"Varanasi was overtaken by nerve biting tension when belligerent RSS and BJP cadres took over the roads in power -led protests against the constitutional body, the Election Commission of India..."
"It was nothing short of a scandal. On 12 April, India TV, a Hindi channel, telecast 117-minute interview of the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. Conducted by Rajat Sharma, it became, or was made, a mega hit. Two days later, news director of Indian TV, Qamar Waheed Naqvi, resigned from his position alleging that the interview was ‘fixed’. Though Naqvi’s resignation was silenced in media, the fixed interview represents the dark and mutually constitutive relationships between media and politics..."
"Mayawati’s ability to upturn the Bharatiya Janata Party’s bullock cart has started becoming visible on the ground... In the majority of the constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh, or Poorvanchal as they are collectively called, the elephant is moving steadily, making it difficult for the BJP to take major advantage of whatever wave its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has generated in the region..."
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.
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..."
"A veritable carpet-bombing of India’s voters with the opposition BJP’s message is everywhere to be seen, from advertisements in newspapers, on TV, Youtube, Radio, Mobile Phones, CDs and the Internet, to billboards in all metropolitan cities and small towns and on transport vehicles, including inside the Delhi Metro trains... This vast campaign has been on a scale never seen in history, estimated by some to be costing Rs 5000-6000 crores or more (from 800 to over 900 million dollars).
Comparisons have been drawn in national and international media between Narendra Modi and Berlusconi, Putin, Abe, and a long list of other right-wing demagogues. The need for such comparisons is understandable (especially in articles in the foreign media trying to explain the significance of the Indian elections to a non-Indian audience).
"The manifest ideology and the oral tradition communicated through speeches delivered by him and the word of mouth propaganda by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are more important than the manifesto. Mr. Modi might avoid the Hindutva language for which he is known, but through signals, expressions, and symbols he has kept intact his image as the mascot of the Hindu right... The BJP’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh unmistakably exposes the doublespeak... Mr. Modi talks about development but allows other leaders of his party and the Sangh to raise communal issues..."
What is the scale of bogus voting and electoral fraud? Some BJP voters are boasting on twitter about the number of times they have voted, while some non-BJP voters are finding their votes have already been cast.
