The results of India's election, which are rapidly appearing today, seem to show a huge win for the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A victory had been expected, but this looks like a massive landslide. The next prime minister is almost certain to be Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, a state in western India. He is known for his economic agenda, which is seen to be relatively business-friendly (expect stocks to react very positively to the news), and his controversial brand of Hinduism. Modi's ideology is certainly going to be important over the next several years, but his worrying personality might end up mattering more. It may be time to bring back an old slogan: over the next five years in India, the personal will be political, and probably not in a good way.
It's easy to describe Modi to people who have never heard him speak, or read about his past. He is a depressingly familiar type. He is secretive; he is vindictive; he has creepily authoritarian tendencies (a woman in Gujarat was placed under surveillance by Modi for months in a controversy that somehow didn't seem to register with voters); he ricochets between aggression and self-pity in a manner familiar to anyone who has heard nationalists of any stripe; and he is simply incapable of sounding broad-minded. During the 2002 Gujarat riots, hundreds of people (mostly Muslims) were killed in communal violence on Modi's watch. (This is why he has been denied a United States visa for many years.) The extent of Modi's role in spurring on the horrors has been extensively debated; suffice it to say that he once said his only regret about the mass murders was that he didn't handle the media well enough.
Modi is also known for his close ties to unsavory, right-wing Hindu fanatics, notably in the Rashtriya Swamyamsevak Sangh (RSS), which he joined when he was very young. Arguably Modi's closest confidante is Amit Shah, who has been accused of numerous crimes, including murder, and whose attitude to Muslims might be euphemistically described as unwelcoming. (He likes to talk about "appeasement" of Muslims and said this election was about "taking revenge" on them.)
For more on Modi's personality, I encourage everyone to read Vinod Jose's brilliant profile of him from 2010, which gets at the way he deals with dissent, and takes a disturbing trip through Modi's psyche. (The dizzying summary: this is how a fascist person thinks.) The biggest question thus may be the degree to which India's institutions and democratic checks and balances can contain Modi's worst tendencies. It's possible that Modi himself will moderate in office, but moderation usually refers to ideology; Modi may simply be incapable of keeping his worst instincts under control. Indian society has shown a disturbing willingness to disregard freedoms of speech and expression, and the country's institutions are often weak in defending these encroachments. (See here for a good example.) Modi has never shown any interest in civil liberties; nor has he made the slightest positive noises about the communal violence that still frequently afflicts the country.
On a policy level, Modi's has presided over strong economic growth in Gujarat, although his state has not done as well on various social development indicators. Still, the combination of corruption and inefficiency in the national government and within the Congress Party seems to have led many Indian voters to embrace the so-called "Gujarat Model." (Texas, with its economic growth and lagging welfare indicators, is a very rough but not entirely inapt comparison.)
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The election results also display the depths to which the ruling Congress Party has fallen after being led for over a decade by a weak prime minister, Manmohan Singh. The central campaigning role of Rahul Gandhi, the heir to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty (whose mother still controls the Party, and limited Singh's maneuverabilty), didn't do much good either; Congress was soundly defeated and Rahul appears to many observers (and voters) as someone who combines inanition and intellectual lightness. If dynastic politics takes any sort of blow, the election will at least have accomplished something positive.
Narendra Modi has been the victim of the longest
running defamation campaign in India’s political history.
It’s more than a decade since 2002 when media,left-
liberal mafia,Islamists & communists and congress
propaganda machine started their hate campaign
against Modi.If one looks at the propaganda then she
finds that same lines are being repeated every time and
not only this but same propaganda has been going on
for the last 60-70 years against nationalist forces! But
opposition to Modi and the systematic mis-information
campaign and slandering against him is the most shrill
ever seen in India. It is therefore, necessary to analyse
why Modi has attracted so much hostility that opposing
forces have abandoned even the basic precautions of
wearing the masks this time.
Seriously, either you are ill informed or you are just putting wrong info here in Free republic.You make no sense but feeding BS about Indians here.Your post shows, you don’t even have the an Iota of knowledge about India.As myself being an Indian, Hindu and a mumbaikar ,all I can say is that a poor attempt to make up things here,
Are you for real? Is there even a "Hindu Law" ? Can you google and tell us how many incidents of violence against Christians were reported in Gujarat in the last 10 years when Modi was CM ?
As for your cheques not getting through, are you aware that Western Union has been flourishing in India for the last 20 or so years, that the economy of India greatly benefits from remittances ($60+ billion every year) much of which is sent to Muslims from Muslim countries. Are you aware that really very few people in urban and semi urban area go to a teller for cash - ATMs are present everywhere, even in the bigger villages. Anyway, no postman dare destroy any mail which is "registered".
The only Christians not welcomed by the BJP are evangelists.
I wonder if you really know India.
I'm trying to think of a similar situation here.
The world needs more of such dangerous men.
As opposed to a mere landslide?
Must be from the Department of Redundancy Department.
Where was the negative again?
Well my dear friend,as. said we are India.Doing good,well wisher of America as my bread and butter comes from an American IT firm but are you a well wisher of India. As I see a lot of madrasaa teaching here ,I request Mods in Freerep t check this guy authentication.Or This guy is a jimmmy white with Moselem influence.
You need to be less passionate and more objective before calling people ignorant and bigoted, that is the charge of the lazy class who turn a blind eye to Hindu atrocities, the filth of the Ganges culture, and a religion with institutionalized casteism.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/19/orissa-violence-india-christianity-hinduism
Orissa Violence triggered by Christian Missionaries again.Read full story ,they killed VHP leader ,a hindu leader as he was protesting against illegal conversation of innocent tribals using unfair practice like promising home ,money and all kind of fancies.Now you reap what you sow.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_violence_in_Odisha
Illegal conversation?
So ganges filth is due to Mr modi.Thats Hilarious.As I said you are blindfolded by myths and misinformation.You must accept the reality.And reality is Mr Modi is going to be Prime Minister of Republic of India with an overwhelming majority in the biggest election ever held in Human history and your President will Welcome him to whitehouse soon.
Sorry Typo error ,its conversion.
his state has not done as well on various social development indicators
means. I notice the author doesn't mention the 1000 or whatever it was Hindus that were burned alive by the Moslems, before the riots that killed a smaller number of Moslems. I like Modi. The author of this piece is nuts.
You really have not the slighest understanding of the history of India and Hinduism.
None at all.
Or Islam, for that matter.
You are utterly deluded and ignorant about the history of Hinduism.
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