'Incredibly, the government of India will spend more on this one line than it does on rail safety, Swachh Bharat, schools, highways or health... In every which way, Narendra Modi’s 2014 campaign was spectacular. From communication to ground management, the Bharatiya Janata Party electoral machine, it is widely acknowledged, got it right. However, a year and a half after Modi took office, one aspect of his campaign seems to have been a bit too spectacular altogether.
'...Modi's emphatic victory in the 2014 elections was widely attributed to his having focused on the agenda of economic modernization - that is to say, the need to nourish technological innovation, to make manufacturing viable again, to create better infrastructure, and to improve transparency and efficiency in government. Those loyal to the BJP and Hindutva had, of course, voted for him.
'The government's official communications agency on Friday apologised for releasing a digitally altered image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aerial survey of flood-affected areas in Tamil Nadu the previous day, saying the photo it had issued as a "merger of two pictures". In the 24 hours since, social media users have had a field day putting out their own hilarious memes of the situation. Prime Minister Modi had flown to Chennai on Thursday evening to assess the situation in the flood-swamped city and surrounding areas.
'For all its rhetoric, the two-day special discussion in Parliament on “Commitment to the Constitution” has done little to dispel the concerns of civil society over growing intolerance. But it should be no surprise, for in his earlier avatar as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi has a record of disclaiming knowledge of such a warning even from one of his own trusted police officers.
'...Parliament has lost its importance. While Modi described Parliament as the “temple of democracy”, he has, so far, not attended as many of its meetings per year as his predecessors. Instead of promoting inside Parliament the bills he needs passed, Modi has resorted to more ordinances than recent governments. In one year, he has issued about 14 ordinances. In contrast, UPA 2 issued only 25 ordinances (four per year). This is not only because of the NDA’s lack of a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
'...Repeating the 2014 success seems to be the overarching aim of the elaborate planning behind meticulously orchestrated welcomes accorded Modi during his trips to the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Britain over the past 14 months. The activities do not violate Indian law. The Overseas Friends of BJP will continue to orchestrate the key part in this scheme. The vast majority of OFBJP ranks are members of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the foreign arm of the Hindu chauvinist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
'...They are citizens of prosperous Western countries where they have seized opportunities and bettered their material lives, while preserving their Indianness in their food, festivals, views, entertainment, family and social lives. So far, India had been the place where their villages and towns of origin were located, and where they returned out a sense of duty and family. They loved India, but were embarrassed by its poverty, filth and lack of infrastructure and so they returned with a sense of relief to their cleaner, more efficient and prosperous lives in their adopted country.
'His 2003 visit to the UK was a nerve-racking and politically fraught affair, writes Satyabrata Pal, who was India’s Deputy High Commissioner in London at the time... Throughout 2002, after the Gujarat riots, the British media was up in arms, particularly since a family of Indian origin was among the Muslim victims. The Conservatives demanded that the Labour government live up to its claim that it ran an ethical foreign policy, Amnesty and other human rights organisations were on the warpath, the NRIs were split down the middle, and the bilateral relationship came under strain.
'VHP leader Ashok Singhal, who rose to prominence playing a leading role in the Ram Janambhoomi movement in the late eighties that eventually culminated in the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992, died Tuesday at a private hospital here, according to Press Trust of India... Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Singhal. “The demise of Ashok Singhalji is a deep personal loss. He was an institution in himself, whose life was centred around serving the nation,” he tweeted. He said he was always fortunate to receive Singhal’s blessings and guidance.
'Ashok Singhal, the VHP patriarch credited with giving Hindutva a political face in the shape of the Ayodhya movement, died today in a Gurgaon hospital. He was 89. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom Singhal was one of the first to endorse as Prime Minister at the 2012 Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, acknowledged the "deep personal loss". "The demise of Ashok Singhalji is a deep personal loss. He was an institution in himself, whose life was centered around serving the nation. I was always fortunate to receive Ashokji's blessings and guidance," Modi tweeted in a condolence message.
