'A former spin doctor for Tony Blair has admitted that he was paid an undisclosed sum to write a biography of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister. Lance Price, a former BBC journalist who worked for Mr Blair during his first term, publicised The Modi Effect saying that of "all the elections I have ever reported or taken part in, nothing compares to Narendra Modi's". In fact, Price has admitted, he had never heard of Mr Modi, who was elected in May last year, until he was approached by one of the Indian prime minister’s associates.
As UK academics researching development in India, we are deeply concerned about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to the UK from 12-14 November, and call for the human rights abuses on his watch to be questioned in the public domain (Opinion, 10 November).
'Last year, just before Narendra Modi's victory in India's general election, I had written in an article, Gender violence and Narendra Modi, about what life might be like in the country if he were elected. Now, some eighteen months later, it is clear that my fears were more than justified. If the run up to the election was horrifying in its violence, today things are infinitely worse.
'Indians in Britain beamed the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a sword behind a Nazi Swastika sign, accompanied by words in bold that read "Modi not welcome", onto the walls of British Parliament in the evening on Sunday, 8 November. Modi will be in the UK from 12 November on a three-day visit, wherein he is expected to meet Queen Elizabeth at the Buckingham Palace over lunch. However, his much-anticipated visit has also drawn flak from several quarters in Britain.
'The Bihar elections were closely followed by the world media, with most newspapers linking the result to a referendum-of-sorts on the Indian Prime Minister and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Meanwhile, the day the results were announced, “Modi Not Welcome To UK” was projected in larger-than-life dimensions on the walls of the UK Parliament, as a measure of protest against the Indian Prime Minister’s upcoming visit to the United Kingdom.
'I heard PM Narendra Modi talking at the Gold Monetisation scheme launch a few days ago. I couldn’t help but observe that he was making terrible blunders, one after the other in his speech. By the time the speech ended, I was really cringing and wondering how the PM can speak like this at a national level. So what did he do wrong? Well, he used gendered language to begin with.
'...The Bihar elections of 2015 was historic, because at no time has the Prime Minister of the country left aside the governance of the nation to campaign so intensively for a state election and project himself as the face of his national party in a state. Issues of caste and community were made the lynchpin of the electoral campaign by no less than the PM. The initial platform of development was sidelined by Dadri and Cow, charges that Pakistan would celebrate if non-BJP parties were elected by voters, and of who represented the EBCs and Mahadalits.
'Human rights activists and environment campaigners have criticised the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying their efforts have led to harassment and other reprisals since it took power more than a year ago. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cancelled Greenpeace's permit to operate in India on Friday, in the latest move against nongovernmental organisations.
'...Travelling hundreds of kilometres to different corners of Bihar this election, I met many voters expressing disenchantment with the Modi government. Referendum is a strong word, but voters were clear in judging the BJP’s campaign with its performance so far at the centre. Voters complained, most of all, of food inflation. Thanks to falling oil prices, overall inflation has been under control since Modi became India’s prime minister. But rising prices of certain food products have pushed the retail inflation higher in the last few months.
'Mobile internet services in Kashmir Valley were blocked on Saturday morning as a precautionary measure in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Srinagar. "Mobile internet services have been temporarily discontinued in the Valley in the wake of the PM's visit," officials said. They said it was a precautionary measure in view of the high profile visit. The officials said all service providers had been directed to disconnect the mobile internet services from 10 AM till the Prime Minister leaves the Valley...'
