This post by making the comparison to Tea Party seems to miss the obvious. That is, the Tea Party only won primaries 🙂
I was disappointed to note that Prof Cole did not get beyond the typical perceptions handed out to westerners by Indian informants in the US. The same's the case with western journalists like bureau chiefs in India who tend to stay in New Delhi and take their soundings from blue blooded Indians who are loath to get out of their palatial mansions in Delhi. This is a bit like American journalists reporting on Vietnam while sitting in the bar of the Hotel Continental in Saigon. Of course, Harrison E Salisbury went to N Vietnam. But there are no Salisbury's in New Delhi. Besides the Indian hinterland is hardly a war zone so it's inexplicable why the journalists dont make the trip. Perhaps it's the same reason why undergrads dont go the library - intellectual and physical laziness.
There are couple strange things about the elections this time round. Modi seems to have talked 'development', not Hindu-Muslim stuff. Secondly, Muslims in the heartland seem to have voted for him in large numbers.
It's true that Modi is sympathetic to big business . But he would also be equally unsympathetic to things which are bad for business such wars, chaos, internal strife. Prof Varshney of Brown University and formerly of the U of M , in his regular column in the Indian Express, notes several concessions to Muslims in his election manifesto such as Urdu, which were hitherto unthinkable in the BJP manifesto. Modi on the campaign trail remained silent on Hindu agenda such as the Ram Temple and related themes which had the chance of being considered even by his Hindu supporters as flogging a dead horse. Overall Prof Varshney gives a rather nuanced view of what's gone on in the campaign trail this time and why Modi won. For those who do not know Prof Varshney, I'd recommend his 2002 book on Hindu Muslim strife in India which is completely based on data culled on many decades of Hindu Muslim riots. He's no apologist for anybody.
This post by making the comparison to Tea Party seems to miss the obvious. That is, the Tea Party only won primaries 🙂
I was disappointed to note that Prof Cole did not get beyond the typical perceptions handed out to westerners by Indian informants in the US. The same's the case with western journalists like bureau chiefs in India who tend to stay in New Delhi and take their soundings from blue blooded Indians who are loath to get out of their palatial mansions in Delhi. This is a bit like American journalists reporting on Vietnam while sitting in the bar of the Hotel Continental in Saigon. Of course, Harrison E Salisbury went to N Vietnam. But there are no Salisbury's in New Delhi. Besides the Indian hinterland is hardly a war zone so it's inexplicable why the journalists dont make the trip. Perhaps it's the same reason why undergrads dont go the library - intellectual and physical laziness.
There are couple strange things about the elections this time round. Modi seems to have talked 'development', not Hindu-Muslim stuff. Secondly, Muslims in the heartland seem to have voted for him in large numbers.
It's true that Modi is sympathetic to big business . But he would also be equally unsympathetic to things which are bad for business such wars, chaos, internal strife. Prof Varshney of Brown University and formerly of the U of M , in his regular column in the Indian Express, notes several concessions to Muslims in his election manifesto such as Urdu, which were hitherto unthinkable in the BJP manifesto. Modi on the campaign trail remained silent on Hindu agenda such as the Ram Temple and related themes which had the chance of being considered even by his Hindu supporters as flogging a dead horse. Overall Prof Varshney gives a rather nuanced view of what's gone on in the campaign trail this time and why Modi won. For those who do not know Prof Varshney, I'd recommend his 2002 book on Hindu Muslim strife in India which is completely based on data culled on many decades of Hindu Muslim riots. He's no apologist for anybody.