2019 General Elections News and Discussion

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 15 May 2019 10:00

Singha wrote:same thing happened to the Medellin cartel in colombia.
initially Escobar was seen as a friend of the poor and standing up to corrupt govt and big business. his men went around distributing cash to the poor.
he stood for parliament and even won, but was booed and heckled out of the parliament.

he then started unleashing a reign of terror like killing dozens of police, bombings in public places, assassinations of anyone opposed to him ....

the public mood gradually soured and he was seen as a liability to their normal lives. so in the end one by one his gang were knocked off, and he was constantly on the run from safe house to safe house, his numbers and money dwindling. his partners also abandoned and his cousin who ran the business was killed by the search bloc police unit.

in the end he had one bodyguard when his safehouse was sniffed out by a sigint van and raided. tried to run over the roofs but gunned down.

My knowledge of everything related to escobar is from Narcos series. Now the bolded part was done by castano brothers and their militant group that even had foreign help. Impossible in our scenario.

banrjeer · Post by **banrjeer** » 15 May 2019 10:20

I am beginning understand the drivers of insecurity in Urban Naxals / press wallahs/ MSA. They feel threatened by a Neech chaiwallah rising up. This one happens to be pretty idealistic and well read and they can't stand it.

Democracy for them is status quo where the aspirations and upward mobility of the masses is unsettling. So While Prannoy Roy may pay lip service about "the wise Indian voter" It's only to establish and promote his psephologist cred. When confronted by the real deal he tries to badger and discredit them using some hollow pedestal of democracy.

His interview with Akhilace on the other hand is fawning. Why does he not say it's worrying that no one in the opposition is organized enough to come up with a candidate. Is this good for democracy?

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 15 May 2019 10:42

^^Most of them made enough money to retire comfortably. The big sharks like Prannoy Roy, if they are smart, would escape from India and settle abroad. The chota mota urban naxals should either try to make a honest living in journalism or what ever they are competent in or settle for what ever they are capable of.

Dasari · Post by **Dasari** » 15 May 2019 11:07

As per the latest lobbying by KCR and Stalin, it seems that they are predicting Congress will not cross 100 seats and rest of the regional parties can get 172+. How does this math work? Even in the best case scenario, with big wins by TMC and SP+BSP, they may fall short by 10 seats. Where will they get rest?

Left - 10
JDS - 6
TRS - 15
DMK - 20
BJD - 15
TMC - 35
SP+BSP - 50
YSRCP - 15

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 May 2019 11:23

hanumadu wrote:^^Most of them made enough money to retire comfortably. The big sharks like Prannoy Roy, if they are smart, would escape from India and settle abroad. The chota mota urban naxals should either try to make a honest living in journalism or what ever they are competent in or settle for what ever they are capable of.

roy's future happiness depends on Modi not returning back to power because, in Modi's next round, runditv and its owners are going to get it right up the wazoo and are looking at serious time in tihar.

roy has dillied and dallied, dallied and dillied as much as he possibly could and knowing the extreme antipathy and maliciousness that runditv bore towards Modi for well over a decade of lying, slandering and cooking up stories, no one would dare or even care to come to roy's aid.

that tehelka guy is also up the gum tree with his skinny gluteus maximus fully exposed.

waiting in the wings and eagerly licking his lips in anticipation is the one and only incomparable arnob, breathlessly waiting to deliver the decapitating strike on runditv generally as well as on roy personally.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 15 May 2019 11:49

Video in Hindi/Bengali

https://youtu.be/v49PKvEEUVo

Smriti Irani brilliantly exposed the vile anti-poor, minority appeasement of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal

https://twitter.com/Sunil_Deodhar/statu ... 4601709570

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 12:05

https://twitter.com/sharmaAvl/status/11 ... 0108873728

PM meets the people who dared to chant jai sri ram infront of mamta.

R_Kumar · Post by **R_Kumar** » 15 May 2019 12:05

What do you guys think about the question written on the poem page during a recent Modi's interview. Saw lots of news item on the "scripted interview". Is this kinda interview normal?

Snehashis · Post by **Snehashis** » 15 May 2019 13:06

Got this from twitter. Any Vidyasagar College alumni here who can confirm the statue location ?

Hari Nair · Post by **Hari Nair** » 15 May 2019 13:12

chetak wrote:
ramana wrote:
Folks don't walk into HS Panag's land mine.
He wants to bring a divide between NaMo supporters and the military.
Coupta gang is using him to lay this land mine.

Being ex-military is not relevant to this issue.
Same with L. Ramdas.
Their views are regardless of their military service.

ramana ji,

both ramdas and panag are not well regarded in the community and the larger fraternity.

they have no credible supporters who would add heft to their words or weight to their opinions.

both are bedraggled, motheaten lone rangers mounted on borrowed flea bitten nags, with nary a tonto in sight....

That's a mean analogy, however is also very apt!!

I find it amazing that this retired Lt Gen, who has been an Army Commander and served as a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal appears to have totally lost it! Tweeting 'Inquilab' and later justifying its interpretation as a political revolution or some such nonsense... how could he have even thought of such a thing ? He appears to have descended into bitter defeatist attitude after his daughter lost out the last elections in Chandigargh.

And as for that specimen of our ex-CNS, the less said the better! He appears to have joined hands with the Urban Naxals! There are a few other Black Sheep, also, I am told, such as an ex-CAS, who's son is an arms dealer and had thrown his hat in with the Congoons.

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 15 May 2019 13:15

Snehashis wrote:Got this from twitter. Any Vidyasagar College alumni here who can confirm the statue location ?

Not an alumnii but from the area. As far as i remember the statue was at least behind once set of gates. Mostly kept open

Snehashis · Post by **Snehashis** » 15 May 2019 13:41

Mukesh.Kumar wrote:
Snehashis wrote:Got this from twitter. Any Vidyasagar College alumni here who can confirm the statue location ?
Not an alumnii but from the area. As far as i remember the statue was at least behind once set of gates. Mostly kept open

Thanks for the reply. Looks like Didi is now very scared. After 2009 Lok Sabha election the WB/Kolkata police broke away from the shackles of the left and eventually, the left got decimated. And not much left of TMC nowadays if you take away the police.

abhijitm · Post by **abhijitm** » 15 May 2019 13:41

Suraj wrote:
Picklu wrote:The chamchas/BIF cultivate that as it creates a perception of "fighting spirit" for the dedicated cadre when fortunes are down. During the winning days, this is part of the "ruthlessness" to destroy any opposition if living or legacy of opposition if dead.
That used to be a great approach until the RW ruined things by becoming so loud on SM. Despite all the TrueIndology ban nautanki, the fact remains that the Indian RW SM presence causes enough Burnol moments that some white joker on The Guardian was commissioned to write some bile about how Whatsapp is a part of India's 'slide towards authoritarianism' . Not going to link it. I would have trolled in their comments but they closed it pretty quickly.

There is a pattern on SM. Imbecile left/congress supporters including journos pick up a storyline and start shouting. Some time passes and then suddenly hundreds of thousands RW arrows shower on them from all direction, punching holes in their stories. The delusional lefts call them 'nagpur IT cell' but in reality almost all of them are common people who find their thought resonate with BJP/Modi. Its like there is a huge RW surveillance and no nonsense can hide from it.

There is article by frustrated Mihir Sharma on NDTV titled 'Modi interviews should be PR disaster. Instead he is on a roll'. Don't want to post link. But this is a result of massive RW force present everywhere to shield their icon, and ideology. That force simply doesn't want to give up a milimeter of space to lefts, even when their leader appeared to making innocuous gaffe. Nothing is spared.

In this entire campaign of 2019, there is not a single moment, not a single one, where left can claim yes they stole it. Not one. This is serious monopoly.

Massive force. More power to them.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 13:44

one gora got called out on fbook as a racist warmongering pig on the infamous Economist subscribe for 1795/- to hear their take on modi thread.
claimed to be a frequent visitor to india and that modi is divider and survives only due to congis weak.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 15 May 2019 13:48

?? Link?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 13:49

https://www.news18.com/news/india/sc-pu ... _top_pos_6

SC raps WB govt for delay in release of priyanka sharma

aylamrin · Post by **aylamrin** » 15 May 2019 13:54

Singha wrote:https://www.news18.com/news/india/sc-pu ... _top_pos_6

SC raps WB govt for delay in release of priyanka sharma

Mere "rap" won't do, we want a complete "wrap". 356/AFSPA

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 13:58

AS speaks out on last nights events. marks the statue breaking as a crude false flag op

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lok-sab ... ome-livetv

syam · Post by **syam** » 15 May 2019 14:05

milards, media and baboons are from same team. why people expects them to act on momotha is beyond my understanding. We need to stop expecting boxer or mutt doing some real honest journalism.

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 15 May 2019 14:05

Snehashis wrote:
Mukesh.Kumar wrote: Not an alumnii but from the area. As far as i remember the statue was at least behind once set of gates. Mostly kept open
Thanks for the reply. Looks like Didi is now very scared. After 2009 Lok Sabha election the WB/Kolkata police broke away from the shackles of the left and eventually, the left got decimated. And not much left of TMC nowadays if you take away the police.

Speaking from second hand knowledge, during last assembly elections, the WB Police tried to be impartial. But the police officers who tried to ensure a free and fair election were victimized with transfers to obscure places and departments like Traffic Control and Training.

Snehashis · Post by **Snehashis** » 15 May 2019 15:23

Mukesh.Kumar wrote: Speaking from second hand knowledge, during last assembly elections, the WB Police tried to be impartial. But the police officers who tried to ensure a free and fair election were victimized with transfers to obscure places and departments like Traffic Control and Training.

That's the modus operndi since the 1980s. In the last panchayat election, MB announced huge amount of cash prize for TMC goons if they can make their district opposition free. In most of the cases, police took a cut and 'helped' the elected opposition representatives to change their course to 'right direction' along with the TMC goon.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 15:28

Swapan Dasgupta
Verified account
@swapan55
2h2 hours ago
More
Didi is seeking to make the vandalism of the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar her Reichstag Fire moment.

https://twitter.com/amitmalviya/status/ ... 2730629120
howkidar Amit Malviya
‏
Verified account

@amitmalviya
Follow Follow @amitmalviya
More
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's bust was placed inside a room in Vidyasagar College, which is deep inside the campus. Only TMC students union members had access to it because the roadshow was not inside the campus! So who vandalised the bust? Offcourse TMC! #SaveBengalSaveDemocracy

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 15:30

The Reichstag fire (German: Reichstagsbrand, About this soundlisten (help·info)) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Hitler's government stated that Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was found near the building, and they attributed the fire to communist agitators in general—though a German court decided later that year that van der Lubbe had acted alone, as he claimed. After the fire, the Reichstag Fire Decree was passed. The Nazi Party used the fire as a pretext that communists were plotting against the German government, and the event is considered pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany. The term "Reichstag fire" has come to refer to false flag actions facilitated by an authority to promote their own interests through popular approval of retribution or retraction of civil rights.

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 15 May 2019 15:56

Lok Sabha elections: CPM stares at wipeout in one-time fortress. – Indrani Bagchi

KOLKATA: Could the unthinkable happen in West Bengal? The CPM, which derives its disproportionately large presence in Indian politics from West Bengal and Kerala (having lost Tripura to BJP), could be staring at annihilation.

Mohammed Salim, contesting from Raiganj, may be its best shot to avoid a duck. In Jadavpur, CPM’s Bikash Bhattacharya is expected to put up a fight, though the antiTMC vote there may be split with BJP, which has a growing presence in this constituency. In Diamond Harbour, Faud Halim is expected to be runner-up to Mamta Banerjee’s controversial nephew, Abhishek Banerjee.

Old-timers who feel a degree of comfort with CPM are reluctant to admit this possibility. How is it possible that a political combine that dominated West Bengal like a hegemon for 34 years be reduced to this?

In March this year, CPM received a jolt when its MLA from Habibpur Malda, Khagen Murmu, moved over to BJP and is now its candidate for Malda North. Unlike other parties, CPM members don’t switch political loyalties easily.

The CPM headquarters in Alimuddin Street was deserted this week, a sharp contrast to the past. Driving through suburbs or even rural Bengal, its hard to find CPM election promotions, the walls and hoardings taken up by the flower power of BJP or Trinamool. Local news channels quoted CPM workers, whose job is to paste the party newspaper Ganashakti on walls, admitting to working for BJP.

Last week, former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya cautioned his party members to avoid jumping into the BJP “fire”.

“There is that danger. Some inroads have been made. We must change these situations. Is it a good idea to jump from the Trinamool frying pan into the BJP fire?" Bhattacharya asked, somewhat rhetorically.

Even Congress expects that it will, at the worst, hold on to the four seats it has, while harbouring a faint hope for a possible rise in the tally. But not CPM.

Mridul De, central committee member of CPM, asserted that the party would improve its position from the current tally of two (Murshidabad and Raiganj), but seemed tobe confident more about an increase in vote share than an improved seat score. In a chat with TOI at the party headquarters, he said, “Our vote will increase, we are moving in a systematic and sustained way.” He added that the party had “reviewed our weaknesses” after the 2014 debacle.

He attributed the 2011 state election loss to a coming together of Maoists, RSS and Congress. In sharp contrast to the high decibel battle between TMC and BJP in West Bengal, De argued, “These two have made an understanding with each other in many seats.”

Needless to add, nobody actually agrees with this given BJP’s stated intention is to remove TMC from Bengal.

“The two parties practise competitive communalism,” De said. “From 2014, RSS has increased its presence in West Bengal. In the past couple of years, we are seeing numerous small communal incidents.”

The CPM leader added, Mamata Banerjee the TMC government had filed over 84,000 fabricated cases against our cadres.”

In Video: 2019 Lok Sabha elections: CPM stares at wipe-out in one-time fortress

Cheers

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 15 May 2019 16:26

TMC is now increasingly using "Bengali pride". Us v/s them is already in full flow. An allegation that outside goons are there in yesterday AS rally, they destroyed the statue, Central forces being used for BJP purpose are all that purpose only. This was there as an undercurrent for some time. Well before the elections.

Remember BD Memos were the forefront of division in 1947. Mamata coming out in open if she loses this time.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 15 May 2019 16:26

India speaks daily on West Bengal violence:

https://youtu.be/UpJE5JAtcYM

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 16:55

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 16:55

ANI
‏
Verified account

@ANI
2h2 hours ago
More
UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Barasat, West Bengal: In whole country, Durga puja & Muharram fell on same day, in UP officers asked me, should we change timing of puja? I said, timing of the puja won't be changed, if you want to change timing, change the timing of Muharram procession.

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 15 May 2019 17:22

Singha wrote:ANI
‏
Verified account

@ANI
2h2 hours ago
More
UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Barasat, West Bengal: In whole country, Durga puja & Muharram fell on same day, in UP officers asked me, should we change timing of puja? I said, timing of the puja won't be changed, if you want to change timing, change the timing of Muharram procession.

This could have been avoided. He is playing with fire and playing into the hands of MB

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 15 May 2019 17:49

Mukesh.Kumar wrote:
Singha wrote:ANI
‏
Verified account

@ANI
2h2 hours ago
More
UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Barasat, West Bengal: In whole country, Durga puja & Muharram fell on same day, in UP officers asked me, should we change timing of puja? I said, timing of the puja won't be changed, if you want to change timing, change the timing of Muharram procession.
This could have been avoided. He is playing with fire and playing into the hands of MB

Or he knows his audience well .
He is saying what they want to hear?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 17:58

there are unlikely to be any muharram enthusiasts in yogi rally.

Sanju · Post by **Sanju** » 15 May 2019 18:07

It is high time to say it like it is. No point in winning a historic mandate and then meowing like a kitten rather than growling like a Tiger.

Shaktimaan · Post by **Shaktimaan** » 15 May 2019 18:18

Mukesh.Kumar wrote:
Singha wrote:ANI
‏
Verified account

@ANI
2h2 hours ago
More
UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Barasat, West Bengal: In whole country, Durga puja & Muharram fell on same day, in UP officers asked me, should we change timing of puja? I said, timing of the puja won't be changed, if you want to change timing, change the timing of Muharram procession.
This could have been avoided. He is playing with fire and playing into the hands of MB

Exactly whose vote is going to be lost due to this comment of Yogiji saar?

tsarkar · Post by **tsarkar** » 15 May 2019 19:02

Singha wrote:there are unlikely to be any muharram enthusiasts in yogi rally.

https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/st ... 2016-09-24

300 Hindu families unable to perform Durga puja in Bengal's Kanglapahari village after opposition by 25 Muslim families

In the past three years, they were denied a go-ahead by the local administration following objections by a few Muslim families in the village.

District officials are not responding as they don't want to antagonise the Muslims," Sau said.

BTW its India Today news and not some right wing publication.

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 15 May 2019 19:17

reminds me of a speech by one Manohar Joshi (whom I did not know much about before that) back in mid 1990s, that I was a witness. This was in that ground close to Churchgate station and I was thumping through the used books mountains.

He said something like “oh <members of a certain community> I don’t want your vote. You should vote for some one else, because I really REALLY don’t want any your vote. Just make sure you keep making good biriyani. That is what I want from you”

I was with a friend from that certain community. We were stunned for a second of “oh he didn’t!” kind and then surprisingly burst out laughing. We still fondly remember that episode as witnessing a man speaking with utmost honesty and yet we both felt no rancour. Gent was more honest than a lot of the secular or pro-minority lefties and even the other side appreciates that, despite the unpleasant feeling of butt hurt after all the pampering.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 19:22

that way even the orange gorilla is not a hyprocrite vs the silver tongued professional east coast politicians.

dinesh_kimar · Post by **dinesh_kimar** » 15 May 2019 19:35

OT, but I have read that the 1966 IAF raid was planned by Gen.Sagat Singh.

He was fighting a particularly ugly faction that took their orders, weapons and doctrine from the Chinese PLA.

Genocide and sectarian killings were rife, and this one action put a stop to all that.

The goal seemed Balkanisation of Mizo areas from India.

Gen.Sagat is responsible in large part for our peace and security as a nation, I kid you not.

Ashokk · Post by **Ashokk** » 15 May 2019 19:40

Message undelivered: Weak election campaign hurts Congress

JAIPUR: In January, the Congress seemed poised for a strong fightback against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after victories in three heartland states late last year.
But just over four months later, even Congress officials admit the attempt to unseat Modi in the ongoing general has suffered from a weak campaign and fumbled communications. Political strategists say the mis-steps and an inability to sew up alliances with other opposition groups had hurt Congress.
Votes are to be counted on May 23 and it's still not clear if Modi will come back to power, although many political analysts and pollsters have said he has the edge.
Two Congress officials told Reuters that their campaign, centred around a promise of a handout of 72,000 rupees every year for India's poorest families, was rolled out late — only a few days before the first phase of the polls.
In contrast, Modi campaign's communications has been a huge strength - no one can complain that the message didn't get out.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dominated newspaper frontpages, TV screens, social media posts, roadside billboards and rallies through the election, backed by a war chest multiple times that controlled by Congress.
Using a dozen similar operations, Congress's data analytics chief Praveen Chakravarty said he has polled more than one million people covering all of India's 543 constituencies in the last six months.
That is only a start in an electorate of about 900 million.
"There's not one national election," Chakravarty said, "In my view, it's not even 29 different state elections. It feels like there are 543 different elections going on."
He said his data showed there was upsurge in the number of people unhappy with Modi but he did not give any prediction on the final results.
On 11 Hindi TV news channels, for example, Modi has got nearly three times the air-time compared to Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi between March 30-April 26, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council India.
Congress has also been unable to forge alliances with other opposition parties in two important states and adequately overhaul its grassroots organisation, political strategists said, making an already difficult contest even harder.
The campaign slip-up was partly because the party's detailed manifesto came out late, followed by further delays in readying promotional materials, the two Congress officials said. Both requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
"The backroom work to push out the campaign hadn't been done," one of them said. "Basically, it was a big royal mess."
A Congress candidate said that his party's publicity campaign wasn't even noticed by rank-and-file workers, let alone voters. On multiple trips to northern Uttar Pradesh, which elects more lawmakers than any other state, Reuters found that many voters did not know about Congress's handout promise.
Difficult to predict
Elections in India are notoriously difficult to predict, and growing farm distress and a lack of jobs could still hurt the BJP, like it did last December when Congress wrested away three states from the ruling party.
There are a whole series of regional and caste-based parties that could benefit from any such anti-Modi swing as much as Congress. If that happens, a coalition of parties might form the next government with Congress a powerful force in that though not necessarily calling all the shots.
A key problem in the campaign has been that instead of maximising the impact of December's wins, Congress stumbled, particularly after the Pulwama attack in February in which Pakistan-based JeM killed 40 CRPF personnel, the second Congress official said.
"After the state elections there was complacency, and after Pulwama happened, there was no coherent campaign to respond," he said.
In response to Pulwama, Modi sent warplanes into Pakistan in late February, dramatically escalating tensions with the nuclear-armed neighbour while projecting himself as a fearless leader, which the BJP deftly used to craft an election campaign focused on national security.

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidamabaram acknowledged that Modi had dominated the election so far, but declined to comment on his party's delayed publicity campaign.
"I think if anybody has gained in this election campaign it is Mr Gandhi, if anybody has lost ground in the election campaign it is Mr Modi," he told Reuters. "I think BJP will suffer huge losses."
Part of Congress's confidence stems from states like western Rajasthan, where it has set up good ground operations.
On May 6, as India voted in the fifth phase of the election, over 100 young men and women employed by a private firm sat inside a basement in Rajasthan's capital city of Jaipur making and receiving calls on behalf of Congress.

Most were calling party workers to check for any problems during polling and logging complaints, which were being monitored and resolved by Congress officials there and at another location in Jaipur.
The same call centre, together with a large state-wide database of workers, was also used by Congress to receive daily feedback, tweak the campaign to local needs and identify swing polling centres in each Rajasthan constituency to focus on.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 May 2019 19:51

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/op ... 565883.cms

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 15 May 2019 19:54

https://youtu.be/Hn3xujc_i1M

What people of Amethi has to tell about Smriti Irani Vs Rahul Gandhi Option.

Really good to see clear & straightforward rational of non metro , non English speaking youth.