"Apart from the sly assumption Modi makes that every Hindu migrant is a refugee while every Muslim one is an "infiltrator", the easy, communal equation he draws between the observance of Hindu religious practices and Indian identity is a reminder of how central the idea of a 'Hindu rashtra' is to his own belief system and to the politics of the BJP. Of course, to avoid falling foul of the ban on appealing to people on the basis of religion, Modi has been careful to use an elliptical, coded vocabulary involving "refugees", "infiltration" and "votebanks".
"There are some aspects unique to the Gujarat Model. Can these be brought to ‘lesser Indians’?... Prometheus carried fire from the gods to humans, civilizing them. What Gujarati magic does Narendra Modi come bearing to transform Delhi? I want to explore aspects of the Gujarat Model from the inside. In what ways is Modi’s Gujarat different from other states? Let’s examine a few because they tell us something about why it is special..."
Submitted by narendramodifacts on Fri, 05/02/2014 - 04:30
First the YES vote. Still many ground-level reports of adoring crowds gathering for Modi. "Big names" still jumping on the bandwagon: MJ Akbar, Andre Beteille, Swami Agnivesh and so many more. Hugely positive coverage of Modi in the media - journalists listening to him awestruck, flattered to be getting the great one's attention, unable to ruin the moment with difficult questions. Censorship of critical voices.
Anish Kapoor: "For us Indians there is a kind of permeability between the human and the divine. Let me assure you, Modi is no incarnation of Vishnu. I think it is important to remember that because the political campaign in this election has been conducted in a way that presents him as a demi god... Trade cannot be had at any cost. Lives of the poor have just as much value as the lives of the rich. I say we ask our friends in business in India and the UK to consider the social and environmental price".
"Two of Hinduism's key religious heads attached to traditional monasteries knowns as 'mutts' have opposed BJP leader Narendra Modi's bid for prime-ministership, calling him a "grave sinner" trying to "mislead" the nation... [They] called into question Modi's role in the 2002 Gujarat riots and his use of "illegal money" in these elections..."
"If the current spate of interviews with Modi are analysed, what I see is a man with the craftiness of a character playing with and teasing and flirting with the media, and making them hear just two words (to the exclusion of all else) – “good governance” and “development” (not necessarily value-less, non-problematic, opaque terms by themselves). He sits there pontificating to the journalists interviewing him about these two terms as if they existed in a vacuum..."
According to the EC: "The Commission is of the view that by holding that meeting and also by addressing the same today when the polling is going on in the entire state of Gujarat and in different parts of the country, Narendra Modi has violated the provisions of Sections 126 (1)(a) and 126 (l)(b) of RP Act 1951... Therefore, the Commission directs...that complaint/ FIR as the case may be, should be filed against Narendra Modi and all others who were involved in the convening and holding of the said meeting..."
"The Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Pravin Togadia has said things that threw the Narendra Modi narrative off, but only for a couple of days... Modi condemned Togadia obliquely, by tweeting: "Petty statements by those claiming to be BJP’s well wishers are deviating the campaign from the issues of development & good governance"... I’m interested in talking about something else, which Modi did not tweet about. What sort of state in India has two decades of Hindutva rule produced where it is easy for Togadia to say what he did in a public gathering?
This blog recently commented that what makes Narendra Modi stand out amongst right-wing demagogues is a particular confluence of factors: his history, his governance style, and above all the mass movement which holds him aloft, with its vast membership and its portfolio of political, religious, vigilante, and terrorist activity. These, combined with some successful image management, have brought him to the brink of national power.
