Could Modi be a development disaster? By Ashish Kothari

Modi sounds more and more like Bush, bullying others into making decisions. If he wins, the only hope to save India would be a stronger opposition, who would have the balls to oppose frivilous bills in the interests of the common good. Sadly in America, the first and supposedly mature democracy, the senators and congresspersons were cowards and betrayed America by not standing up to the bully and going to war and destroying America and its economy. Could this happen in India? I hope not.

Continued - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/04/could-modi-be-development-disaster-by.html

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net

Courtesy - India Together

Could Modi be a development disaster? By Ashish Kothari


Perhaps those who will cheer most if Modi becomes PM are the corporate sector and a part of the upwardly mobile middle classes. To them, people's struggles for justice, movements by the poor to resist displacement and land acquisition, and environmental activism are all 'hurdles' to the profits and prosperity they dream of.

According to Prajapati and Shah, Gujarat today has 30 per cent of India's major "accident hazard" industries and over 4500 hazardous chemical factories. Moreover, Anklesaria and Vapi in Gujarat have topped India's 'critical polluted areas' list in 2009, 2011 and 2013.Yet, as the duo found out from information generated using the RTI Act, there is as yet no disaster emergency plan, and the Gujarat State Disaster Management Agency (which has the Chief Minister as chairman) does not even have consolidated information on the industries. So much for Modi's much-touted efficient governance!

To add to this is the evidence of the poor state of health and education in the midst of the so-called Gujarat miracle. It has abysmally high school dropout rates (58 per cent), especially amongst adivasis (78 per cent) and Dalits (65 per cent), and it scores low on a number of health indicators. That is not surprising perhaps, given that its expenditure on education and health is significantly below the national average.

Full Report:
 
As real as the fears of Narendra Modi being a socially divisive Prime Minister are the dangers of his brand of development. In a recent campaign speech in Goa, Modi declared that if he becomes PM, he will ensure that mining is re-opened in the state; never mind the fact that it is the Supreme Court that has stayed it, due to its severe impacts on water, environment, and people's livelihoods.

In fact, Modi's tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister has been marked by a spate of such decisions with scant regard for either nature or for the poor, and a disdain of democracy. His penchant for mega-follies, such as the Rs. 2063-crore statue of Patel that he is getting installed by the Narmada river, only make the prospects of his taking over the country's reins that much more scary.

The UPA's record is not particularly positive, what with nearly 2.5 lakh hectares of forest land having been diverted in just a decade for such projects and continued forcible acquisition of land resulting in dispossession of farmers, adivasis, fisherfolk and others. Communities, people's movements and NGOs are up in arms over the rapidity with which the Union Environment minister, Mr. Moily, has given environmental and forest clearances to mining, industrial and infrastructural projects. But even this vast scale of social and ecological disruption could be overshadowed if Modinomics is given free rein.

If anyone still has doubts that sacrificing the environment for so-called development is justified for a country like India, look no further than a recent report by that most aggressive promoter of the current model of development, the World Bank. It estimates that the environmental damages India is subjected to, such as disease caused by air pollution, knocks 5.7 percentage points off its economic growth.

Given that growth in the last few years has not been much above this, and that the Bank report accounts for only some of the many kinds of damage, it is more than likely that even by measures of conventional GDP indicators, the economy is on decline. Not to mention that hidden in these figures is the horrifying and incalculable socio-cultural impact of displacement, dispossession, disease, premature death, malnutrition, and loss of employment that such damage entails.

The Gujarat model is a classic example of all this. In a recent report, labour and environmental activists Rohit Prajapati and Trupti Shah have laid bare the ecological and social impacts of Modinomics. To be sure, they have been outspoken critics of the excesses of past regimes too. Their analysis of the government's own records show seriously inflated figures of new employment creation, chronic underpayment, deliberate dispossession of farmers to create a mass of cheap labour for industries and coercive land acquisition. Both Prajapati and Shah are based in Vadodara, Gujarat, and members of the organisation Radical Socialist.

According to Prajapati and Shah, Gujarat today has 30 per cent of India's major "accident hazard" industries and over 4500 hazardous chemical factories. Moreover, Anklesaria and Vapi in Gujarat have topped India's 'critical polluted areas' list in 2009, 2011 and 2013.Yet, as the duo found out from information generated using the RTI Act, there is as yet no disaster emergency plan, and the Gujarat State Disaster Management Agency (which has the Chief Minister as chairman) does not even have consolidated information on the industries. So much for Modi's much-touted efficient governance!

To add to this is the evidence of the poor state of health and education in the midst of the so-called Gujarat miracle. It has abysmally high school dropout rates (58 per cent), especially amongst adivasis (78 per cent) and Dalits (65 per cent), and it scores low on a number of health indicators. That is not surprising perhaps, given that its expenditure on education and health is significantly below the national average.

There is a serious neglect of the poorer or socially marginalised regions of the state (with northern Gujarat and tribal areas being the most neglected) and of already marginalised sections like Muslims. This does not even factor in the ill-health being caused by chemical and other forms of pollution. The fact that Modinomics has been particularly iniquitous and socially disruptive is laid out in great detail by a number of analysts in the book Poverty Amidst Prosperity: Essays on the Trajectory of Development in Gujarat, edited by Atul Sood.

Modi's developmental paradigm includes sidestepping all norms to make land and water available to corporates such as the Adanis, Reliance and Tatas, including environmental clearances based on flimsy impact assessment, hugely subsidised land and resource allocations, and forcible land acquisition. It also has more than a touch of megalomania.

His plans for the Patel statue are symptomatic; envisioned as the world's largest (and possibly the costliest too), the tourism associated with it will take away lands, water and other resources of 70 villages. A substantial part of this is adivasi agricultural land, and the state government has created a Kevadia Area Development Authority with special powers to acquire such land or declare it non-agricultural.

Then there is the Kalpasar project, in which Modi wants to dam the Gulf of Khambhat to create the world's largest freshwater reservoir, purportedly to fulfil the state's water needs. Apart from the colossal social and ecological costs of such a project, this completely ignores much cheaper, more sustainable, and more democratically managed alternatives to water security such as those demonstrated by civil society groups in Kachchh and Saurashtra.

It is unlikely that Modi will change his developmental outlook should he take the seat in Delhi. He will instruct the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to carry on Mr. Moily's good work of clearing every project that comes its way and if some of the environmental laws that people fought to get in the 1980s and 1990s seem to be in the way, he will initiate measures to dilute them. This has in any case been the trend since economic globalisation was introduced into India and Modi will take it much further.

It is also possible that some of the progressive rights-based legislation and programmes that the UPA brought in, largely due to civil society initiatives it was open to, will be modified. Activists in Gujarat report that there is an atmosphere of intolerance and authoritarianism that discourages ay form of dissent. A fifth of the murders of RTI activists in the country in recent times, have taken place in Gujarat; one of these was of environmental and social activist Amit Jethwa, who had exposed the links of BJP MP Dinu Solanki with illegal mining near Gir forest.

According to Prajapati and Shah, when villagers and activists announced a peaceful protest against Modi's visit to the Narmada river to 'break the ground' for the Patel statue on 31 October 2013, they were detained and told that no-one should speak out when the CM is there.

Earlier in 2013, a public hearing for a proposed nuclear power station in Bhavnagar district was held under heavy police bandobast, in an atmosphere of repression and fear. Protests by fisherfolk, farmers, adivasis, marginalised people in villages and cities who are being displaced or whose lands are being taken away to be given at a pittance to private companies have been ignored or ruthlessly quelled.

Across India, many of the struggles for rights-based laws, such as the Right to Information Act, have been driven by citizens asking for greater voice and more direct democracy. If Gujarat's record is an indication, it is likely that such struggles will be dealt with harshly by Modi as PM.

In respect of all the above, particularly the model of globalised 'development', Modi and the BJP are no different from other mainstream political leaders and parties. They perpetuate a longer history of appropriation and centralised control of land and natural resources (which saw the biggest thrust during colonial times) and build on the blind adoption of the western model of development by our leaders since independence. But Modi's combination of undemocratic functioning, megalomania, faith in big private corporations, and social divisiveness could take the destructive model to new heights.

Modi will also accentuate further the utter disregard for alternative forms of well-being that have characterised previous regimes. India has thousands of on-ground practical alternatives, such as sustainable agriculture and forestry, rural and urban small scale manufacturing, crafts-based jobs, artisanal fisheries, localised service sector employment, decentralised water harvesting and energy production in villages and cities, direct self-governance by gram sabhas and struggles for social justice for women, Dalits and others, among many more. Several of these are in Gujarat, and a small sample can be seen at www.vikalpsangam.org.

Perhaps those who will cheer most if Modi becomes PM are the corporate sector and a part of the upwardly mobile middle classes. To them, people's struggles for justice, movements by the poor to resist displacement and land acquisition, and environmental activism are all 'hurdles' to the profits and prosperity they dream of.

Some of UPA's rights-based legislations, the revision of the Land Acquisition Act, or moves by individual ministers, such as the conscientious current Minister for Tribal Affairs, have also alarmed these sections. These are seen as brakes on India's ascendance to global superpower status.

It is of little consequence to these supporters of the globalised growth model that it has created almost no net growth in employment in the formal sector, has left well over half the country's population in poverty and ill-health and that it is undermining the prospects of healthy, decent living of future generations. This has been analysed in great detail in Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India (Viking/Penguin 2012).

Unfortunately, it is possible that large parts of even other classes will vote for Modi, dreaming of reaching the same status as the 10 per cent of Indians who own 53 per cent of its wealth today. That will be a colossal folly, for in such a model of development, these dreams will only become nightmares, just as they have wherever it has been imposed by whichever party in power.

And so, the final question: who then does one vote for? The UPA has unfortunately not shown itself to be particularly respectful of ecological issues, social and economic equity, or the needs of dignified employment (though one must not deny their contribution to rights-based legislation and programmes). The Aam Aadmi Party shows some promise of a different kind of politics and economic strategies that may benefit the 'common' person, but with no policy statement or manifesto till now, it is difficult to gauge.

Separately, I have written how all this makes it imperative to make national elections far less consequential than they are now. But that's in the long run, and one needs to decide on the upcoming elections. All I can say is that most constituencies are likely to have at least one person who is known to be honest, has worked his or her way up through social causes, and is upfront in defending sustainability, social justice and secularism. Let us hope that enough such people enter Parliament, so that irrespective of which party forms the government and who becomes the Prime Minister, no one shall have the free rein to ruin the country through short-sighted policies and sell-out to corporations.

http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=30853

—(Courtesy: India Together) 

This is a good piece to share with those who just want to get an outline of the election process It would be meaningful to your  non-Indian friends and your kids. If I get the time, I will put together something like this with a few more details about how the Indian Government works.  

Please remember - not all Americans are Democrats or Republicans, neither all Indians support Indian National congress party or Bharatiya Janata Party. The supporters of each party will accuse the other, some don't even understand democracy like our former President Bush "either you are with us or against us". Many a Indians do not understand democracy either  if such non-sense comes out of their mouths when some one differs with them. If you hold grudges against the other for differing in a civil dialogue, then you really have not understood democracy. In a true democracy, we learn to respect the otherness of others without having to agree with each other. To find solutions we have to understand the otherness of others and their motivations.

Thanks to New York Times, there are more India centric articles at  http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com and on facebook at: www.facebook.com/IndiaPluralism

This article is at: http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-primer-on-indias-parliamentary.html

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net 
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A Primer on India’s Parliamentary Elections

By MALAVIKA VYAWAHARE

April 8, 2014, 12:20 am

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/a-primer-on-indias-parliamentary-elections/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press Supporters of Indian National Congress campaigning at a rally in Mumbai, Maharashtra, on Monday.

Over the next five weeks, Indians will take part in what is considered the world’s largest democratic exercise. Malavika Vyawahare, a reporter for India Ink, answers some basic questions about the election:

Q.Who are voters electing?

A. Voters choose the representatives to India’s lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, and the composition of that body determines which party chooses the prime minister and governs the country for the next five years.

India Votes

News and analysis on the world’s largest election.

About 814.5 million people are eligible to cast ballots in this election. Voters will choose 543 members of the lower house; the president of India, a titular head of state, selects two other members of the chamber.

Q.What are the main political parties? How have their candidates risen to power?

A. India has a multiparty system with more than 50 regional parties and two major national parties, the Indian National Congress, which leads the governing coalition, and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Congress party, which was formed in 1885, when India was still under British rule, has dominated Indian politics. The party played a leading role in the struggle against colonial rule, giving rise to some of the most prominent national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, who went on to become the first prime minister of India.

Until the early 1990s, it had such broad support from the public that it was capable of forming a government without coalition partners. The descendants of Mr. Nehru dominate the party, and three prime ministers have come from that family: Mr. Nehru; his daughter, Indira Gandhi; and his grandson, Rajiv Gandhi.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984; her son Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. His widow, Sonia Gandhi, took over the party and in recent years promoted their son, Rahul Gandhi, as the heir to their political legacy. Rahul Gandhi is now the vice president of the Congress party.

Timeline on Gujarat Riots

Key moments before, during and after the riots.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, the other leading national party, is the main opposition in the Lok Sabha. Its roots are in the Hindu nationalist organizations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won the 1998 elections as a leader of the National Democratic Alliance and stayed in power until 2004.

Narendra Modi, the party’s candidate for prime minister in this year’s election, is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and a self-described Hindu nationalist.

 

Tsering Topgyal/Associated PressNarendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party, at the release of the party’s election manifesto in New Delhi on Monday.

Mr. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, a state in western India, during riots in 2002. At least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in clashes between Hindus and Muslims. Mr. Modi has long been accused of not doing enough to stop the violence, although a court rejected efforts to prosecute him. Nevertheless, he remains a divisive figure.

The Aam Aadmi Party, or the Common Man Party, was born out of mass street protests against corruption that erupted in 2010 and 2011. Its leader is a retired civil servant named Arvind Kejriwal.

The party surprised political analysts by winning 28 seats in the Delhi state elections, enough to seat Mr. Kejriwal as chief minister. But Mr. Kejriwal resigned just 49 days into his term, accusing the two main parties of failing to support an anticorruption bill.

The upstart party declared its national ambitions early and has fielded candidates for Lok Sabha seats across the country. But few expect it to pose a serious challenge to the established parties in the national elections.

Q.How does the voting work?

A.The Election Commission of India has mobilized  more than 10 million polling officials and security personnel to carry out the election. There will be about 930,000 polling stations. 

Voting is staggered. In this election, it will be done in nine phases from April 7 to May 12. Voting will be done by electronic ballot.

This is the first time that nonresident Indians are allowed to vote. It is also the first time voters will be able to exercise the option, “none of the above.”

The results are scheduled to be announced on May 16.

 

Biju Boro/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesElection officials sealing an electronic voting machine with wax after polling came to an end in Tezpur, Assam, on Monday. 

Q.How is the prime minister chosen?

A.The party that wins the greatest number of seats usually forms the government and chooses the prime minister. Getting a majority, or 272 seats, usually requires building a coalition with smaller parties.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has named Mr. Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for this election, but parties are not required to choose a candidate before elections. The Congress party has not named a prime ministerial nominee.

The single largest party in the house usually chooses its prime minister, who may be a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament.

Q.What are governing coalitions and how are they formed?

A.India’s multiparty democracy allows for the formation of alliances between political parties. Since the mid-1990s, coalition governments have been the norm as no party has been able to secure a majority on its own. Alliances are fluid and can change any time after the elections.

The two main coalitions in India are the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

Q.What are some key themes that have emerged in the election? What do voters care about?

A.Corruption: A slew of corruption scandals involving the Congress-led government, and an anticorruption push by the Aam Aadmi Party have left an impression on voters.

Economy: Slowing growth, persistent unemployment and high food prices have led to disenchantment with the present government.

Secularism: The ascent of Mr. Modi and his Hindu nationalist party has raised concerns that members of minority religious groups would face discrimination if the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power.

Q.How will these elections influence India’s relationship with Pakistan, Asia and the West?

A.Whether foreign policy is a high priority for the next government depends on the strength of the coalition. If it is weak, it will be too preoccupied with domestic battles to take on big initiatives in foreign policy.

India’s foreign policy is not likely to shift drastically, but a strong Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition would probably make larger changes because of the party’s Hindu nationalist streak and pro-business stand.

 

Adnan Abidi/ReutersLi Keqiang, left, premier of China, with Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India, during the former’s visit to India in May this year.

The current administration, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the Congress party, has not made improving relations with Pakistan a priority as domestic issues have kept the government occupied.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has outlined a zero-tolerance policy toward terrorism and accused Pakistan of infiltrating India. India under Mr. Modi would be unlikely to adopt a confrontational stance with Pakistan, but it is doubtful it would be on friendlier terms with its neighbor.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has made it clear that it would respond firmly to any Chinese territorial aggression, but Mr. Modi is also mindful of India’s economic ties with China. No matter which party is in charge, India is likely to avoid jeopardizing economic relations with China, which has emerged as a key trading partner and potential investor.

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto has reiterated the party’s opposition to foreign investment in retail chains that sell more than one brand of products, known in India as multibrand retail, Mr. Modi has welcomed foreign investment in his home state of Gujarat. His business-friendly reputation is likely to help strengthen ties with the West, which had shunned him after the 2002 Gujarat riots. The United States denied him a visa.

In recent years, both European and American envoys have met with Mr. Modi as he modeled himself as an investor-friendly politician. And with his strong following among Indian-Americans, business ties between the United States and India would likely grow.

But the next prime minister, regardless of party, will face strained relations with the United States. An Indian diplomat was arrested on visa fraud charges in December and later indicted, which set off a furor in India.

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A few of my articles :

• India's future and moving forward - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/indias-future-narendra-mo_b_4177079.html 
• India's experiment in clean politics - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/03/indias-experiment-with-clean-politics.html
• Time for Modi to soften up - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/03/its-time-modi-shows-strength-in-softness.html
• Modi's Nakshatras are not in his favor -http://www.opednews.com/articles/Narendra-Modi-s-Nakshatras-by-Mike-Ghouse-Anti-christian_Bharatiya-Janata-Party_Business_Congress-131227-999.html

Rahul Gandhi - End of the Gandhi Line

By John Elliot / April 2, 2014 12:56 PM EDT

How much does it tell you about a man if he cannot decide whether he wants to have a beard or not? What does it indicate ifhe appears clean shaven for a few days, then sports a stubble, then is clean shaven again, then appears with a full black beard till it vanishes again?

This is not a youngster hanging out with buddies or backpacking across America but instead a top member of India's leading political dynasty who is nearing his 44th birthday and is photographed and filmed every time he appears in public.

He is Rahul Gandhi, the 43-year-old heir apparent to the prime ministership of India—or so it seemed until it became apparent he did not want the job but then seemed to be working toward it, though he would never confirm his ultimate ambitions or intentions.

Confused? So are the people of India.

More:  http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/04/11/gandhi-india-politics.html

--

Economist - runs 3 pieces on India's elections

India’s election
Can anyone stop Narendra Modi?
He will probably become India’s next prime minister. That does not mean he should be
Apr 5th 2014 

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21600106-he-will-probably-become-indias-next-prime-minister-does-not-mean-he-should-be-can-anyone

India’s new voters
We are connected
Rapid social change and assertive voters will improve Indian democracy

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21600108-rapid-social-change-and-assertive-voters-will-improve-indian-democracy-we-are-connected

Filthy India
Mucking it up
The capital’s battle with rubbish shows the recalcitrance of the informal economy

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21600140-capitals-battle-rubbish-shows-recalcitrance-informal-economy-mucking-it-up

Indian Hard-Liner Narendra Modi Leads in Prime Minister Race

BJP Candidate Tries to Leave Religious Politics Behind and Run on Economic Development in Election Starting Monday

By 

RAYMOND ZHONG 

Updated April 4, 2014 11:23 p.m. ET

NEW DELHI—The man leading polls to become India's next prime minister may finally be outrunning his past.

When thousands of terrified Muslims fled their homes during religious riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002, the state's Hindu-nationalist chief minister opposed setting up relief camps, saying these would be "child-making factories."

After alluding to polygamy and high birthrates in the Muslim community, Narendra Modi declared: "There is a need to teach a lesson to those people who are expanding their population."

The speech reinforced Mr. Modi's image as a Hindu hard-liner. Three years later, the U.S. denied Mr. Modi a visa, responding to allegations that he hadn't done enough to stop the 2002 rioting, in which mobs killed more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Now, in national elections that start Monday, Mr. Modi has sought to distance himself from religious politics. Facing off against Rahul Gandhi, the 43-year-old scion of India's powerful Nehru-Gandhi political clan, whose Congress party has governed India since 2004, Mr. Modi has positioned himself as a champion of economic development and no-nonsense government. He cites growth and industrialization under his leadership in Gujarat and says all of India will enjoy the same if he becomes premier.

"I am known to be a Hindu-nationalist leader," Mr. Modi said in one of his first speeches after becoming the prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. But "my real thought is toilets first, temples later."

That message has resonated with voters. Despite Mr. Modi's sectarian baggage, opinion polls show the BJP well ahead of Congress, its main rival. A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 63% of respondents want a BJP-led government, while just 19% favor Congress.

Mr. Modi's critics say his hard-line affiliations make him unfit to lead a large, profoundly diverse country such as India. Hindus make up 80% of India's population and Muslims 13%.

Campaigning this week in the technology hub of Gurgaon, on New Delhi's outskirts, Mr. Modi stepped out of a helicopter and greeted thousands of cheering fans. Some wore paper masks bearing his bearded, bespectacled likeness. Others hailed him with a chant used to worship the Hindu god Shiva.

"Electricity in every home, toilets in every home, education for children, hospitals for the elderly. Brothers and sisters, can't we do this in our country?" Mr. Modi asked the rally. "We need to make this happen together."

A supporter uses a 'Modi Fan' to take respite from the heat in Sivasagar, last week. Sipa Press

India's 815 million eligible voters are going to the polls at a time of growing national dissatisfaction. To many, corruption seems to have penetrated public life at all levels. The economy, rocket-powered not long ago, has slowed. The rupee tumbled more than 20% last summer, and inflation is now 8%. Since a fatal gang rape in 2012, India has become known around the world as a dangerous place for women. Indians worry about an assertive China next door, and many feel their country has lost influence on the world stage.

This is an election of "anger with an element of hope," one senior BJP politician, Arun Jaitley, said in the past week.

For India's exasperated middle class, Mr. Modi's brawny style is a direct antidote to a Congress party some perceive as feckless. The BJP is expected to win big among urban professionals who believe Mr. Modi can imbue India with a new self-confidence and ambition that matches their own.

Mr. Modi is also the darling of Indian business. Indian stocks have been hitting highs as investors bet on a Modi victory.

Mr. Modi's tack to the center and the growing likelihood voters will reward him for it are getting Washington's attention, too. In February Nancy Powell, then U.S. ambassador to India, ended a long U.S. diplomatic freeze by meeting with Mr. Modi.

More: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303847804579477551152618852

India's 2014 Election Schedule

World's largest democracy goes to vote.

WORLD’S LARGEST DEMOCRACY:  VOTING BEGINS NOW IN INDIA.
URL- http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/04/worlds-largest-democracy-goes-to-vote.html

815 Million Eligible Indian voters will start voting on Monday, it is the largest exercise of franchise in the world.  – its‘s 8:15 AM in India now, and the polling booths are open now.

I want to address the apprehension of the Indians here and around the world.  Indian democracy is firmly rooted and functions very well and no one can uproot it, and it runs in our veins.

Indira Gandhi was a tyrant head of the state who ruled India for many terms. After her first term, she did not trust her fellow countrymen and declared emergency rule, that is curbing everyone’s freedom and the nation suffered.

I salute all those heroes who chose to go to jail, but fought for the freedom and elections were held, and she was gone, until she got her act together.

Of the 67 Years of democracy in India, Indians chose the Indian National Congress, (INC) to govern the nation for 61 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remained in the opposition in different avatars, and finally got elected to govern the nation from 1998-2004,   then it lost the elections on their 2nd run.

Now we have new elections; at stake are 543 Parliamentary Seats (MP’s – Members of parliament) and the party who can gather 272 members can form the government.  It appears that the BJP is in the lead, and may gain 200 seats, and partner another 72 seats through coalition with smaller and regional parties.

Nearly half of the Indian public is apprehensive of Mr. Narendra Modi, the man who is leading the BJP party now.  I just want to remind my fellow Indians to trust our democracy and trust the goodness of the people in general. The right wing reckless individuals are few and even if they are significant, they will not last, Indian democracy will outlast every one.  

A friend aptly said, “The Muslim, Christian and Dalit minorities need not worry, if Modi is elected, he is likely to be cautious and careful in safeguarding the rights of minorities, as he knows what happens when the rights of fellow Indians are violated.  Modi cannot drive any one into the Arabian Sea or Bay of Bengal, he has to function among the family of civil nations and get his act together to be re-elected like Indira Gandhi, he cannot declare emergency rule and become a fascist like Indira.”

If he gets elected, I hope he listens to the advice given by many a people including mine.

India’s future and Narendra Modi - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/indias-future-narendra-mo_b_4177079.html

Modi’s Nakshatras are not in his favor - http://www.opednews.com/articles/Narendra-Modi-s-Nakshatras-by-Mike-Ghouse-Anti-christian_Bharatiya-Janata-Party_Business_Congress-131227-999.html

Mike Ghouse committed to building cohesive societies - www.MikeGhouse.net