Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Somebody on Teetar needs to tell these 'Neutral Journalists' that their neutrality will be decided by people who read their comments and have a view on their comments. I am sure they will find a lot of people supporting their neutrality
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Haha, now all the journalists are slowly jumping ship. They are the biggest threat to democracy and I'm sure Modi has plans for them.
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Wait till NM speaks to Media community (I am sure they are going to invite him) one of these days.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Yes he tweeted that.. and wife tweeted following:SwamyG wrote:Wow, did Rajdeep seriously say there Fvck off? I am not prudent, but a journalist uttering that should be shameful. All pretense gone, all gloves off, they are getting paid more.
"Chappan" is used for Modi.Sushupti wrote:
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
What is chappan
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
^ One who slaps the paid media with Cheppal in Tamil
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
rkirankr wrote:What is chappan
kapilrdave wrote: Modi once said (in light mood) that he has Chappan Ki Chhati (56 inch chest), basically saying he fears no one.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Good oneRamaY wrote:^ One who slaps the paid media with Cheppal in Tamil
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... hes/270483
Delhi Univ students in NDTV show (that tells us about audience)
Watch at 45:00mins when the question was "Is pappu's speach a hit or miss". A girl answers "it is mess". The same girl says "well, he doesn't have a image to begin with referring to him saying "Hindu population is not growing"".
Did he say that?
If this is the response of DU students, think of youth in non-dilli areas.
Delhi Univ students in NDTV show (that tells us about audience)
Watch at 45:00mins when the question was "Is pappu's speach a hit or miss". A girl answers "it is mess". The same girl says "well, he doesn't have a image to begin with referring to him saying "Hindu population is not growing"".
Did he say that?
If this is the response of DU students, think of youth in non-dilli areas.
Last edited by RamaY on 05 Apr 2013 19:45, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Rajdeep must be quite angry his wife remembers such details about certain individuals. That one comment gives away her disdain for NM. The kind of disdain we used to see in old movies, where some BIG GUY in the village used to wonder how come an upstart "Hero" is challenging him. Indian journalism has reached its nadir, we have journalists who "hate" certain leaders just because they are not from a privileged background.anmol wrote:Yes he tweeted that.. and wife tweeted following:SwamyG wrote:Wow, did Rajdeep seriously say there Fvck off? I am not prudent, but a journalist uttering that should be shameful. All pretense gone, all gloves off, they are getting paid more.
"Chappan" is used for Modi.Sushupti wrote:
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Namo is Dharamaraj Yudhistra for Dharmic Bharitiyas but Yamadharmaraj for congis
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
I think Minakshi Lekhi read my post (21 min). This congress got high off of money, grew lazy, and now they cant keep the ponzy scheme going. Even the anchors on these shows can't protect the gandhi regime anymore. I'm slowly growing more comfortable with NDA getting a majority and coming to power.
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india- ... /270504?hpThe beehive is comprised of the queen bee and her drones much like the Congress. Modi is the honey badger.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
They all read our posts. Just don't think this is goofa and no one sees us.
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
There is hope, when the youth thinks this way and sees through the bullshit : http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... od-related
I enjoyed it, especially with the sold out media walli trying her best 'but dont you think when raul said blah blah appealed to you..' only to be spurned each and every time,,,
I enjoyed it, especially with the sold out media walli trying her best 'but dont you think when raul said blah blah appealed to you..' only to be spurned each and every time,,,
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
I meant that particular line. Everybody especially your political analysis catches her eye I'm sure.Muppalla wrote:They all read our posts. Just don't think this is goofa and no one sees us.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Rahul Gandhi Steps Up to the Plate, Swings, Misses
Walter Russell Mead's Blog
Criticisms of the “shy and secretive” 42-year-old Rahul came fast and furious. Before his speech had even ended, the hashtag #PappuCII began trending on Twitter (Pappu is a derogatory Hindi term meaning “dumb kid” and CII was the name of the conference he was speaking at). ”A confused leader presented his confused ideology which nobody could understand,” the spokesperson for Modi’s BJP party told reporters. Rahul has ”nothing to offer on the present problems” said former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha.
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/ ... gs-misses/
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
I cannot believe the amount of media sycophancy over a useless talk by the Yuvaraj. They're all collectively in raptures because the goongi gudia v2 finally opened his mouth ? Thankfully, by doing so he proved how useless he is.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
twitter
MediaCrooks @mediacrooks
What "Maut Ka Saudagar" was in 2007... "Yamraj" comment will be in 2014.. SteveWaugh would hv said "Son, you just dropped the world cup"...
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
The very fact that he is being called 'pappu' is a negative. Who wants a baby pappu as their leader? (Pappu - i dont think is 'dumb kid' but just a naive or unknowing child. A slightly different connotation.)
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
am on twitter for the last few days. may go into overdrive whenever possible.
folks hope you dont mind me taking stuff from here.
have already done so.
folks hope you dont mind me taking stuff from here.
have already done so.
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
I think it's about time this dhaga is moved to main forum!!!Muppalla wrote:They all read our posts. Just don't think this is goofa and no one sees us.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
congis see NaMo as Yamraj is significant.
normal healthy person do not think of him. only those who are on deathbed do.
Is congis on last legs??
normal healthy person do not think of him. only those who are on deathbed do.
Is congis on last legs??
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
http://www.gossipguru.in/नीरा-का-नया-खु ... ew-secrets
MAFIA just blackmails and gets what they want.
we now know why PAID media supports CON MAFIA?Niira Radia has come undone in front of the ED. According to sources, she has confesses on spending as much as Rs 167 crore on the media to find favour for some of her corporate clients. This includes buying an apartment in Manhattan for a prominent woman journalist from a TV news channel and given Rs 2 crore 20 lakh to a big journalist with one of the national dailies. She also has records of giving favours in cash and kind to several other significant journalists.
MAFIA just blackmails and gets what they want.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Excellent article on winning over fence-sitters to the Modi phenomenon by Milind Misra, an Indian-American scientist. Posting in full.
Interestingly, the article appeared in Newslaundry... the web news service where Madhu Trehan (sister of India Today group's Aroon Purie) interviews other leading figures in the media to keep them accountable.
SALUTING MODI AND HIS LAST MILE
http://www.newslaundry.com/2013/04/salu ... last-mile/
An open letter to Ms Naina, one of the students from Delhi Unviersity who had protested outside SRCC when Modi had come to speak to there.
Dr Milind Misra
US
Ms Naina
Delhi University
March 16, 2013
Dear Naina,
Okay, so you politely rejected last week my gentle suggestion to organise an invitation to Narendra Modi to speak at your university. The reason you gave was that when he spoke nextdoor at the Shri Ram College of Commerce, some students had become violent on the street outside. The fundamental reason, which became apparent later in our conversation, was really your differences with Narendra Modi as a person, his thinking and his politics.
Permit me to make a renewed pitch.
I will do so by stating my own identification with Narendra Modi – the individual, the intellectual and the politician.
Before I start, however, let me highlight that I have now lived in the United States for over two decades. I came to the US before cellphones and the Internet – at a time when making a phone call to India was prohibitively high, and somewhat of a luxury personally. There were very few sources of news from India and India was not a topic discussed regularly in US newspapers or on US television. As far as I was concerned, it was all rather stifling. But global news became rapidly accessible once the Internet took off shortly after you, Naina, were born. And what a breath of fresh air that was! Indeed, several years before the tragic communal riots in Gujarat – hungry for news and like a pup greeting a master come home – I was accessing almost 120 newspapers from around the globe, online and on a regular basis. More than half of these were Indian newspapers.
I quickly became aware that a newspaper has a preferred point of view.
I became aware that besides their frontend – reporters, anchors and editors -newspapers and television channels have an associated backend, too, which may comprise an often layered and sometimes inexplicable list of investors, patrons, backers, sponsors, stakeholders, advisors and interested parties.
(Here I grew up a little and realised that not everyone is a saint.)
I became aware, more gradually, that news can be manipulated and even manufactured. I began to see through common psychological operations or Psy Ops.
Later, after the Gujarat riots, as television networks in India took advantage of better worldwide Internet connectivity and bandwidth, I became aware of the implications of the term “conflict entrepreneurship”.
Recently, I have become aware of sociolinguistics, pragmatics and social engineering. I struggle today to personally put all this in a meaningful overarching context but I am amazed how useful this pursuit is already beginning to appear. Pieces are slowly falling into place. I am growing once again and realising that news is not my master. And what a breath of fresh air that is.
* * *
So why and how do I identify with Narendra Modi?
For an Indian-American like me it should be no surprise that I am reminded everyday of the Indian in that hyphenation. By now, pleasantly. I became comfortable being me once I found that I was spending precious energy in creating elaborate defenses during my initial assimilation within the American milieu. That felt truly liberating. And yet, something had been missing since. Despite routine, healthy, warm, rigorous, substantial and productive interaction with other dazzlingly hyphenated Americans there still lingered this curious feeling of distance between them and me. We weren’t connecting at some elusive, but essential level. It resembled the last mile problem for cable networks.
My long search for an answer led me to the revealing expression – “difference anxiety”. It was coined recently by the pioneering Indian-American thinker, Rajiv Malhotra, who defines it as “the mental uneasiness caused by the perception of difference combined with a desire to diminish, conceal or eradicate it”. All this time I was unconsciously hiding behind the reductionist aphorism “we are all one”. So were all the other hyphenations. Dialogue was informal and fun and perhaps that’s why we always chose to relegate discussion about sundry elephants in the room to a more appropriately somber future setting. Malhotra has prompted me to now firmly believe that we were all wrong to shy away from learning about our difference.
We’re not all the same.
Obvious as the above is, Malhotra’s advocacy of scrutinising, highlighting and understanding difference flies in the face of our contemporary habit of throwing a tentative blanket of oneness over our collective self – let’s call it The Blanket.Our fear of offending someone else forces us to take the easy way out and huddle hurriedly under The Blanket. This does more harm than good.[1]
We’re not all the same. Narendra Modi is also different.
Modi—the individual
The first prerequisite for getting over difference anxiety is to know all you can about your own identity and find your personal bearings. This is a difficult task. It involves developing a deep understanding about your own social, economic, religious and linguistic frames of reference. It needs an active inquiring mind and great personal courage to peacefully resolve many of the confusions that this churning necessarily generates. A biographical documentary by India TV suggests that Narendra Modi possessed both those ingredients in abundance from an early age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... xi1PP53skE
Several things stand out in that documentary. By some standards, Narendra Modi comes from an ordinary home and had ordinary friends and schooling. By my standards, as a child he displayed extraordinary courage (played with river crocodiles), self-awareness (stayed silent when troubled), curiosity (was invariably found at the local library), originality (wrote, directed and acted in a play with a strong social message), and problem-solving (loved science and experimenting). All these sterling qualities were reflected in his strongly independent decision to leave home at the age of 17 in search of his identity. Even more impressive was the way he went about assuaging his family members- particularly his mother – about his decision. Which suggests to me a strong-minded, yet deeply sensitive and inclusive nature.All those qualities impress and inspire me as an Indian-American, too, for they are exactly the ones I have had to develop myself to explore my own identity in a different land.
Naina, we are looking here at a truly extraordinary personality.Someone who was kept away from us by his political opponents and their pet Blanket Weavers[2] via a vicious, false and increasingly Weaver-embarrassing vilification campaign.
Narendra Modi is different. Mainly, it is his thinking that sets him apart.
Modi—the intellectual
The other requirement for successfully resolving difference anxiety is to understand others. This is an even more difficult task. The difficulty arises from seeing beyond your own nose, conquering personal arrogance and developing intellectual honesty. These are the hard to find but necessary ingredients for developing a personal philosophy to help you overcome difference and navigate pitfalls and challenges thrown your way. Narendra Modi has given innumerable examples of his extremely well-developed personal philosophy. It has served him well and consistently prevented him from falling for traps that go against his convictions.
For example, the main grouse of the Blanket Weavers has been, “But, but, but! He hasn’t apologised!” What this arrogant bunch is really upset about is, “How dare this different man defy our standards of propriety?” It betrays their difference anxiety. It calls attention to the stunted or totally lacking personal philosophies of the accusing Weavers. It also underscores the Weavers’ role as conflict entrepreneurs who have benefited professionally from their frequently comical anti-Modi stance. Comical because there simply is no comparison between a Narendra Modi and a Blanket Weaver – the original and the trite, the doer and the nag.
Narendra Modi must not be contrite about the actions of criminals.
I am unconvinced that Narendra Modi did not do enough to curb violence during the 2002 riots. He went on television the first day itself and appealed for calm explicitly saying that violence is not the solution. This is Narendra Modi’s speech that was telecast on Feb 28, 2002—the very day that riots began.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIRMR8zW ... r_embedded
He ordered curfew and gave shoot-at-sight orders in Godhra immediately after the burning of the karsevaks and deployed the army the very next day. He requested his neighboring Congress-ruled states for critically needed police personnel but they refused!
(Watch the clip. At 4:30sec, Narendra Modi reveals that Digvijay Singh was one of the three Congress Chief Ministers who refused to help Gujarat upon receiving a faxed letter for help from Narendra Modi as soon as the riots began.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSkEZ9hc ... r_embedded
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Supreme Court of India notes that the police did not discriminate against any community while trying to control the riots.[3] Further, Narendra Modi has not been charged for any wrongdoing under any law. He has been examined and exonerated by the SIT. How shameless will the Blanket Weavers continue to be?
Most importantly, by not discriminating who the fruits of development should reach (the waters of the Narmada reach all Gujaratis as does the 24/7 electricity), he has created conditions necessary for communal harmony and real debate between communities to finally take off. It is clear that this will defeat the very purpose of The Blanket and force Blanket Weavers out of work.
It requires oodles of courage, Naina, to maintain one’s integrity and sanity in the face of outright character assassination of the kind that the Blanket Weavers subjected Narendra Modi to for over a decade. Narendra Modi could well take them all to court. But I’m convinced he will not do so. That will go against his personal philosophy. He is a true educator.
Narendra Modi’s thinking is different. It informs his approach to problem-solving.
Modi—the politician
The process of sincerely learning about yourself and others automatically imparts vision to your thinking. You begin to see all the different ways in which the last mile can be bridged. Your mind very naturally starts thinking in the solution space rather than groveling in the problem space. You are several steps ahead of others and become fit to lead and show the way. As Narendra Modi is and does.
In yet another fantastic display of extempore public speaking, Narendra Modi told his largely awestruck audience at the recent India Today Conclave, “Our mindset is our biggest problem; why don’t we convert problems into opportunities?” To my jolly mind this evokes mirthful visions of how he has kept, over the same past decade, his favorite Blanket Weavers – some even Rhodes Scholars and Harvard/Columbia/Oxbridge attendees, I hear – leashed and ready to do his bidding. As Mark Twain once said, “Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed”.
Narendra Modi is an enlightened politician. Nothing about him is petty. If he refuses to accept a skullcap in public, he is sending out a message against tokenism and appeasement. He is willing to take the brickbats for acting according to his convictions. Like he did for removing roadside temples that encroached upon and hindered development of public infrastructure. He educates as he goes along, is a true reformist because he leads by example, and is a powerhouse of ideas who thinks out of the box—constantly. He is a true integrator and is only called divisive by unimaginative Blanket Weavers.
Narendra Modi knows that time is limited. He must do as much as he can in whatever time Gujaratis have given him to do it in. He has not let them down. Beyond Gujarat he understands that India has a limited demographic dividend vis-à-vis the rest of the world and a current democratic dividend vis-à-vis China. He tries to articulate his sense of urgency at every chance he gets – India must not lose this opportunity to bridge the last mile for its multitudes. He constantly shows us the way: Youth Power; Mother Power; P2G2; skill/scale/speed; minimum government; privatisation; decentralisation of power; technology to transparency; institutionalisation and policy-driven state to fewer corrupt decision makers; democracy cannot be restricted to elections – we must all become democrats in the true spirit; dream about doing something and not about becoming someone.
And the Blanket Weavers take him back to 2002. At every chance they get.
* * *
Happily, Naina, there is a growing army of Angulimal-esque observers who also seem to have figured all this out in their own way and find themselves returning to personal sanity. More power to these recent connoisseurs of powerful cognitive dissonance for they are the upset ones who will now begin to expose The Blanket and its Weavers in all earnest. They understand the stakes. They know now that Narendra Modi has worked and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure last mile integration of every Indian. Watch for more and more commentators bringing out the truth behind the hateful campaign against Narendra Modi in the coming days. Let the fun begin.
We are not all the same. Narendra Modi is excitingly different.
So get busy inviting Shri Modi to your university! Ask him theoretical questions about political science, about inclusive and sustainable development, about the amazing Sabarmati riverfront project, about how he views history and geography, about the constitution and its implementation, about how to reorient the bureaucracy toward the electors and away from the elected, about the role of technology in bringing about transparency and reducing corruption, about challenges in policy-making for the future, and about The Blanket! Is there anyone in India who can give better answers to these truly fascinating questions? Sonia Gandhi? Manmohan Singh? Rahul Gandhi? Sachin Pilot? Jyotiraditya Scindia? Jitin Prasada? Milind Deora? Akhilesh Yadav? Insert First Name Famous Family Name?
* * *
Notes
[1] Worse, huddling under The Blanket has become our first reflex and that is a natural-debate smotherer. We see this all around us: Some of its symptoms are tokenism, appeasement, political correctness and an uncomfortable silence on so-called “sensitive” issues. In India, too.Malhotra has taken a highly original and thought provoking approach with his book being considered for discussions in social psychology classes in major universities. He claims that far from being isolationist or polarising, sincere uncompetitive examination of difference is “simply a way to learn from one another while serving as the basis for harmony and creative evolution”. In my view, it is a way to reaffirm our respect for each other while simultaneously rejecting the oppressive homogeneity forced upon us by Blanket Weavers, that is: a) by the naïve champions of false, brittle unity -those who largely see things in black and white; b) by the sly segregators enabling divide-and-rule under The Blanket; and c) by those I call “slyïve” irritants because they are both naïve and sly but are driven by narcissism and/or greed and thus commit more obvious mistakes publicly. I am hoping,Naina, that you and many of your friends will in due course get objective, unemotional and down-to-the-roots discussion of difference back in our public discourse. Only that will successfully create the much-needed breach in The Blanket. And what a breath of fresh air that will be!
[2] See Footnote 1 above for my classification of Blanket Weavers. Identifying Blanket Weavers is important so that honest debate can occur, but that is a subject for another letter. Briefly: I have found those of the likes of Madhu Trehan and Abhinandan Sekhri to be the naïve champions – frequently missing crucial big and small pieces of the puzzle and wondering, “Sigh! Why can’t we all just get along?” The sly segregators – also the primary Weavers – are those like Ram Guha, Romila Thapar (the queen bee Marxist historian and cousin of a TV anchor with similar leanings), Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Teesta Setalvad, Arundhati Roy and The Hindu drones (such as N Ram,Siddharth Varadarajan, et al). Their loud anachronistic looms need to be systematically targeted and dismantled in honest public debates by all lovers of what India stands for: plurality and mutual respect. Then there are those mediocre enfants terribles of Indian TV debates – like the Rajdeeps, Barkhas, Arnabs, Sagarikas—the slyïve irritants who inform the naïve champions and aid the sly segregators, knowingly or unknowingly, for personal gratification alone. Perhaps too slyïve for their own good as Radiagate has demonstrated. Mercifully, what I allow on my TV screen is entirely in my hands. (As an exercise, Naina, what kind of Blanket Weavers do you suppose the Markandeya Katjus of India are? Naïve champions, sly segregators or slyïve irritants?)
[3] Supreme Court of India constituted Special Investigation Team’s report: “Report in Compliance to the Order dtd 12.09.2011 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the Complaint dtd 08.06.2006 of Smt. Jakia Nasim Ahesan Jafri”, Vol I, pp 216-217.
Interestingly, the article appeared in Newslaundry... the web news service where Madhu Trehan (sister of India Today group's Aroon Purie) interviews other leading figures in the media to keep them accountable.
SALUTING MODI AND HIS LAST MILE
http://www.newslaundry.com/2013/04/salu ... last-mile/
An open letter to Ms Naina, one of the students from Delhi Unviersity who had protested outside SRCC when Modi had come to speak to there.
Dr Milind Misra
US
Ms Naina
Delhi University
March 16, 2013
Dear Naina,
Okay, so you politely rejected last week my gentle suggestion to organise an invitation to Narendra Modi to speak at your university. The reason you gave was that when he spoke nextdoor at the Shri Ram College of Commerce, some students had become violent on the street outside. The fundamental reason, which became apparent later in our conversation, was really your differences with Narendra Modi as a person, his thinking and his politics.
Permit me to make a renewed pitch.
I will do so by stating my own identification with Narendra Modi – the individual, the intellectual and the politician.
Before I start, however, let me highlight that I have now lived in the United States for over two decades. I came to the US before cellphones and the Internet – at a time when making a phone call to India was prohibitively high, and somewhat of a luxury personally. There were very few sources of news from India and India was not a topic discussed regularly in US newspapers or on US television. As far as I was concerned, it was all rather stifling. But global news became rapidly accessible once the Internet took off shortly after you, Naina, were born. And what a breath of fresh air that was! Indeed, several years before the tragic communal riots in Gujarat – hungry for news and like a pup greeting a master come home – I was accessing almost 120 newspapers from around the globe, online and on a regular basis. More than half of these were Indian newspapers.
I quickly became aware that a newspaper has a preferred point of view.
I became aware that besides their frontend – reporters, anchors and editors -newspapers and television channels have an associated backend, too, which may comprise an often layered and sometimes inexplicable list of investors, patrons, backers, sponsors, stakeholders, advisors and interested parties.
(Here I grew up a little and realised that not everyone is a saint.)
I became aware, more gradually, that news can be manipulated and even manufactured. I began to see through common psychological operations or Psy Ops.
Later, after the Gujarat riots, as television networks in India took advantage of better worldwide Internet connectivity and bandwidth, I became aware of the implications of the term “conflict entrepreneurship”.
Recently, I have become aware of sociolinguistics, pragmatics and social engineering. I struggle today to personally put all this in a meaningful overarching context but I am amazed how useful this pursuit is already beginning to appear. Pieces are slowly falling into place. I am growing once again and realising that news is not my master. And what a breath of fresh air that is.
* * *
So why and how do I identify with Narendra Modi?
For an Indian-American like me it should be no surprise that I am reminded everyday of the Indian in that hyphenation. By now, pleasantly. I became comfortable being me once I found that I was spending precious energy in creating elaborate defenses during my initial assimilation within the American milieu. That felt truly liberating. And yet, something had been missing since. Despite routine, healthy, warm, rigorous, substantial and productive interaction with other dazzlingly hyphenated Americans there still lingered this curious feeling of distance between them and me. We weren’t connecting at some elusive, but essential level. It resembled the last mile problem for cable networks.
My long search for an answer led me to the revealing expression – “difference anxiety”. It was coined recently by the pioneering Indian-American thinker, Rajiv Malhotra, who defines it as “the mental uneasiness caused by the perception of difference combined with a desire to diminish, conceal or eradicate it”. All this time I was unconsciously hiding behind the reductionist aphorism “we are all one”. So were all the other hyphenations. Dialogue was informal and fun and perhaps that’s why we always chose to relegate discussion about sundry elephants in the room to a more appropriately somber future setting. Malhotra has prompted me to now firmly believe that we were all wrong to shy away from learning about our difference.
We’re not all the same.
Obvious as the above is, Malhotra’s advocacy of scrutinising, highlighting and understanding difference flies in the face of our contemporary habit of throwing a tentative blanket of oneness over our collective self – let’s call it The Blanket.Our fear of offending someone else forces us to take the easy way out and huddle hurriedly under The Blanket. This does more harm than good.[1]
We’re not all the same. Narendra Modi is also different.
Modi—the individual
The first prerequisite for getting over difference anxiety is to know all you can about your own identity and find your personal bearings. This is a difficult task. It involves developing a deep understanding about your own social, economic, religious and linguistic frames of reference. It needs an active inquiring mind and great personal courage to peacefully resolve many of the confusions that this churning necessarily generates. A biographical documentary by India TV suggests that Narendra Modi possessed both those ingredients in abundance from an early age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... xi1PP53skE
Several things stand out in that documentary. By some standards, Narendra Modi comes from an ordinary home and had ordinary friends and schooling. By my standards, as a child he displayed extraordinary courage (played with river crocodiles), self-awareness (stayed silent when troubled), curiosity (was invariably found at the local library), originality (wrote, directed and acted in a play with a strong social message), and problem-solving (loved science and experimenting). All these sterling qualities were reflected in his strongly independent decision to leave home at the age of 17 in search of his identity. Even more impressive was the way he went about assuaging his family members- particularly his mother – about his decision. Which suggests to me a strong-minded, yet deeply sensitive and inclusive nature.All those qualities impress and inspire me as an Indian-American, too, for they are exactly the ones I have had to develop myself to explore my own identity in a different land.
Naina, we are looking here at a truly extraordinary personality.Someone who was kept away from us by his political opponents and their pet Blanket Weavers[2] via a vicious, false and increasingly Weaver-embarrassing vilification campaign.
Narendra Modi is different. Mainly, it is his thinking that sets him apart.
Modi—the intellectual
The other requirement for successfully resolving difference anxiety is to understand others. This is an even more difficult task. The difficulty arises from seeing beyond your own nose, conquering personal arrogance and developing intellectual honesty. These are the hard to find but necessary ingredients for developing a personal philosophy to help you overcome difference and navigate pitfalls and challenges thrown your way. Narendra Modi has given innumerable examples of his extremely well-developed personal philosophy. It has served him well and consistently prevented him from falling for traps that go against his convictions.
For example, the main grouse of the Blanket Weavers has been, “But, but, but! He hasn’t apologised!” What this arrogant bunch is really upset about is, “How dare this different man defy our standards of propriety?” It betrays their difference anxiety. It calls attention to the stunted or totally lacking personal philosophies of the accusing Weavers. It also underscores the Weavers’ role as conflict entrepreneurs who have benefited professionally from their frequently comical anti-Modi stance. Comical because there simply is no comparison between a Narendra Modi and a Blanket Weaver – the original and the trite, the doer and the nag.
Narendra Modi must not be contrite about the actions of criminals.
I am unconvinced that Narendra Modi did not do enough to curb violence during the 2002 riots. He went on television the first day itself and appealed for calm explicitly saying that violence is not the solution. This is Narendra Modi’s speech that was telecast on Feb 28, 2002—the very day that riots began.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIRMR8zW ... r_embedded
He ordered curfew and gave shoot-at-sight orders in Godhra immediately after the burning of the karsevaks and deployed the army the very next day. He requested his neighboring Congress-ruled states for critically needed police personnel but they refused!
(Watch the clip. At 4:30sec, Narendra Modi reveals that Digvijay Singh was one of the three Congress Chief Ministers who refused to help Gujarat upon receiving a faxed letter for help from Narendra Modi as soon as the riots began.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSkEZ9hc ... r_embedded
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Supreme Court of India notes that the police did not discriminate against any community while trying to control the riots.[3] Further, Narendra Modi has not been charged for any wrongdoing under any law. He has been examined and exonerated by the SIT. How shameless will the Blanket Weavers continue to be?
Most importantly, by not discriminating who the fruits of development should reach (the waters of the Narmada reach all Gujaratis as does the 24/7 electricity), he has created conditions necessary for communal harmony and real debate between communities to finally take off. It is clear that this will defeat the very purpose of The Blanket and force Blanket Weavers out of work.
It requires oodles of courage, Naina, to maintain one’s integrity and sanity in the face of outright character assassination of the kind that the Blanket Weavers subjected Narendra Modi to for over a decade. Narendra Modi could well take them all to court. But I’m convinced he will not do so. That will go against his personal philosophy. He is a true educator.
Narendra Modi’s thinking is different. It informs his approach to problem-solving.
Modi—the politician
The process of sincerely learning about yourself and others automatically imparts vision to your thinking. You begin to see all the different ways in which the last mile can be bridged. Your mind very naturally starts thinking in the solution space rather than groveling in the problem space. You are several steps ahead of others and become fit to lead and show the way. As Narendra Modi is and does.
In yet another fantastic display of extempore public speaking, Narendra Modi told his largely awestruck audience at the recent India Today Conclave, “Our mindset is our biggest problem; why don’t we convert problems into opportunities?” To my jolly mind this evokes mirthful visions of how he has kept, over the same past decade, his favorite Blanket Weavers – some even Rhodes Scholars and Harvard/Columbia/Oxbridge attendees, I hear – leashed and ready to do his bidding. As Mark Twain once said, “Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed”.
Narendra Modi is an enlightened politician. Nothing about him is petty. If he refuses to accept a skullcap in public, he is sending out a message against tokenism and appeasement. He is willing to take the brickbats for acting according to his convictions. Like he did for removing roadside temples that encroached upon and hindered development of public infrastructure. He educates as he goes along, is a true reformist because he leads by example, and is a powerhouse of ideas who thinks out of the box—constantly. He is a true integrator and is only called divisive by unimaginative Blanket Weavers.
Narendra Modi knows that time is limited. He must do as much as he can in whatever time Gujaratis have given him to do it in. He has not let them down. Beyond Gujarat he understands that India has a limited demographic dividend vis-à-vis the rest of the world and a current democratic dividend vis-à-vis China. He tries to articulate his sense of urgency at every chance he gets – India must not lose this opportunity to bridge the last mile for its multitudes. He constantly shows us the way: Youth Power; Mother Power; P2G2; skill/scale/speed; minimum government; privatisation; decentralisation of power; technology to transparency; institutionalisation and policy-driven state to fewer corrupt decision makers; democracy cannot be restricted to elections – we must all become democrats in the true spirit; dream about doing something and not about becoming someone.
And the Blanket Weavers take him back to 2002. At every chance they get.
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Happily, Naina, there is a growing army of Angulimal-esque observers who also seem to have figured all this out in their own way and find themselves returning to personal sanity. More power to these recent connoisseurs of powerful cognitive dissonance for they are the upset ones who will now begin to expose The Blanket and its Weavers in all earnest. They understand the stakes. They know now that Narendra Modi has worked and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure last mile integration of every Indian. Watch for more and more commentators bringing out the truth behind the hateful campaign against Narendra Modi in the coming days. Let the fun begin.
We are not all the same. Narendra Modi is excitingly different.
So get busy inviting Shri Modi to your university! Ask him theoretical questions about political science, about inclusive and sustainable development, about the amazing Sabarmati riverfront project, about how he views history and geography, about the constitution and its implementation, about how to reorient the bureaucracy toward the electors and away from the elected, about the role of technology in bringing about transparency and reducing corruption, about challenges in policy-making for the future, and about The Blanket! Is there anyone in India who can give better answers to these truly fascinating questions? Sonia Gandhi? Manmohan Singh? Rahul Gandhi? Sachin Pilot? Jyotiraditya Scindia? Jitin Prasada? Milind Deora? Akhilesh Yadav? Insert First Name Famous Family Name?
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Notes
[1] Worse, huddling under The Blanket has become our first reflex and that is a natural-debate smotherer. We see this all around us: Some of its symptoms are tokenism, appeasement, political correctness and an uncomfortable silence on so-called “sensitive” issues. In India, too.Malhotra has taken a highly original and thought provoking approach with his book being considered for discussions in social psychology classes in major universities. He claims that far from being isolationist or polarising, sincere uncompetitive examination of difference is “simply a way to learn from one another while serving as the basis for harmony and creative evolution”. In my view, it is a way to reaffirm our respect for each other while simultaneously rejecting the oppressive homogeneity forced upon us by Blanket Weavers, that is: a) by the naïve champions of false, brittle unity -those who largely see things in black and white; b) by the sly segregators enabling divide-and-rule under The Blanket; and c) by those I call “slyïve” irritants because they are both naïve and sly but are driven by narcissism and/or greed and thus commit more obvious mistakes publicly. I am hoping,Naina, that you and many of your friends will in due course get objective, unemotional and down-to-the-roots discussion of difference back in our public discourse. Only that will successfully create the much-needed breach in The Blanket. And what a breath of fresh air that will be!
[2] See Footnote 1 above for my classification of Blanket Weavers. Identifying Blanket Weavers is important so that honest debate can occur, but that is a subject for another letter. Briefly: I have found those of the likes of Madhu Trehan and Abhinandan Sekhri to be the naïve champions – frequently missing crucial big and small pieces of the puzzle and wondering, “Sigh! Why can’t we all just get along?” The sly segregators – also the primary Weavers – are those like Ram Guha, Romila Thapar (the queen bee Marxist historian and cousin of a TV anchor with similar leanings), Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Teesta Setalvad, Arundhati Roy and The Hindu drones (such as N Ram,Siddharth Varadarajan, et al). Their loud anachronistic looms need to be systematically targeted and dismantled in honest public debates by all lovers of what India stands for: plurality and mutual respect. Then there are those mediocre enfants terribles of Indian TV debates – like the Rajdeeps, Barkhas, Arnabs, Sagarikas—the slyïve irritants who inform the naïve champions and aid the sly segregators, knowingly or unknowingly, for personal gratification alone. Perhaps too slyïve for their own good as Radiagate has demonstrated. Mercifully, what I allow on my TV screen is entirely in my hands. (As an exercise, Naina, what kind of Blanket Weavers do you suppose the Markandeya Katjus of India are? Naïve champions, sly segregators or slyïve irritants?)
[3] Supreme Court of India constituted Special Investigation Team’s report: “Report in Compliance to the Order dtd 12.09.2011 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the Complaint dtd 08.06.2006 of Smt. Jakia Nasim Ahesan Jafri”, Vol I, pp 216-217.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
+1Vipin_Upadhyay wrote:I think it's about time this dhaga is moved to main forum!!!Muppalla wrote:They all read our posts. Just don't think this is goofa and no one sees us.
This is the most talked about topic in Indian media anyway so why hide it here?!
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
+1 Please move it.
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
+1.
The general readers should know that they can study all NM related discussions in one place. And big thanks to Theoji for articulating the questions and concerns that a common anti-NM person (or even a fence sitter) would have without fearing the brickbats (I am the first one to do so).
The general readers should know that they can study all NM related discussions in one place. And big thanks to Theoji for articulating the questions and concerns that a common anti-NM person (or even a fence sitter) would have without fearing the brickbats (I am the first one to do so).
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Ahem ahem, ain't I the first to bring the Queen bee? Where is a separate dhaga for SwamyGSahasranamam
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Reading at various MMS statements on his 3rd term it looks like
MMS must have told Queen-termite that if they want to continue an appointed PM then he should continue as the PM instead of looking at PC/AKA/DR. Doggie raja must have got wind of this thought and that is why he made that comment about two power centers. To counter this MMS told media that if RahulPappu want to become the PM, he will make the seat vacant.
So MMS' message is clear. If RG is not ready then he will continue as PM. It should be either pappu or moorkh; no place for slavepiggis.
MMS must have told Queen-termite that if they want to continue an appointed PM then he should continue as the PM instead of looking at PC/AKA/DR. Doggie raja must have got wind of this thought and that is why he made that comment about two power centers. To counter this MMS told media that if RahulPappu want to become the PM, he will make the seat vacant.
So MMS' message is clear. If RG is not ready then he will continue as PM. It should be either pappu or moorkh; no place for slavepiggis.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
@AntarikshG 3h
Why Congress finds Modi as Yamaraj beautifully explaained by Short Ramanand sagar video
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1082034
Why Congress finds Modi as Yamaraj beautifully explaained by Short Ramanand sagar video
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1082034
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Amol.D wrote:There is hope, when the youth thinks this way and sees through the bullshit : http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... od-related
I enjoyed it, especially with the sold out media walli trying her best 'but dont you think when raul said blah blah appealed to you..' only to be spurned each and every time,,,
I didn't watch the entire video, but the delusion of P-sec non-sense is pretty deeply sowed in at least a few candidates.
there were comments like "tears of millions of people" in "Godhra carnage"....I had to roll my eyes at that. and the blame was put squarely on Modi, when the courts have acquitted Modi of all wrong-doing and involvement.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
WOW! WOW! The kids get it except for few dhimmis.Sushupti wrote:Surprisingly highly unbiased program from NDTV
Brand Modi vs Brand Rahul: India votes on speeches
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... o-featured
One guy called him out for acting as if he lost the papers. The scums of hollow CON DIEnasty is being slowly perceived by people.
But looks like the PAID MEDIA succeeds little bit by putting some thoughts "He said I so he is a dictator kind of garbage" or used by low self esteem dienasty supporters to push back against Modi since they can't say any thing positive about Pappu or Pappu ki Amma.
Probably Sunetra choudhary will be fired
Last edited by vijayk on 06 Apr 2013 03:52, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
+1 Please moveanmol wrote:+1 Please move it.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Modi to address 15 poll conventions in Karnataka
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/k ... 581287.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/k ... 581287.ece
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
I didn't expect this. Seriously.. not from NDTV or the Yuppie crowd. And how the F the telecasted this ?
There were 4 anti-modi people. THAT IS IT. Rest were Modi fans. Truly, I find this shocking... expected lot more dhimmis.
And seriously, I wont be shocked if they would fire Sunetra.
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Karnataka is a lost cause. The paid media is going to milk this for all it's worth and brand this as Modi's failure after the elections.nawabs wrote:Modi to address 15 poll conventions in Karnataka
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/k ... 581287.ece
Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Pappu is smarter than his semi-literate Mom.
Son outdoes mom on big-stage debut
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130406/j ... V9jxqLmGVo
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
BJP should not rush NaMo into Karnataka, their is strong anti-incumb. factor with Yeddy exploits all over the place.
In this day, when DIE media is hell-bent on destroying any personality who is remotely Nationalistic, Modi brand should be developed with utmost care. Moreover, it will give anti-Modi group within BJP a ready-made excuse if election outcome is negative. A dozen speeches by NaMo may not change the mind of voters in Karnataka who have seen 4 years of ordinary governance & media propaganda.
In this day, when DIE media is hell-bent on destroying any personality who is remotely Nationalistic, Modi brand should be developed with utmost care. Moreover, it will give anti-Modi group within BJP a ready-made excuse if election outcome is negative. A dozen speeches by NaMo may not change the mind of voters in Karnataka who have seen 4 years of ordinary governance & media propaganda.
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Re: Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India
Spoke with a family member in AP who has good pulse on Aam-admi preferences.
Until a few weeks ago he used to say YSRCP will win majority MLA as well as MP seats. He used to say 'so what' when I raise the question of YSJ's corruption and his Christian base. He used to say who is not appeasing to minorities and who is not corrupt when he used to talk about public perception.
Today when I asked about the prospect of YSRCP, he says people are losing interest in them big time. The new wave is Modi and everyone will be swept away in that. He also says probably CBN will make a pre-poll arrangement with NM (overtly or covertly) so CBN can win local while NM take the center stage.
People are responding to NaMo's Bharatiya vision.
Until a few weeks ago he used to say YSRCP will win majority MLA as well as MP seats. He used to say 'so what' when I raise the question of YSJ's corruption and his Christian base. He used to say who is not appeasing to minorities and who is not corrupt when he used to talk about public perception.
Today when I asked about the prospect of YSRCP, he says people are losing interest in them big time. The new wave is Modi and everyone will be swept away in that. He also says probably CBN will make a pre-poll arrangement with NM (overtly or covertly) so CBN can win local while NM take the center stage.
People are responding to NaMo's Bharatiya vision.