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| English: Image of Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum in India (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
- Jayalalita
BJP announces six-party alliance in Tamil Nadu
He has stayed away from explosive topics like religion. He has stayed focused on development issues.
He gave himself an early start.
He has run a national campaign to the point he is the only one running for Prime Minister. Others hold desires, but no one else is officially running.
He has held massive rallies and all over the country too. Other than the vote count itself, nothing gives you gravitas like massive rallies. This has helped him clinch allies.
He has by far the best social media operation. He has learned from the grassroots ways of the Aam Aadmi Party.
He has worked hard to rope in allies.
He has competed against Mulayam in Uttar Pradesh. And it looks like he is winning. Mulayam can not get fewer seats than Modi in UP and still claim to be a PM candidate.
He has competed against Nitish in Bihar. If the polls are misleading and he is not leading, he sure is competitive.
Looks like he is now competing hard against Jayalalita in Tamilnadu. And this is a state in the South where the BJP has been known more for its absence than anything else. Two big rallies in Chennai have done the trick.
One by one he is out to knock out all the Third Front PM candidates, and there are a bunch of them.
The Congress is in a free fall after a decade in power. And Modi is competing hard against the leading Third Front candidates.
If Modi manages to get the BJP past the 200 mark, he might become unstoppable. But right now I am not predicting he will.
He has an impressive life story, selling tea and all. He has an impressive economic record in Gujrat. He is not a high caste person by birth. That has appeal.
Modi is my second choice for PM. I do think Nitish is better. But then in a democracy it is not who is the most qualified, it is about who gets the most votes. I do admit to a Bihar bias, and for me Godhra is not an issue because the Supreme Court of India says it is not an issue. It is that Nitish' economic record is far superior.
A vote for Modi could make India more Chinese
The election frontrunner is more about making the economic pie bigger than slicing it up fairly ..... Whether the planners in Beijing are overseeing the biggest rural-urban migration in human history or building the world’s longest high-speed rail network faster than you can say “tickets please”, there is a sense of purpose to everything they do. India – democratic, federal, chaotic – has never been able to pull off anything like that speed of execution. ....... what if Indians voted to become more like China? That is one plausible interpretation of the seemingly decisive swing in electoral support towards Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s chief minister and a prime ministerial candidate with Chinese characteristics. If nothing else, Mr Modi, whose leadership style brooks little opposition, has a reputation for getting things done. His supporters, including most of the country’s business leaders, who have flocked to Gujarat to pay homage, praise his decisiveness and hatred of red tape. ........ Modinomics is the triumph of implementation over prevarication. ...... Like Deng Xiaoping, who departed from Communist ideology with his pragmatic entreaty to “let some people get rich first”, Mr Modi is more about making the economic pie bigger than slicing it up fairly. ...... Manmohan Singh’s Congress administration .. has prioritised redistribution over expansion. Its profligacy on subsidies and social programmes, charge detractors, has obliged the central bank to tighten monetary policy, thereby choking growth. ........ Sadly for Congress, its redistributive policies are seen to have failed even by those who are supposed to have benefited. ......rich and poor Indians, educated and non-educated, urban and rural, want a switch to Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party by a hefty majority. Fully seven in 10 are dissatisfied with the way things are going, and 63 per cent favour a BJP administration over a Congress one. No fewer than 78 per cent have a favourable view of Mr Modi, with just 16 per cent disapproving. ........Asked which party would do a better job helping the poor, 54 per cent had faith in the BJP, with only 21 per cent selecting Congress. That is surprising given that Congress has funded a food-guarantee programme covering almost two-thirds of the population and a rural employment guarantee scheme ensuring 100 days of subsidised work per household. Similarly, asked which party would be better at controlling price rises, another crucial concern for poor people, the tally was 55 per cent in favour of Mr Modi’s BJP against 17 per cent for Congress. ......... Part of Mr Modi’s attraction is that, by sheer force of will, he may be able to override some of the checks and balances of Indian democracy and introduce some of the clearheadness of growth-driven China ....... Under a Modi administration, the hope is, land will be cleared, permissions will be granted, and roads and other infrastructure will be built. In this cheerful scenario – far too optimistic, according to his many detractors – he will do for India in its entirety what he has been able to achieve for Gujarat.
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