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Statement of Manmohan Singh, Former PM of India, slamming NaMo
by Guest Mon Dec 11, 2017 6:17 am
https://twitter.com/ShekharGupta/status/940177915471212544
Guest- Guest
Re: Statement of Manmohan Singh, Former PM of India, slamming NaMo
by Guest Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:05 am
In the early leg of the Gujarat campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi played with a fairly straight bat and spoke of vikas, the wonders of Narmada Ma, roads, electricity, increased crop production and himself. But as the election enters its last leg, a familiar actor has entered the poll rhetoric: Pakistan.
There are two famous occasions when Pakistan was invoked in Indian elections in this century. First, in Gujarat in 2002 after the terrible riots that consumed parts of the state. In the election that followed, it was the younger and brasher Modi who would mention defeating "Miyan Musharraf" as he would vaguely gesture towards a Muslim locality. It was quite clear what the messaging was. That election was swept by the BJP.
Next, it was Modi's most trusted lieutenant BJP President Amit Shah who invoked Pakistan in the course of the campaign for the Bihar assembly election in October 2015. He said famously that if the BJP lost the election, crackers would be burst in Pakistan. The BJP did lose. But there are no reliable reports of crackers bursting in Pakistan. Shah's gambit was generally seen as a desperate attempt to inject a dose of communalism into a campaign so that Hindu social blocs could unite against a particular community.
Now Narendra Modi, in his avatar as self-assured Prime Minister whose popularity across the country is reported as being high according to various surveys, has remembered Pakistan at the end of 2017. While campaigning for the second phase that covers areas torn apart by the 2002 riots, he has said that elements in Pakistan may be working with the Congress to prevent a BJP victory in the state.
He went on to say that a retired DG of the Pakistan Army, Arshad Rafiq, wanted to see political advisor to Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, as Gujarat Chief Minister and that former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Hamid Ansari met at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house and the next day, a statement was made saying that Modi is "neech".
Any sensible commentator must pause and ask why has the PM moved from "vikas" to "conspiracy of Pakistan". Also, will it work? The editor of one of the leading local Gujarati channels says it is targeted at Ahmedabad and Vadodra, urban seats that were and remain at the core polarized. It's a last ditch attempt to remind voters that "Muslims" still present a danger and they should not forget their "Hindu" credentials. He is also of the view that this is the outcome of uncertainty after the first phase, where local media and (interestingly RSS) internal assessments are showing losses in several seats.
Given the PM's personal popularity in Gujarat, he has probably calculated that such statements may do him no harm and there is a small chance that they can activate and motivate a small percentage of the ideologically-committed voter of an older generation. Yet, one cannot but also conclude come that the PM has resorted to such rhetoric because things are not going as smoothly as he would have hoped.
Social commentator and author of The Shaping of Modern Gujarat, Achyut Yagnik, says it's a response to the caste challenge thrown up by the Patidars and the Dalits, that Gujarat as the laboratory of Hindutva has its own set of responses and all of this is designed to make voters think of themselves as Hindus first before they separate into caste entities. But he is of the view that "I don't think it evokes a response in people now when real issues are linked to livelihood".
https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/why-modi-is-resorting-to-claims-of-pak-fixing-gujarat-result-1786275?pfrom=home-topstories
There are two famous occasions when Pakistan was invoked in Indian elections in this century. First, in Gujarat in 2002 after the terrible riots that consumed parts of the state. In the election that followed, it was the younger and brasher Modi who would mention defeating "Miyan Musharraf" as he would vaguely gesture towards a Muslim locality. It was quite clear what the messaging was. That election was swept by the BJP.
Next, it was Modi's most trusted lieutenant BJP President Amit Shah who invoked Pakistan in the course of the campaign for the Bihar assembly election in October 2015. He said famously that if the BJP lost the election, crackers would be burst in Pakistan. The BJP did lose. But there are no reliable reports of crackers bursting in Pakistan. Shah's gambit was generally seen as a desperate attempt to inject a dose of communalism into a campaign so that Hindu social blocs could unite against a particular community.
Now Narendra Modi, in his avatar as self-assured Prime Minister whose popularity across the country is reported as being high according to various surveys, has remembered Pakistan at the end of 2017. While campaigning for the second phase that covers areas torn apart by the 2002 riots, he has said that elements in Pakistan may be working with the Congress to prevent a BJP victory in the state.
He went on to say that a retired DG of the Pakistan Army, Arshad Rafiq, wanted to see political advisor to Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, as Gujarat Chief Minister and that former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Hamid Ansari met at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house and the next day, a statement was made saying that Modi is "neech".
Any sensible commentator must pause and ask why has the PM moved from "vikas" to "conspiracy of Pakistan". Also, will it work? The editor of one of the leading local Gujarati channels says it is targeted at Ahmedabad and Vadodra, urban seats that were and remain at the core polarized. It's a last ditch attempt to remind voters that "Muslims" still present a danger and they should not forget their "Hindu" credentials. He is also of the view that this is the outcome of uncertainty after the first phase, where local media and (interestingly RSS) internal assessments are showing losses in several seats.
Given the PM's personal popularity in Gujarat, he has probably calculated that such statements may do him no harm and there is a small chance that they can activate and motivate a small percentage of the ideologically-committed voter of an older generation. Yet, one cannot but also conclude come that the PM has resorted to such rhetoric because things are not going as smoothly as he would have hoped.
Social commentator and author of The Shaping of Modern Gujarat, Achyut Yagnik, says it's a response to the caste challenge thrown up by the Patidars and the Dalits, that Gujarat as the laboratory of Hindutva has its own set of responses and all of this is designed to make voters think of themselves as Hindus first before they separate into caste entities. But he is of the view that "I don't think it evokes a response in people now when real issues are linked to livelihood".
https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/why-modi-is-resorting-to-claims-of-pak-fixing-gujarat-result-1786275?pfrom=home-topstories
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Re: Statement of Manmohan Singh, Former PM of India, slamming NaMo
by confuzzled dude Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:43 am
Freedom of speech. Mr. Modi exercised his constitutional right, nothing wrong with that. He probably realized that his crocodile tears about him being called a "chai wallah" are no longer effective, so he is going on a well-trodden path i.e. being divider-in-chief and hiding behind faux nationalism.
confuzzled dude- Posts : 10205
Join date : 2011-05-08
Re: Statement of Manmohan Singh, Former PM of India, slamming NaMo
by southindian Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:14 am
Manmohan speaks!!!
He can! talk
He can! talk
southindian- Posts : 4643
Join date : 2012-10-08
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