Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India

[SanjayC]

Sense of entitlement is beyond belief of all these congress johnnies, whether it be the nehru clan or there hangers on like MMS, Chidu and Khurshid. They actually have a huge superiority complex. They think they are really above the people, who will vote for them no matter what.

Like the Brits, Congis think themselves as the natural rulers of India.

[ramana]

Folks I dont want to get the Forum dragged to presstitue level by discussing the non-issue of Modi's marriage. How are we different if we go that rat hole?
So no more Modi's marriage in this thread. Kapiche!
ramana

[vivek.rao]

PEOPLE AS PAWNS

The audacity of the Nehru-Gandhis in respect of servicing Sonia’s ambition for her son is nearly unbelievable, and they had a willing and eager pawn for this, namely Manmohan Singh. This writer has not read Sanjaya Baru’s account but apparently, outside the portions sensationalized by the press, he has been quite charitable to Manmohan Singh. Perhaps that is a courtesy extended to an elderly former employer, who may have mentored him in critical stages of his career, and it is possible that Baru genuinely admires Manmohan Singh’s academic achievements and his record as Union finance minister.

But regardless of such empathizing and unmindful of who made him prime minister, the fact remains that Manmohan Singh held to contempt the oath taken to protect and promote the country’s interests. That oath made him answerable only to his conscience, the Constitution, and to Parliament. He betrayed that oath by conceding to and colluding with the designs of 10 Janpath to put India on a standby mode until Rahul Gandhi came to terms with his inner demons. Mega corruption and epic venalities were encouraged and condoned, but not a whimper from Manmohan Singh. Because Rahul Gandhi could not or would not grow, the whole country had to join in being Peter Pan. Bright ministers like Sachin Pilot had to vegetate.

All this is not new revelation. But its audacity is hard to get over. Manmohan Singh’s prime-ministry was cynically and wilfully destroyed so that Rahul Gandhi would emerge shining. It is not about Manmohan Singh or the government, although they matter. It is at bottom about the people of this country. A nation of one and a quarter billion elected a government. Rather than govern, administrate honestly, and bring joy and content to people, the Nehru-Gandhis warped the state to suit their agenda. Loot was ordered.

Everyone was encouraged to loot, so that blame could be dispersed. And an honest face was put to all this blackguardism.

But for Narendra Modi, the plan would have succeeded: portray Manmohan Singh as the villain, the villainy shared with the leaderless and rudderless Bharatiya Janata Party, and extol Rahul Gandhi as the saviour. Modi has still some distance and days to go for the finish line, but the hysteria he has provoked in the Nehru-Gandhis is classical and revealing. 10 Janpath had the Delhi leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party fixed. They were putty in the hands of Congress machinators. They were forewarned about Modi, the Nemesis-in-waiting, but still too late.

If you haven’t noticed something, this election has become a battle between the Nehru-Gandhis and Narendra Modi, where the Congress has been reduced to a silly sideshow with squawking puppets like Anand Sharma. If Benares is any indication, the people are with Modi. The Bharatiya Janata Party will recover from the thraldom that its Delhi durbar has consigned it to, and there are overwhelming signs of it. But the 130-year-old Indian National Congress is tottering because the Nehru-Gandhis have brought it to its last legs. This comes of deceit and of being clever.

[Anantha]

https://twitter.com/Purple_Truth/status ... 97/photo/1

Sampath is another Sonia stooge

[member_28352]

Without attacking the family directly it will be more beneficial to go after all those ministers and officials who violated their oath of office to show files to SG/RG when they were not part of govt. Essentially send a signal to all potential and current collaborators that any association with the family will be very expensive.

[ramana]

Guys, how do I combat this article from Ashutosh Varshney-http://indianexpress.com/article/opinio ... balance/3/

What to overlook, what to watch out for, in the prospect of a Modi government.

Unlike the radical simplicity of the economic debate over Narendra Modi — economic growth versus social indicators — the political debate continues to be highly contentious. A sense of exhilaration in one camp and steeply rising anxiety in the other have polarised the atmosphere, reducing space for rational argumentation, a space we need to open up for scrutiny and debate.

I would like to suggest that the political arguments about Modi fall into three categories. The first is the argument about inner truths (androoni sach). This argument identifies Modi as a diehard Hindu nationalist, whose hatred for the minorities, especially Muslims, is deep and unchangeable. He allowed a pogrom to take place in Gujarat in 2002; he never visited Muslim relief camps; his Gujarat Shining stops at the Muslim ghetto of Juhapura. If a man like Modi, the argument continues, is allowed to rule India, the nation will descend into a deep communal abyss, even fascism. India will become a greater Gujarat.

{Numerous probes by specially constituted bodies have found no malfeasance by Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Hence he starts out with a false argument which is obviously untrue. So what else is true in rest of his article?}

For two reasons, the discipline of political science, which I have taught for two decades, fundamentally disagrees with this view. First, we know of no theory that would view the future as a linear extension of the past. Second, and more important, this view is “institutions-free”. Politics works with and through institutions — parties, parliaments, constitutions, interest groups, federalism, oversight agencies, non-governmental organisations etc. The inner truths of leaders are constrained by the institutional frameworks within which the leaders must function. This second view can be called the institutional approach (sansthhaayik vichardhara).

What are the implications of this view for Indian politics? Let us look at the institutions exercising oversight on the government. The Election Commission exists to make sure that the incumbents do not abuse their power over the police and bureaucracy to steal elections; India’s incumbents have often lost. The Supreme Court, which has increasingly exercised its power over the executive, sometimes overzealously so, is unlikely to become a proxy for the executive’s wishes. Some policy decisions in India can be made through executive fiat, but most such decisions must seek parliamentary approval before becoming the official policy or law. India’s Parliament can make it very difficult for the executive simply by not functioning, as has repeatedly happened over the last 15 years. The government needs to find a way to cooperate with Parliament to pass laws. India’s executive is not a lawmaking body.

{Starting with a false argument he comes up with strawmen checks and balances and reassures himself the sasuage in his pants is something else. Genuis doesnt understand in the Westminister system the executive has the nmbers to pass laws in the Lok Sabha. And COngress has shown how its doen even if there are no numbers when it divided Andhra Pradesh without the people's consent.}


Finally, if Modi wishes to bring crony capitalism from Gujarat to Delhi, as some fear, he will have to deal with the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which has become extraordinarily powerful, as was demonstrated in the 2G case. The CAG basically shook UPA2, inaugurating its decline. The CAG has acquired the kind of power that the EC came to have in the 1990s.

{This is a joke. Congress brought cornyism in capitalism with its licesnece permit raj, journalism with rNDTV, and the officialdom and every state institution. It has packed the EC with its minons who think their initials stand for Elect Congress!}


Another part of the institutional view concerns how Indian politics handles the nation’s well-known diversities of religion, language, caste and tribe. To twist Immanuel Kant a little, no straight thing can be made out of the crooked timber of India’s diversities. India can’t be reduced to the domination of one religion, one language, one caste or one tribe. For national power, inter-group alliances must be made.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric has been missing in Modi’s campaign. Instead, he has concentrated on governance and development. Modi’s move away from strict Hindu nationalism is consistent with the political science research of the last several decades, which has argued that no leftwing or rightwing party can come to power in Delhi without moving towards the centre. At the state level, such takeovers are possible, but not at the national level.

The BJP’s manifesto for these elections illustrates this point further. To India’s Muslims, it promises the promotion of Urdu, empowerment of Waqf boards, preservation of Muslim cultural sites and establishment of interfaith organisations for the management of inter-religious relations. The standard Hindu nationalist tropes (Article 370, uniform civil code, Ram Temple) do appear in the manifesto, but from a political perspective, that cannot be called surprising. Because they are so unexpected, it is the Muslim concessions that are more striking. Whatever his inner truths, the institutional realities of India have pushed Modi away from the rightwing to the right of centre, thus far in rhetoric.

A third political argument is not institutions-free. But it talks about the weakness of institutions (kamzor sansthaayein). Writing in Outlook (April 28), Pranab Bardhan, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has provided the clearest articulation of this position: “Another common position I have noted some Indian journalists taking is that Indian democracy will ultimately ‘tame’ Modi, the checks and balances in our system will smooth his rough edges over time. First of all, our democratic institutions are not all that strong. Our elections are vigorous, but other essential parts of a democracy, like some basic human rights and certain regular procedures of accountability are fragile, even after all these years. One should not welcome further pressures on these institutions and procedures just for trying out a firebrand leader.”

Intellectually, this is the most serious political argument against Modi. It concedes that Modi will have to function in an institutional framework, but it believes that, other than the EC, India’s institutions are so weak that one can’t bet on the institutional taming of his firebrand politics.

Is this position tenable? In my view, it does not draw a sufficiently clear distinction between institutions directly under the executive (the bureaucracy, police and intelligence), which are undoubtedly weak, and the institutions that exercise oversight over the executive (not only the EC, but also the Supreme Court, Parliament and the CAG), which are not. On what grounds can we say that a Modi government, should it come to power, can bend these latter institutions to its will?

There is, of course, a historical example that can be readily deployed. In 1975, Indira Gandhi’s onslaughts managed to crush the institutions of oversight, or one by one, they simply fell in line. If Indira Gandhi could do it, one might ask, why can’t Narendra Modi? Indeed, some have explicitly drawn parallels between Indira and Modi.

In a deep political sense, this parallel cannot be right. Indira Gandhi was functioning in a political space still marked by the hegemony of the Congress party. The contemporary Indian polity is coalitional. This year’s NDA is a coalition of roughly as many parties as in 1999, if not more. Today, parties can have hegemony at the state level (the CPM in West Bengal until 2011, the BJP in Gujarat for over a decade), but no party has hegemonic control over Delhi. If the oversight institutions are pressed too hard, India’s raucous Parliament can simply make it impossible for the government to function.

Another possibility is worth considering. What if one or two of the powerful women of Indian politics turn out to be necessary for executive formation after May 16? If needed to get the NDA to 272, a J. Jayalalithaa, a Mayawati, let alone a Mamata Banerjee now set on a head-on collision, can tame even the most tez tarraar (firebrand) leader in Delhi.


{ Again strawmen or strawwomen. Mamta Didi has shown how far from mainstream her version of corny capitalism with paintings and chit fund scams is. As for JJ, her state is now a hot bed of Muslim terrorism supported by ISI from Sri Lanka. She has to clean house first. Also don't forget she was one of those who brought down the ABV govt in 1999 and exposed the country to instability during Kargil criiss. And Mayawati is fighting with her back to wall as her supporters are deserting her for development. Its anew India where old formuale dont work.}

None of this means that we should not have any anxieties about Modi. But the problems have to be construed differently. How will Modi, once in power, deal with the organisations that work as his foot soldiers: the RSS, the Bajrang Dal, the VHP? These are some of the most illiberal organisations in India. They have a track record of ideological excesses, of harassing and intimidating those who do not agree, of orchestrating anti-minority virulence. Modi might need these foot soldiers in the election campaign. But once in power, will he control them, will he let them run amok, or will he not be able to rein them in even if he wants to?

This is the most important institutional question about Modi. But it is not the one about his ability to crush India’s institutions, seamlessly ushering in fascism.

{Having exhausted all his strawman he now raises bogey of RSS and usual lies!!! With folks like him advising US no wonder their policy towards India is a mess.}


The writer, director of the India Initiative, Brown University and author, most recently, of ‘Battles Half Won: India’s Improbable Democracy’, is contributing editor of ‘The Indian Express’
express@expressindia.com

[Vayutuvan]

Imagine your opponent calls you as a family member and you snub him. How low can you go?

Noblesse oblige, whether it is a simple chaiwalah or an emperor.

"To be sure, if noblesse oblige, royalty must do so still more".

[ramana]

matrimc, Check your email from me.
will delete this after I know you did.

[suryag]

I am appalled at Bianca's statement in a rally that "I am Rajiv's daughter", did she take it literally?

[Sanku]

I am appalled at Bianca's statement in a rally that "I am Rajiv's daughter", did she take it literally?

Appalled ? I would have expected that a was a more appropriate reaction.

[Kati]

The main point: - has there been any PIL challenging EC's responsibility/power when it was
foind that 51lakh voters have been dropped from the list in Pune area? Why Shiv-Sena is not
making some halla on this issue? The same about rigging by TMC in WB.
This can put some continuous pressure on EC.

[amritk]

Maybe she really hates Modi and doesn't want to be associated with him. Modi may have meant well but the statement could seem presumptuous to some.

[member_22733]

I am appalled at Bianca's statement in a rally that "I am Rajiv's daughter", did she take it literally?

I hope she comes out with DNA tests to prove that she is the legitimate heir of the Gandy Dienasty.

[IndraD]

Repeatedly saying I am rajiv's daughter only means she doubts her mother

[chetak]

BJP played the congis who had an electoral orgasm prior to an electoral dysfunction......

Modi speech outside restricted area: Gujarat Police

A day after Narendra Modi was booked for making a speech at a polling booth while displaying BJP’s election symbol, a preliminary probe by Gujarat Police on Thursday found that the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate addressed the gathering outside the restricted 100-metre radius.

“Just like any other case, we will investigate this case to find out the facts such as whether Modi was inside the 100-metre radius of the polling booth. Our preliminary probe (has) revealed that authorities had marked that limit with a white strip outside the booth, and the Press conference was outside that limit,” said a senior officer of Detection of Crime Branch of Ahmedabad police, which today initiated the investigation.

FIR against Modi is nonsense

The Model Code for election prevents canvassing within 100 meters of polling stations.

An FIR was lodged against Modi on Wednesday under section 126 (1)(a) of the Representation of People Act on the orders of the Election Commission for holding a meeting at the polling station. The provision bans holding of public meetings during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the close of the poll.

A non-cognisable complaint was also filed against the TV channels which had broadcast the conference under Section 126 (1)(b) of the RP Act.

Modi’s selfie gets him the first FIR of his life

“There is only one FIR against Modi for violating 126(1)(a) of the RP Act and section 188 of Indian Penal Code for violating CrPC section 144, which prohibits more than four people from gathering for a specific purpose. This is a cognizable offence, which falls under the jurisdiction of police. Police inspector Harpal Rathod became the complainant on behalf of Government,” the officer said.

“Another complaint against TV channels has been filed under 126(1)(b) for telecasting Modi’s Press conference, it is not an FIR. It is a non-cognizable offence. We will approach the court and follow its order about the NC complaint as police cannot investigate NC complaint (on their own),” he said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer also said the charge under section 144 CrPC would not stand legal scrutiny.

“The charge against Modi under CrPC 144 will not stand the trial, as nobody can prove that all the mediapersons and common public were invited or called to the venue by Modi himself. Modi never sent SMS or called them,” he said.

The officer said the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate may not be necessarily called for questioning.

“Our line of investigation includes questioning people present at the time and acquiring video footage. However, it is not always necessary to question the accused. We may or may not call Modi for questioning,” he said.

“As per the RP Act, one can be sentenced to 2 years jail term and/ or fine, for the violation of Section 126(1)(a),” an official said.

[ManjaM]

Priyanka Gandhis statement is not surprising. What else was expected? A chaiwala OBC calling the heiress part of his family. How dare he. That right is reserved for people above the Gandhi family on the totem pole. Right now, there is no Indian who has the business to say that the Gandhis are like family to them. If HillaryC or Elizabeth of London had said that Priyanka was like a daughter, there will be be gleeful acceptance, not spiteful rejection.
A lesson to be learnt by people who buy into RaGas line of "Ham Dalit and pichde logo ko parivar ke thara manthe hain".

[Mihaylo]

Repeatedly saying I am rajiv's daughter only means she doubts her mother

Naah... She is eliciting sympathy by mentioning her dead father. Such a vile creature...

-M

[amdavadi]

Good job Guj police

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Ramana thanks a ton. Had to make short work of the FB taunter in the midst of work. So kind of dissed him off totally- "Realy you are citing of people Varshney". While his expectation was that I would try to put up a hurried rejoinder, by making fun of his Googling brown Univ+ Modi+ Violence+ RSS line shut the guy up quick time.

But thanks. In full dhoti shiver + Punch giver mode. This election is drawing out too long. Just got to dig deep and keep nailing the propagand*'s for two weeks more before the next round.

Till then, one last dhoti shiver and "Mudi will loose onree"

[harbans]

Manja ji, MOdi never said she is like his daughter or any such thing. I posted the unedited interview too. MSM channels like Timesnow spun it and made false claims and created controversy out of nothing. They tried to show NM as a village buffoon getting ripped by a smart fit for ruling Dynastic elite like Priyanka. It backfired. Modi comes out good and Priyanka like a braindead, immature, culturally dwarfed bewdi dynastic bimbo.

[SaiK]

so, then ECI does not know its lines? meaning there is boundary connection to who is riding their horses.

[pankajs]

Damad shree on ZeeTV primetime. Seems hard hitting going by the intro. Have just started watching.

Zee News ‏@ZeeNews 37m

Watch #DNA part-1: Revealed: Robert Vadra land deal details https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf8Gfhx-3N4 … @sudhirchaudhary

Zee News @ZeeNews · 1h

Watch #DNA part-2: Revealed: Robert Vadra land deal details- Part II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zGq-YzuR8w … @sudhirchaudhary

[Agnimitra]

Tunisia, Peru, Nigeria and now America to retrieve illegal money in Swiss banks: India?

Prosecutors in Washington are a few days away from criminally punishing two banks for hiding information about clients and account holders. While all eyes will be focused on this international case, this court action and others over the past 24 months are shaking the global banking and financial world in ways unknown earlier.

The decision to seek guilty pleas in what is seen as two of the most advanced investigations concerns the Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse for sheltering US citizens from American laws and France largest bank BNP Paribas for engaging in business with countries like Sudan which Washington has blacklisted. The decision – keenly watched on both sides of the Atlantic – could lead to a first guilty plea from a major bank in more than two decades.

The strategy is to punish bankers, not banks, a source in Geneva told The News Minute (TNM) following protests in the US asking if Wall Street was too big to fail because it had grown larger than the economy.

The US move comes fast on the heels of several countries retrieving their monies and assets illegally parked in Switzerland, a process that was set in motion some ten years ago and from which a host of countries have benefitted. Tunisia was the latest country to receive money and assets worth $40 million hidden away in Switzerland by deposed dictator Ben Ali.

In November 2013, US$700 million in Swiss bank accounts belonging to the late head of state General Sani Abacha was returned to Nigeria. The countries to which looted funds and assets have been returned are Peru (Montesinos case – 2005), the Philippines (Marcos case – 2003), Angola (2005) followed by several others in Europe including Germany.

In addition, the Swiss government also funded a civil society group to monitor the use of recovered monies in favour of a series of projects related to the country’s development.

Following the Arab Spring, nearly US $ 1.07 billion in stolen assets linked to dictators in four countries at the centre of the uprising – Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia – were blocked. Two hours after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced his resignation on February 11, 2011. In a detailed statement explaining their swift action on Mubarak’s wealth, the Swiss government said the Restitution of Illicit Assets Act (RIAA) which was enacted in February 2011 allowed the government to freeze money and assets before they fled.

All this begs a question – if countries like Peru and Tunisia are able to work their way through the Swiss legal system, why is India unable to do anything? Is the shoe on the other foot i.e. is India unwilling to officially find out what it has officiously known for at least a decade?

Figures about how much money from India – either evading tax or the result of criminal activities – are hard to come by and vary between US$1.3 trillion to US$2 billion. Last week Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said talks between Bern New Delhi were serious and continuous. “This is a matter where the Swiss Minister and I are discussing with each other how information into specific account (relating to black money) can be provided by the Swiss government to Indian government.”

In his two page letter to Switzerland in March 2014, Chidambaram had threatened to drag the country to multilateral for a like the G-20 for “continuing to block India’s request.”

The G-20 is a toothless organization of economic interests and the group had no international negotiating mandate in any country. In addition some of the G-20 countries have already retrieved their monies and assets from Switzerland so Chidambaram’s statement has impressed no one.

It may be recalled that l’affaire Bofors led to Swiss laws for mutual assistance in criminal matters to be strengthened barring criminals and other offenders from blocking cases in various Swiss courts before a final decision at the federal level.

Swiss Federal Police in a statement issued in January 1997 said,”The Bofors is a spectacular case which showed the weaknesses in Swiss law in matters of international assistance in penal matters." The office further said that in future the Swiss laws would be revised to prevent illegal and criminal account holders from delaying matters in Swiss courts.

For 24 years since New Delhi approached Switzerland to trace the Bofors bribes, successive governments have failed to retrieve illegal and criminal money deposited in Swiss banks. The moot question is not why governments have failed. The critical question is why Indian systems have failed.

Justice is not vengeance – that’s the message coming out of Wall Street and over the next few days the world of banking and finance will itself be in the witness box

[mayo]

Repeatedly saying I am rajiv's daughter only means she doubts her mother

Naah... She is eliciting sympathy by mentioning her dead father. Such a vile creature...

-M

Bianca stressed she only has one father.

[Sonugn]

Modi is a coward, I am not: Digvijaya on relationship with TV anchor

Digvijaya who stroked a controversy when he publically accepted his relationship with a woman anchor after photographs of the two surfaced on social networking platforms, was being compared to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi who for the first time acknowledged Jashodaben as his wife after over 40 years of their marriage while filing his nomination papers.

Speaking to media persons, Digvijaya called Modi a coward for keeping his marriage under the covers for all these years. "I don't hide my relationship, which Mr Modi does. I am absolutely clear in this. I am not a coward, which Mr Narendra Mod unfortunately is," he said.

Joker is back

[Yayavar]

Priyanka Gandhis statement is not surprising. What else was expected? A chaiwala OBC calling the heiress part of his family. How dare he. That right is reserved for people above the Gandhi family on the totem pole. Right now, there is no Indian who has the business to say that the Gandhis are like family to them. If HillaryC or Elizabeth of London had said that Priyanka was like a daughter, there will be be gleeful acceptance, not spiteful rejection.
A lesson to be learnt by people who buy into RaGas line of "Ham Dalit and pichde logo ko parivar ke thara manthe hain".

C'mon...dont give it a caste colour; you can say it is due to her considering her 'class' above him (chaiwalla to hieress in your comment). They are different things.

[SwamyG]

Priyanka's view on the "BettiGate" episode reveals a changing mindset among Indians - even many BRFites would share parts of it. It is the concept of Indic family, and how it is changing. What constitutes a family? What is the smallest component of a society? These are questions Indians and Westerners have answered differently.

In an Indian system, the relationship is not restricted to immediate biological relationship. I am the son of my biological father, however my paternal uncles would consider me as their son as well. Similarly I am the son of my maternal aunts (but not maternal uncles). One reason why some cousins are considered as brothers/sisters - on par with biological brothers/sisters. There are regional and community wise nuances and differences. My point is not to address those nuances threadbare, but to highlight the concept of individual, family and community has undergone changes.

So taking Modi and Priyanka's words/sentiments at their face value - they represent two contrasting ideas of family. Though Priyanka and Modi are not related, so my argument appears as a stretch, yet India is witnessing the changing landscape of communities and societies in these times we live in.

[johneeG]

SwamyG saar,
There is no 'contrasting ideas of family' or anything of that sort, saar. You just have a soft corner for Bianca. Anyway, Modi did not call Bianca as his daughter. He said she has every right to campaign for her mother just like every daughter has a right to campaign for the mother. Thats all. Bianca got unnecessarily worried and seems to have gone screaming that she is the daughter of Rajiv as if anyone doubted it. I think this insecurity is due to the allegations about family history where many theories float about fatherhood of the members of dynasty.

----
Its actually very interesting: The media keeps doing the same routine again and again... rinse and repeat. They seem to have hyped up Chacha similarly. Then, it was Maimuna. Then, Sanjeev. Then, Roberto. Then, Pappu. Now, even Bianca. Its the same routine with minor variations.

[ManjaM]

Harbansji, Thanks for the clarification. Media mischief again.

[suryag]

NaMo and NDA should form the govt even if they dont have absolute majority, Like PArameshwara drank halahal NaMo has to do this and initially do only the dev activities while slowly cleansing the establishment and the intel agencies and the administrative reforms to put the country back on track

elsewhere Bianca said Rajiv is my father in a rally when the majority of the poeple were not even aware of the DD Namo editing episode, the crowd would be thinking Why TH she is talking about who her father is

[vivek.rao]

^^ ha ha ...

Imagine a guy who does not know the context ....

Rajiv G is ur father? Why are you confirming now? Do you have any doubt? Does your mom has any doubt?

[Manish_Sharma]

^^Exactly Johnee ji. Today Aaj Tak even played continuously a news today, "Priyanka canvassed whole day without any security at all....." The media has fallen lower than olden days doordarshan itself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

priyanka's violent and angry reaction today has unmasked a big reality about the brother-sister. The reality is that they've been brought up like mughal prince & princess completely. Removed completely from the normal way of Indic life.

From close relatives to neigbours to far away relatives and even the people who are barely acquainted; in whole of Bharatiya Upmahadweep we have a tradition of calling those greatly younger to us as son or daughter or nephew or niece even if they're not related. And children also reciprocate by giving respect; even in case the person who is addressing them as son/daughter is in dispute with parents.

This is how people in whole subcontinent from Ahaganasthan to Sri Lanka to connect. Barring the mughal vanshajs of Lutyens Delhi.

If you look at the world from bianca-raul eyes its a very very different perspective. From the childhood they have learned not to trust anyone; they have seen the fear and greed of family to protect its power- and the main weapon/shield is S E C R E C Y. Not confide in anyone, don't trust anyone.

They've seen snakes and chaatukaars like arjun singh - manishankar ayyer - vp singh -diggy singh - shakeel ahmed & ahmed patels. This whole coutrie has always treated them as royal heirs to the throne. Not the children of friends OR colleagues OR even boss. But as the heirs of first family of Bharatvarsh. They have seen the loyalists as only lackeys and bootlickers only. Whosoever failed to show respect they've seen their cruel roman mama throwing those out of power circles.

So any normal human being be it from ahaganasthan - pakistan - bangladesh - sri lanka - Bharatvarsh would have taken it in a positive way. But the concept is totally alien to the royal brats, hence the violent and angry reaction:

[Gus]

it is astounding that this is even an issue.

this is going beyond fox news levels. hilary said at benghazi hearing "it does not matter how the ambassador died, we have responsibility to investigate blah blah" and fox played it all days as "HILARY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT AMBASSADORS DEATH". good job indian media beating fox at crude and blatant partisan stupidity.

the worst is other news papers picking this up and playing it as per the original mischievous misinterpretation.

Modi never said priyanka is like my daughter.

let's get that straight first before going into theories and what not.

[SwamyG]

SwamyG saar,
There is no 'contrasting ideas of family' or anything of that sort, saar. You just have a soft corner for Bianca. Anyway, Modi did not call Bianca as his daughter. He said she has every right to campaign for her mother just like every daughter has a right to campaign for the mother. Thats all. Bianca got unnecessarily worried and seems to have gone screaming that she is the daughter of Rajiv as if anyone doubted it. I think this insecurity is due to the allegations about family history where many theories float about fatherhood of the members of dynasty.

You got me there. This is a family friendly military think tank website, don't want to say something and get banned I think she got worked up because the reporters kept asking her "are you offended"? The Times Now reporters are as obnoxious as Arnab. Indian TV anchor/reporter celebrities seem to be picking everything that is bad from the West - truly aping the West.

Priyanka is the new Kejriwal. Media got a new toy.

[Satya_anveshi]

Repeatedly saying I am rajiv's daughter only means she doubts her mother

This is the key. They took Modi's comment to mean that he is depriving her of "Gandhi" identity and tagging with "Italian" mother. Jamai raja, a vadra, being in limelight for wrong reasons does not help either.

A good BJP strategy is to rake up heat on jamai raja and scrutinize her support to her hubby. The more she is seen with him, she will wash off "gandhi" image and associates more with Vadra. If she is absent, folks can always question her integrity of being unsupportive wife.

[patel]

This is actually a cultural and class war, packaged as communal versus secular. On one side, an earthy, frugal, self made individual, grounded in local ethos vs an elite, snobbish group who think money and power make them superior to all the serfs and it is their right to rule, harangue and dominate all others with a different view.

+1, couldn't have said it any better myself.

[SaiK]

Gus... I am not thinking about the wrong answers. .. but then it would put CMB at risk!

hint: if she is like his daughter, then what would be her mom like?

[Prem]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5e429438-d041 ... z30V9kyokj
Narendra Modi: India’s Jekyll and Hyde
(Gora Chorra)

If you want the best case for Narendra Modi, you can do no better than read my colleague Gideon Rachman’s latest column – India needs a jolt. After a decade of prevarication under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (to put it politely), India’s economy is languishing and investors have lost confidence in its reform story. Delhi is almost permanently mired in corruption scandal and politics has turned into a national joke. India desperately needs a change. Who better than Gujarat’s chief minister to give the subcontinent the decisive governance it craves?
That, in a nutshell, is the rationale much of India’s secular elites have backed themselves into. It is a counsel of despair. Mr Modi is certainly a decisive leader. In contrast to Mr Singh’s style of operating, which has been dilatory and weak, files rarely gather dust in Gujarat. Investments get swiftly approved. Projects are executed on time. And bribes are rare. Gujarat continues to outpace most of India in terms of its investment flows and per capita income growth. By electing Mr Modi, India’s middle classes hope he can transpose Gujarat’s story to the national That is the hope. It should also be the fear. Much like Jekyll and Hyde, there are two sides to Mr Modi’s character. And the dark side is very dark indeed. In addition to presiding over its impressive economic performance, Mr Modi has killed the spirit of Indian secularism in Gujarat. The region of Mohandas Gandhi’s birth has become a shrine to Nathuram Godse, the Hindu nationalist who assassinated him in 1948. Twelve years after more than 1,000 Muslims were killed in one of India’s most brutal pogroms, Muslims are treated as second class citizens in Gujarat. Tens of thousands have fled the state altogether.Mr Modi’s apologists point out that India’s Supreme Court cleared him of direct involvement in the 2002 riots. But absence of proof is not the same as innocence.
I was living in India in 2002 and remember very well the inflammatory rhetoric Mr Modi deployed on the day that 85 Hindu pilgrims burnt to death in a train fire in Godhra. The incident was immediately blamed on the Muslim tea-sellers who hawked their wares at the train station where the horrific accident occurred. A subsequent exhaustive government inquiry absolved the tea-sellers of any blame for the fire, which was thought to have been caused by kerosene.
Given Mr Modi’s reputation as a Hindu nationalist, he can afford to tack to the centre as far as he likes. He will never lose the Hindu nationalist vote
Mr Modi did not wait for any inquiry. Just a few months before facing re-election in a contest he was by no means certain to win, Mr Modi seized on the Godhra incident to show how decisive he could be. Citing Newton’s Third Law: “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”, Mr Modi gave the rioters the cue they needed.No one, Indian or foreigner, who covered the following, gruesome, 72 hours, was in any doubt about the meaning of Mr Modi’s signal. For three days and nights, mobs of fanatics went from house to house armed with electoral rolls (to identify the religion of each household), dragged women and children out of their homes, poured kerosene down their throats and ignited them to crowds of cheering onlookers. The police in Ahmedabad and other Gujarati cities did not intervene. After 72 hours, the police intervened and the rioting stopped. Defenders of Mr Modi would have us believe that he lost control of his own police force. That would make him a weak leader, which contradicts his principal selling point. I do not believe that explanation. Six months later Mr Modi won re-election in a landslide. As he put it at the time, the Hindu majority had awoken.Apologists also point out that Mr Modi has mellowed since 2002 and discarded the harsher sides of his communal ideology. They forget that he is a life-long member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the quasi-fascist Hindu militant group to which Gandhi’s assassin also belonged. He is a life-long celibate in the cause of Hindutva – literally Hinduness – to which the RSS subscribes. Given Mr Modi’s reputation as a Hindu nationalist, he can afford to tack to the centre as far as he likes. He will never lose the Hindu nationalist vote. This is the risk India’s beleaguered secular classes are taking. They want the sunny Dr Jekyll and pray the nocturnal Mr Hyde has been put away for good. It is a big bet.
For my part, I believe Mr Modi is a brilliant tactician who is saying and doing what it takes to reach India’s top job. After that, who knows? Apologists say he could never afford as prime minister to repeat the kind of communal hatred he has institutionalised in Gujarat, since he would head a coalition government that would quickly fall apart. They may be right. Deepak Lal, the distinguished Indian economist, asks whether Modi is a Margaret Thatcher or an Adolf Hitler. He concludes that Modi is probably a Thatcher. If so, as Gideon Rachman has rightly argued, a dose of Thatcherism is precisely what India needs. They may be right. I suspect they are wrong. Either way, I would rather not take the risk of finding out. ( WHOTF Asked You )

[SaiK]

Priyanka is the new Kejriwal. Media got a new toy.

so which lady has the dil maange more to slap her?

[Mahendra]

yar koi give supari for that mchd dorab supariwala of rNDTV, the mchd is predicting a lalloo win in the third phase and parroting his usual caste rubbish