| Author | Message | ||
     Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 2005 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
What is it about the mandate that provokes such fear of fundamental change? The first is the style of Modi. Unlike the top leaders of the past, his approach is blunt and in-your-face. He may choose the august surroundings of the Central Hall of Parliament to deliver a speech that leaves lumps in the throats of party activists who have persevered since the Jan Sangh days when losing deposits was the norm. But when it comes to the hustings, and when the fire from opposition guns is directed at him, Modi is a pugilist who gives as good as he gets, and more often with compound interest. | ||
| Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 2004 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
First, it was presumed that Modi would find no takers outside Gujarat. Second, it was believed that an alliance of the Nagpur Brahmins and LK Advani would ensure that the BJP kept Modi away from Delhi. Third, it was broadcast that Modi wouldn’t secure RSS backing to be projected as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Fourth, it was felt that the presence of Modi at the helm would repel existing allies and deter future allies. Fifth, the conviction that the newly-formed Aam Aadmi Party would emerge as a roadblock to both the Congress and BJP became conventional wisdom among editorialists and academics. Finally, the estimated number of MPs it would take Modi to form a half-viable coalition kept climbing upwards—from a BJP tally of 180 (‘Surely he can’t better Vajpayee’s record’) to 240 (a target thought impossible). There were self-serving reports of a ‘160 Club’ in the BJP with a clear anyone-but-Modi agenda. | ||
| Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 2003 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
The excruciatingly long election campaign was bonanza time for speculators, brokers and the media. By contrast, counting day on 16 May, which had promised to be the grand finale for the merchants of uncertainty, turned out to be a roaring anti-climax. Exactly 63 minutes after the first Electronic Voting Machine poured out its data to the tellers, TV channels were in competition to declare that Narendra Modi would be the next Prime Minister of India with a clear majority for the National Democratic Alliance. It took just another hour or so for the even more dramatic announcement: that for the first time since the 1984 electoral verdict, the Indian voter had given a single party a clear majority of seats. | ||
| Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 2002 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/voices/an-indian-revo lutionary |
