Narendra Modi vs the Dynasty: Contrasting Ideas of India

[Chandragupta]

I have noticed that Sahara Samay, the 24x7 news channel from the Sahara Stable has pro-BJP or may it always had rightist leanings. Were running a show on Dr.Harshavardhan and his achievements, have also seen some good coverage on NaMo too. Another channel is P-7 News, sympathetic to the nationalist cause.

[KJo]

TOIlet is talking about this "woman" as if NaMo is having an affair with someone and they just exposed it.

Vivek, Paid Media just hankers for power. And money. They will lick the feet of whoever is in power.

[johneeG]

Frontline cover calls Sardar Patel "rabidly communal in outlook" and JLN as a"symbol of secular nationalism". SICK.

https://twitter.com/ArjunNair92/status/ ... to/1/large

I've always marveled at one amazing Modi's effect: he manages to make people take sides i.e. basically there is always dhoodh ka dhoodh & dharu ka dharu. So, people expose themselves by taking sides which is very very good. Now, frontline just exposed itself as to where its sympathies lie. Nice!

I always thought that the greatest power of the kongis(and its various B teams in media, politics, NGOs...etc) was to appear neutral & fair yet do anti-Hindhu work. Modi basically makes these guys come out openly and expose themselves, so that people clearly see them for what they really are.

[RoyG]

I think the first year of Modi if becomes PM will be the toughest. IM, PAIDMEDIA, Tehelkas/CobraPost/NDTV/IBN, LeT, ISI, COMMIES, Gandhis, Sickular Parties and even corrupt judges will all unite with a concerted plan before Modi puts in semblance of administration.

Bomb blasts,accusations by minorities,fake stings, international pressure using missionaries/left wing traitor organizations in the west will try to limit any of his actions against any group. Kashmir will become a war zone. Taliban attacoks/ISI propaganda and even COMMIEs contact China to occupy Arunachal Pradesh to put pressure on Modi.

I hope he has a task team ready to plan on contingencies to catch these groups at various levels.

The attack on him using Ishrat/Snoopgate is not to just derail his campaign but also limit his ability to act in case he captures power.

Woah woah, hold your horses Vivek ..You have to realize that it doesn't take much to neuter these forces. Just with adopting something like the Arthakranthi like tax code system, NGO bill, etc you can cut a lot of the logistic support and funding to a lot of these anti national groups. Within the first year of office 70% of the work will be finished. Just ensure clean and efficient governance and more freedom will enable society to pitch in and do a lot more of the heavy lifting.

[RajeshA]

Vivek, Paid Media just hankers for power. And money. They will lick the feet of whoever is in power.

That is why Modi needs to deprive Paid Media of all oxygen by taking away both government spending and foreign funding.

[Rahul Mehta]

If ever I warm up to this strange idea of sending SMS to make NM - who is merely a CM of an opposition party which doesn't even have numbers in parliament as of now - the PM, I will not send the SMS in favor of NM who is 2% as corrupt as MMS (which is still a huge amount of corruption which you cannot prove) and is a MNC agent. I will send SMS to order my MP to make Rahul Mehta the PM of India.

Well, if 2% is too high, then you may say "NaMo is 0.5% as corrupt as MMS" . But AAP is running a serious campaign that "vote for AK because NaMo is corrupt". AK makes allegations of irregularities NaMo did, and AK will never say in exact words that "NaMo is corrupt". But AK will make allegations of irregularities on NaMo, and then AAPians throw allegations that "NaMo is corrupt" and then add "vote for AK". Now if you or anyone says "NaMo is non-corrupt" then it will just backfire, given that NaMo has to spend so much money in campaign, paying mediamen etc etc. So IMO, best defense is "NaMo is about 0.5% as corrupt as MMS and then explain why corruption below 0.5% is not viable given the amount CMs has to pay to judges, mediamen etc.

And I never said that NaMo is MNC-agent. I said that like Park Chung hee, NaMo is now all cornered by MNC-owners and Missionaries. He is checkmated. NaMo depends heavily on paid-media and MNC-owners pay mediamen 10 times more than NaMo does or he can. eg paid-ToI is now starting a Gujarat newspaper which will be sold exclusively in middle class and upper-middle-class only for a price of Rs 100 for 150 days !! And the guy who collects Rs 100 cheque get commission of Rs 50 !! And ToI will pay Rs 200 to the newspaper delivery man to deliver these copy for 150 days and will give Rs 50 *2 to two wholesalers who come in middle. So ToI will get (Rs 100 - Rs 50 - Rs 150 - Rs 50 - Rs 50) = lose Rs 200 for giving Gujarati ToI for 150 days i.e. loss of almost about Re 1 per day. To that loss, add newspaper costs, salaries , electricity bill, petrol bills, rents etc etc, . Where does ToI get all this money to lose? ToI gets money from MNC-owners only. This competition will force other Gujarati newspapers to become dependent on MNC-owners and carry what MNC-owners and Missionaries want. So NaMo cant dare to speak against MNC-owners' and Missionary interest, given that NaMo depends on these paid-media.

And MNC-owners have tighter control over social-media. The political contents of Facebook's newsfeed are decided as per MNC-owners' and Missionaries' interests. A simple script in Facebook servers can increase the number of (pro-NaMo , anti-Sonia, anti-AK) posts in 10 crore newsfeeds , decrease the number of (anti-NaMo, pro-Sonia, pro-AK) posts, and crores of votes to NaMo. And same script in Facebook servers can increase the (anti-NaMo , anti-Sonia, pro-AK) posts in 10 crore newsfeeds and decrease (pro-NaMo, pro-Sonia, anti-AK) posts and shift 3 crore NaMo voters to AK !! IOW, Indian elitemen's inability to make a 100% Indian-controlled social media , and NaMo's decision to depend on a Facebook run by MNC-owners has now made NaMo a hostage of MNC-owners and Missionary.

Well, back in late 1980s, my college friends used to tell me that Time Magazine and Newsweek are neutral and dismissed my claims that Time\Newsweek run as per MNC-owners' interests !! And I used to call them print-gullibles. Now some people say Facebook is neutral and I call them e-gullibles. The e-gullibles rightly have no faith in American print media but have immense faith in neutrality of Facebook servers !! Despite the fact that the people who own Facebook are same people (or their children) who owned American print media once . More things change, more it remains same.

[vivek.rao]

I think the first year of Modi if becomes PM will be the toughest. IM, PAIDMEDIA, Tehelkas/CobraPost/NDTV/IBN, LeT, ISI, COMMIES, Gandhis, Sickular Parties and even corrupt judges will all unite with a concerted plan before Modi puts in semblance of administration.

Bomb blasts,accusations by minorities,fake stings, international pressure using missionaries/left wing traitor organizations in the west will try to limit any of his actions against any group. Kashmir will become a war zone. Taliban attacoks/ISI propaganda and even COMMIEs contact China to occupy Arunachal Pradesh to put pressure on Modi.

I hope he has a task team ready to plan on contingencies to catch these groups at various levels.

The attack on him using Ishrat/Snoopgate is not to just derail his campaign but also limit his ability to act in case he captures power.

Woah woah, hold your horses Vivek ..You have to realize that it doesn't take much to neuter these forces. Just with adopting something like the Arthakranthi like tax code system, NGO bill, etc you can cut a lot of the logistic support and funding to a lot of these anti national groups. Within the first year of office 70% of the work will be finished. Just ensure clean and efficient governance and more freedom will enable society to pitch in and do a lot more of the heavy lifting.

I know putting horse b4 the cart .

But I am worried. In spite of good work, a lot of projection has to be done by Govt. giving people hope and future direction. Modi has done this all in Gujarat.

When I hear rural people in UP/Bihar/RJ and their aspirations, how can Modi satisfy all these people in first term and fight the anti-national forces.

[RoyG]

You bring up a good point Vivek. The simple answer is a lot of the problems that rural folk face are structural in nature. Minimal taxes, getting rid of useless regulation, access to credit, proper policing, etc will ensure that they will have access to jobs and can hold onto most of their money to support themselves. It won't take long before the effects are felt. Moreover, we've been made to believe that anti-national forces are an unstoppable. However, the only reason they survive is because they have access to money and 99% comes from government and/or foreign sources. Fix the tax code, pass an NGO type bill, and harsher punishment will disable these guys. The same sort of measures should be used against Islamic and Christian religious charities and institutions which have a long history of creating separate identities and stirring up trouble.

[SaiK]

UP, Maha and Bihar - are the prime turning point states imho. if namo wave can be seen here, then we are talking some contrasting ideas taking shape for India.

states that has >= 10 seats.

Code: Select all

Uttar Pradesh 	State 	80
Maharashtra 	State 	48
Andhra Pradesh 	State 	42
West Bengal 	State 	42
Bihar 	State 	40
Tamil Nadu 	State 	39
Madhya Pradesh 	State 	29
Karnataka 	State 	28
Gujarat 	State 	26
Rajasthan 	State 	25
Odisha 	State 	21
Kerala 	State 	20
Assam 	State 	14
Jharkhand 	State 	14
Punjab 	State 	13
Chhattisgarh 	State 	11
Haryana 	State 	10

/wiki

now let us see, where modi stands in each of these states. how many think, he will get at least 50% seats in the top 10 states?

[vivek.rao]

When Terrorists, Anti-nationals and Traitors take over all the institutions of the state and media, this is the effect. We can't even do any thing. Nothing happens to them.

[Muppalla]

^^ if subrata roy is from sahara, the GOI has been hounding him and he is presently banned from leaving the country. no wonder he would be unhappy.

subrata roy has more interests in SP during it previous government. Don't know his current relations.

[Muppalla]

Vivek, Paid Media just hankers for power. And money. They will lick the feet of whoever is in power.

That is why Modi needs to deprive Paid Media of all oxygen by taking away both government spending and foreign funding.

Have patience. All this media will be dead and a new model will arrive. Media is hanging on due to active support of slush money and not due to real profits.

Remember the timeline when Bharat Shah, Shilpa Shetty's father were arrested due to underworld contacts for making movies. The NDA government requested the corporate to invest in movies and provided incentives. That is when the investments, the returns started becoming legal and using underworld has comedown.

It could be just a plug that needs to be pulled out make the media collapse and get replaced by a more democratic and vibrant reporting media. The minute you start tracing the money and balancesheets, all things will come down. Niti central though very pro BJP instead of being neutral in its coverage, there will be similar such houses in future where an amateur writer and only using human networking a new model of reportage will start.

The old media is on its last leg.

[SaiK]

I think the first year of Modi if becomes PM will be the toughest. IM, PAIDMEDIA, Tehelkas/CobraPost/NDTV/IBN, LeT, ISI, COMMIES, Gandhis, Sickular Parties and even corrupt judges will all unite with a concerted plan before Modi puts in semblance of administration.

Bomb blasts,accusations by minorities,fake stings, international pressure using missionaries/left wing traitor organizations in the west will try to limit any of his actions against any group. Kashmir will become a war zone. Taliban attacoks/ISI propaganda and even COMMIEs contact China to occupy Arunachal Pradesh to put pressure on Modi.

I hope he has a task team ready to plan on contingencies to catch these groups at various levels.

The attack on him using Ishrat/Snoopgate is not to just derail his campaign but also limit his ability to act in case he captures power.

set them up all, to make the crime on the books and on vivid camera.. just do a reverse snooping for gathering evidence.. nail them, jail them on no bail!

jee this fear against secularism has gone beyond limits.

[Hari Seldon]

Shekhar coupta confirms in his IE (fifth) column that Rajasthan is drenched in NM fever... but that sop-ops ensure Cong is still well in the game...

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/writi ... /1201453/0

If Gujarat has been called the laboratory for Moditva, Rajasthan is one for Sonianomics. The state has more freebies now than any other, even if, thanks to the Election Commission, you do not see these written on the walls. These have had to be blanked out. But if Gehlot defies anti-incumbency, credit will need to be given to Sonia and these schemes. These will then set the trend of a new wave of populism for 2014. And if it doesn't work, you will know that even poor, far-out Rajasthan now votes not for freebies but for a better life. That's why Indian politics will be determined in the short run by what happens here. And if you see the number of hoardings and signboards offering to teach spoken English, even at an institute called "Brain Bench" in Jodhpur, you can see the upsurge of ambition. It is written on the wall.

Three are Brahmins, one a Jat. Lalit Sharma, final year MCA (master of computer applications) student, is the quartet's spokesman. The other three are finishing MCom. What will they do after masters?

"Nobody knows, maybe teach, look for government jobs. What else can we do? We are not good at English." Fact check: At the Prajapat book shop in Borunda, the only career competition guides are for recruitment as LDCs and UDCs (lower and upper division clerks). "Our villages are rotten," Lalit says, "nothing new has come up anywhere, except mobile phone towers. Kahaan jaayein hum?" And he goes on to describe the clogged drain, filth on the streets, dodgy power and joblessness.[...]

[Rahul] may also have figured then why these young boys' eyes light up not when you talk about free medicines and pensions, but the moment you mention Narendra Modi.

[SaiK]

well ben kingsley and richard atenborough would know more about sardar patel than many indics might know about him... it seems now. it was gandhi then went for mean separation (communistic) than clean separation (communalistic). mean vs. clean.. india was mean, pakis went clean. now, watch out next, when kala angrez comes back following this thought - we are better than pakis comparing the 60 years of die-nasty rule.

[Muppalla]

jodhpur

[SaiK]

^that is crazy and dangerous.. billboards can't take that many people. or does it?

[krishnan]

can , they are steel structures

[SaiK]

even common wealth kalmadi structures collapsed were steel structures

--

btw, wtf is that video on toilet, that talks about right wing extremists are targeting modi?

[anmol]

Original: www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2514637/Satta-market-backs-BJP-sweep-semi-final-states-illegal-betting-goes-overdrive.html



'Satta' market backs BJP to sweep all four semi-final states as illegal betting goes into overdrive
by Kumar Vikram, dailymail.co.uk
November 27th 2013
Short on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and long on the Congress is the tale of the 'satta' tape. Punters involved in illegal betting on the outcome of the current round of Assembly elections say it's saffron all the way in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Punters aren't too hot on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Capital either.
The illegal betting market has gone into overdrive as poll process builds up to results. In satta-speak, the rates are "open" now, as a Mail Today investigation in the epicentre of betting has found out.
Hapur in western Uttar Pradesh, about 60km from Delhi, is the den of illegal betting. A Mail Today team visited the City Plaza Market in Hapur, where four punters were arrested recently. The team also visited the Futures Trading Centre of Hapur, considered one of the biggest in this region. With the help of local acquaintances, a Mail Today team met a few punters to get a sense of about what the betting market has to say about the elections.

The satta market's predictions on the poll results crystallise in the numbers that are bandied about.
"It is almost clear in all the four states. They are confident of BJP returning to power in MP and Chhattisgarh. Similarly, in Delhi and Rajasthan, BJP is stronger when compared with Congress," one punter said.
The overall odds are 80 paise on the BJP and Rs 1.25 on the Congress. The punter explained: "If you bet one rupee on the BJP winning these states, you'll get a return of 80 paise. For the same value of money on Congress, you would get Rs 1.25."
He said that the market has just opened up and rates will change as date of counting (December comes closer.
"Exit polls also tell about the mood of the political outcome and we expect that odds in favour of BJP will go up. It may become 50 paise for BJP and Rs 1.50 for Congress," he added.
The satta mood

Going by the satta mood, the betting syndicate fancies between 35 and 37 seats for the BJP in Delhi, between 129 and 131 seats in Madhya Pradesh, between 46 and 48 seats in Chhattisgarh and between 115 and 117 seats in Rajasthan.For the Congress, the calculation reveals 23-25 seats in Delhi, 84-86 seats in MP, 41-42 seats in Chhattisgarh and 61-63 seats in Rajasthan.
Unlike the surveys, the betting syndicate is not too optimistic about AAP as it has given only 4-5 seats to the new party in the capital.
"There are many punters but they operate under four or five big players here. In May, the police arrested four punters and following that they have become cautious. Some of them have shifted their base to Delhi and its nearabouts. But businessmen here are still putting lot of money in satta through these old players," he said.
Another punter said that these big players have their networks in many big cities like Mumbai, Jaipur and others.
"People know each other in this business. Small-time players always operate under their bosses and these bosses know each other. Even if they shift their bases, they are always in touch with each other through Internet or mobile phones. To avoid police, we keep changing our contact numbers very often," he added.
The hub Punters in Hapur said that business districts in Delhi like Karol Bagh and Rajouri Garden are major betting centres.
"There are many businessmen, mainly dealing in wholesale trading, who run betting operations from their premises. Mostly they operate from first or second floor of the buildings. These are crowded areas. While the betting goes on at upper floors, they always deploy their men near shops at ground floors to keep watch on the movement of police and other dangers," said one punter.

Rajasthan

A fortnight ago, punters in Rajasthan were claiming it to be a close contest between the ruling Congress and the main Opposition, BJP, in the upcoming Assembly polls. But now the trend has changed.
According to a leading syndicate of the satta bazar, BJP is set to clinch around 105-115 of the 200 Assembly seats in the state.
This was discernible from betting on 100 seats at the two of the biggest betting centres - Bikaner and Jaipur - on Wednesday. On Tuesday evening too, the market showed similar sentiments. Sudhanshu Mishra/Jaipur
Madhya Pradesh
Two days after the people of Madhya Pradesh exercised their vote, the betting market in Indore is predicting a saffron win in the state.
Though the market odds were in favour of the Congress on Monday, the scenario changed totally on Wednesday. According to the new betting market odds, the BJP will retain power in the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
Punters are placing 70 paise for the BJP clinching a win while for the Congress the rate is Rs 1. Anup Dutta/Bhopal
Maharashtra
If bookies in Mumbai are to be believed, the Congress will only be able to retain Mizoram after the Assembly polls. According to the latest betting rates, the BJP is set to defeat the Congress in Delhi.
Bookies expect the party to gain around 28 seats. So if you bet on the BJP gaining 28 seats, you would get Rs 1.24 paise for every rupee you bet on it.
Rajasthan is the second state where the Congress is likely to suffer a whammy. Bookies expect the BJP to gain 101 seats, and if you bet on it they are offering 14 paise for every rupee. The tale is similar in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Krishna Kumar/Mumbai
Gujarat
If the frenzied punters of the Gujarat betting market are to be believed, the dice is definitely rolling the saffron way in the upcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan and Delhi."Punters in Gujarat are largely betting on Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh," a source said.
While the chance for BJP making it to Delhi has been pegged at 80 paisa, it is 90 p in Rajasthan and for Congress it is Rs 1.50 and Rs 1.25, respectively.
"The prices are often fixed with the help of opinion poll reports, campaigns, issues and stature of candidates," the source said, adding that the bookies also have their own ground-level sources. Krishna Kumar/Mumbai

[Muppalla]

Something really happened in Rajasthan. I am not getting it and the sweep there for BJP seems to be real as even in satta bazar no one is even betting for congress.

[darshhan]

I am perfectly ok with what Vijay Jolly did.....

Initially I thought the same too, what is the big thing? He just blackened a sign board. However, the legal system might look at it differently. Many countries view defacing a private property as vandalism too. I do not know the Indian law on this regard, but assume it must be very similar. Vandalism as a protest is frowned upon.

Legality or illegality of an action is just a state of mind.

[darshhan]

^that is crazy and dangerous.. billboards can't take that many people. or does it?

Apparently it does.

[johneeG]

^that is crazy and dangerous.. billboards can't take that many people. or does it?

What I want to know is how so many of them get up there in the first place? And how they are going to get down?

But the dheshis never stop to amaze...

Something really happened in Rajasthan. I am not getting it and the sweep there for BJP seems to be real as even in satta bazar no one is even betting for congress.

Rajasthan is a neighbour of Guj, so the effect of Modi will be amplified there. I think the Raj is showing Modi effect. And BJP in Raj is strong enough to capitalize on this. Compared to that, BJP in Maha is not strong enough to capitalize on Modi effect even though it seems there is a huge ground swell of support for Modi in Maha also.

Basically, Modi is a huge TsuNaMo. The deciding factor is: is there a organizational strength in BJP in that local area to make use of this Modi factor?

If there is no organizational strength, then the people will vote for some other party tactically. Thats why, there is a need for Hindhuthva. Because once that surcharging emotion comes, other factors will not be taken into consideration.

[rajithn]

A question: what if the CONgis are planning to throw this election away? As in let themselves get defeated but have a strong enough presence as opposition. NaMo will inherit a messed up economy (read R Jagannathan's "Scorched Earth" article) and a bunch of unsustainable welfare programs,including the biggest sham that is the FSB. NaMo will have to invest considerable energies to even out the situation...while the CONgis continue to inflict distraction (through communal disturbances, engineer riots on the basis of high prices etc) and a whole lot of crying as the main opposition. Deliberately create situations..and mind you they have MSM still in their pockets.

With the hope that they can create enough disgruntlement in the minds of the aam admi and get into the act of bringing down the government and mid-term polls.

[Shanmukh]

A question: what if the CONgis are planning to throw this election away? As in let themselves get defeated but have a strong enough presence as opposition. NaMo will inherit a messed up economy (read R Jagannathan's "Scorched Earth" article) and a bunch of unsustainable welfare programs,including the biggest sham that is the FSB. NaMo will have to invest considerable energies to even out the situation...while the CONgis continue to inflict distraction (through communal disturbances, engineer riots on the basis of high prices etc) and a whole lot of crying as the main opposition. Deliberately create situations..and mind you they have MSM still in their pockets.

With the hope that they can create enough disgruntlement in the minds of the aam admi and get into the act of bringing down the government and mid-term polls.

Saar - there are several arguments against your theory. The first and the foremost is that most Congress leaders are stuck neck deep in scams. If they lose an election, chances are that most of them will be providing company to Laloo. While the Congress may not mind a third front government kept in place with Congress support for a year or two, there is just no way they will allow NaMo to acquire power in their heartland in Delhi.

Second - the media. They are called paid media for a reason. The media consists of a few ideologues, but for the most part, they are just intellectual prostitutes. If Modi comes to power, they will be fawning over him, falling all over themselves to ingratiate themselves with the new regime. No one, no one will care a fig about the Congress. In fact, they will help Modi publicise the scams of the Congress. You can wager what you like that people like Burkha, Rajdeep, etc will be waxing eloquent about the evil Sonia regime, and how the new golden age has dawned with the advent of Modi.

There are many more arguemnts,but, for the time being, the last argument I will make is that there is just no way they can be sure that they will be able to force a new election in two-three years. NaMo might just be able to turn around the economy (that is his main strength, after all), terrorists could just be encountered off, etc. No saar - they will try to bring in a third front government, but they will never allow NaMo to gain power. The dangers of such a strategy are too great for the Congress.

[johneeG]

Here is a song of Kamal Hassan from the movie Akali Rajyam(Hunger State):


In the movie, the song is sung by a group of educated unemployed guys who have come to dilli for employment but are struggling to even find a meal.

The movie was released in 1981. From 1966-1977 Indiramma ruled dhesh. Then, after brief interlude of Janata party, from 1977-1980, Indiramma again ruled from 1980 onwards until her death.

This song gives a nice picture of life in indiramma rajyam. But, what is conspicuous is that lyrics never blame the political leadership. They satire on everything else under the sun(even the parents who couldn't control their lust and consequently these guys were born), but no satire on Indiramma or any other politico. They are never blamed for not providing employment. Instead the whole blame gets shifted to India, Vedhas, parents, society, and what not.

[Arjun]

Can be worried about later. Focus should be on winning with the maximum seats possible.

Also, Modi has also been good at explaining to the public that it would take a long time just to cover the Dynasty's 'gaddhas' - before we get to an uptrend.

[anmol]

www.firstpost.com/politics/3-modi-ralli ... 58785.html

3 Modi rallies in Delhi today, jittery Cong calls off PM’s rally
by Sanjay Singh, firstpost.com
November 30th 2013

Congress leaders have started getting jittery in Delhi. Not only have the opinion polls broadly negated a fourth term to Sheila Dikshit but the feedback from their own ranks is also not making them happier.

Now, an IB report on the potential outcome of the Delhi polls has added weight to these worries. A source told Firstpost that this report submitted to the political leadership at the Centre concluded that the BJP was inching closer to the majority in Delhi with 34-36 seats, the Congress lagging behind with 21-23 seats and the Aam Admi Party making a not-so-modest beginning with 8-10 seats. A rapid round of three rallies by Narendra Modi from noon today will aim at further denting the Congress’s prospects.

Worse, the Congress leadership is not doing it right to keep the morale of the workers high. Instead there are enough indications that despite its initial bravado, the party is unwilling invest any heavy duty energy to retrieve the situation. After a great deal of will-he-won’t-he suspense, the party finally decided not to hold a rally by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have ironically come as his saviour. They are landing today for a six-day trip. “The prime minister will be busy with the guests,” Congress general secretary Kuljit Singh Nagra said. Sheila Dikshit too had cited his “tight schedule” as the reason for cancellation of his proposed rally.

But didn’t the party and the PM know about the foreign dignitaries’ visit when they had initially fixed 30 November as the date for his rally?

One other date had been tentatively planned earlier this week but was then postponed for Saturday in the Sikh and Punjabi dominated Tilak Nagar in West Delhi. The other reason cited for the postponement of his rally earlier was finding an appropriate venue with security in place.

What Sheila and the Congress cannot talk about is the fear that they may not be able to drum up decent crowds for Manmohan Singh. The thin crowd departing early at Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Delhi has made Congress managers know of their vulnerability. At heat of electioneering the candidates don’t like to waste their time and energy in doing something that does not translate into votes. The Delhi Congress president and chief minister have been at loggerheads for long. Pulling all stops to pull a crowd for Manmohan Singh is a task that perhaps nobody likes.

More so, Narendra Modi will be in Delhi on Saturday, addressing three rallies from noon to evening at CBD ground Shahdara in East Delhi, Jalebi Chowk in Sultanpuri in North-West Delhi and the Parade Ground at Red Fort, Chandni Chowk. Modi was denied permission by the authorities concerned for a rally in New Delhi area. The Congress has moved Election Commission against a possible use of Red Fort replica at Modi’s Saturday rally. “Red Fort is a national monument and government property which cannot be used by BJP for election campaign directly or indirectly,” Secretary of AICC (Legal Department Cell) K C Mittal said in a formal complaint to Chief Election Commissioner. Whether or not the Congress legal department succeeds in containing Modi from swinging the public mood in his favour with or without the use of the highly symbolic Red Fort in the backdrop is anybody’s guess.

A Manmohan rally on the same day would obviously invite a comparison and one need not be a political genius to guess how embarrassing it would be for the Congress. There are no plans for any more rallies by Sonia and Rahul. The field is open for Modi in the last leg of electioneering in Delhi.

The BJP is going ballistic about it, naturally so. In his post on social networking site Facebook, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley wrote: “Governmental authorities have denied to him (Modi) the permission to hold rally in the chief minister’s constituency at Sarojini Nagar, New Delhi. Prime minister’s rally scheduled for Delhi has been cancelled so that comparison cannot be drawn with Modi’s rally on the same day. I have earlier commented that the Congress party is unable to deal with Narendra Modi. The Congress’s undeclared prime ministerial candidate is making no impact. It has therefore resorted to some of its leaders confining themselves to tweets and press conferences.”

Three statements made by three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the past one week indicate that she has the feeling on not being on a sound footing. Her candid admission on CNN-IBN two days back about a possible post poll alliance with Aam Admi Party though she denied it later has already done the damage and the issue has become happy fodder for street corner chatter. Though Arvind Kerjriwal was quick to deny any future alliance with the Congress, Sheila’s statement has put a question mark in minds of many on AAP’s future standing.

Last Friday in an interaction with women journalists in the Capital, Sheila said she was open to a larger role at the centre whether her party wins or loses the Assembly elections: “If we win, then it is for the MLAs and party high command to decide who will be the CM. If we lose, which is little less likely, then I will keep doing what I am doing. The parliamentary elections will follow and let us see what happens. If UPA III comes to power, then whatever the party plans for me, I will follow the command.”

Then came her willingness to abandon even dismantle per most favourite project, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System. She had so far withstood all kinds of criticism and public anger to carry on with this programme. Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of The Indian Express she said “BRT, I am afraid and must admit, wasn’t the kind of success we had hoped it to be. Therefore, the other six corridors that were supposed to be constructed have been stopped. I think we are going to close this… I don’t think we were ready for it psychologically.”

The Congress’s initial assessment that AAP would give a breather to the Congress by cutting into BJP’s middle class support base and by taking a good share of anti-incumbency anti-Congress votes, has gone horribly wrong. As campaigning unfolded in Delhi it became apparent that Kejriwal was also cutting into its votes in slums, unauthorised and newly regularised low income group colonies. Residents of these areas had stood by the Congress and Sheila Government for long.

[RoyG]

Swamy is now going after Gasperaj. It's open season on these anti-nationals. Protection from the top is no longer a guarantee it seems.

[niran]

A question: what if the CONgis are planning to throw this election away? As in let themselves get defeated but have a strong enough presence as opposition. NaMo will inherit a messed up economy (read R Jagannathan's "Scorched Earth" article) and a bunch of unsustainable welfare programs,including the biggest sham that is the FSB. NaMo will have to invest considerable energies to even out the situation...while the CONgis continue to inflict distraction (through communal disturbances, engineer riots on the basis of high prices etc) and a whole lot of crying as the main opposition. Deliberately create situations..and mind you they have MSM still in their pockets.

With the hope that they can create enough disgruntlement in the minds of the aam admi and get into the act of bringing down the government and mid-term polls.

and why do you think congress plans to lose the upcoming election? no one had imagined about TsuNaMo, this was supposed to be
RG coronation election, it is another thing their product arrived dud at launch and NaMo became TsuNaMo.

[kapilrdave]

A question: what if the CONgis are planning to throw this election away? As in let themselves get defeated but have a strong enough presence as opposition. NaMo will inherit a messed up economy (read R Jagannathan's "Scorched Earth" article) and a bunch of unsustainable welfare programs,including the biggest sham that is the FSB. NaMo will have to invest considerable energies to even out the situation...while the CONgis continue to inflict distraction (through communal disturbances, engineer riots on the basis of high prices etc) and a whole lot of crying as the main opposition. Deliberately create situations..and mind you they have MSM still in their pockets.

With the hope that they can create enough disgruntlement in the minds of the aam admi and get into the act of bringing down the government and mid-term polls.

From Gujart's experience I can say that a single full term of NM and off goes the congress forever.
Regarding media, I guess there are only 25-30 top people who control media at the moment. Everyone under them are 'employees'. It is not very hard to make these people irrelevent by introducing another set of 25-30 people.

[member_23365]

Rajithnji never ever will congress be planning to stay away from power.... there are too many skeletons in cub-boards. According to hukkahwalas during last assembly election in Haryana(congress was short of 6 mla for majority), there were clear instructions from queen that by hook or crook they have to form government. Independent were roped in and Hooda has to part with 300 shanties. Biggest beneficiary among them was Gopal Kanda .
But Guru log what is this new threat from right wing. Is it saffroon terror redux again. What is cabal upto..I think gravity of threat to Modi is increasing day by day.

[Chandragupta]

Went to NaMo's rally in CBD in East Delhi. Around 10,000-15,000 people, the venue was packed. Most of the crowd really wanted to be there, unlike Congress's crowds. A lot of middle class folks, youngsters and some ladies as well. Good security too, they had a mobile jammer with NaMo's cavalcade.

[archan]

guess it depends on who put the billboard in!

[RoyG]

Modi has not upped the ante against PC and MMS. I think as the elections draw near he will go into hedgehog mode and attack the entire leadership.

[RajeshA]

Man: Where is Food?
MMS: In the Bill (Hole in Hindi).

[Muppalla]

Are there any crowd photographs from Delhi rallies? These are localized small ones but still it will tell something.

[rajithn]

A question: what if the CONgis are planning to throw this election away? As in let themselves get defeated but have a strong enough presence as opposition. NaMo will inherit a messed up economy (read R Jagannathan's "Scorched Earth" article) and a bunch of unsustainable welfare programs,including the biggest sham that is the FSB. NaMo will have to invest considerable energies to even out the situation...while the CONgis continue to inflict distraction (through communal disturbances, engineer riots on the basis of high prices etc) and a whole lot of crying as the main opposition. Deliberately create situations..and mind you they have MSM still in their pockets.

With the hope that they can create enough disgruntlement in the minds of the aam admi and get into the act of bringing down the government and mid-term polls.

and why do you think congress plans to lose the upcoming election? no one had imagined about TsuNaMo, this was supposed to be
RG coronation election, it is another thing their product arrived dud at launch and NaMo became TsuNaMo.

The answer lies within your question. They did, at some point think they can win. RG happened. And how! Then they thought they can 'manage' a win. Using the likes of the MSM, p-secs, Government agencies and what not. The realisation has perhaps dawned on them that they are fighting a losing battle - validated even more so from the pointers they are getting internationally - read credit rating agencies and the likes of Nomura. Last but not the least, some twits in the 'I-command' probably think a loss will be good shock treatment for the party leaders.

So they start scorching the country - announce unsustainable programs..programs that will be hard for the next administration to roll back or keep running..move huge amounts from deficit calculations this year to the next (so that who ever is in power then is left holding the bag from previous years). Generally mess it up so badly that who ever, in this case NaMo, takes up administration, inherits all the s**t.

And then all they do is sit back and prevent NaMo from doing anything right while shouting from the rooftops about any hard decisions he will have to take. Couple this with some engineered riots over "high prices", a few RoP ones thrown in as well and they can muddy the waters pretty badly.

If they manage to bring down the Government in 2-3 years, they go to town saying "We told you so. Only we can save this country..yada, yada, yada". And the loot continues. On an even bigger scale and more brazen. And the side benefits they can get from this is they hope to have relegated NaMo back to the state where they will 'manage' him through many ways, get their "allies" to toe the line to their conditions and kick off a full scale crackdown on dissent across the country. Consolidate absolute power, covertly, so to speak.

The caveat to all this is:

1. NaMo wins over 220+ where he can wield enough clout to get things done without any bickering from 'allies'
2. Some, if not many, of the assembly elections get BJP in the driving seat in states [Added later: This is where South India is going to need a lot of attention.]

I am a firm believer in the TsuNaMo. But the crux is getting the TsuNaMo to bring the people to the booths.

[RajeshA]

Are there any crowd photographs from Delhi rallies? These are localized small ones but still it will tell something.

Found this one!