As Narendra Modi looks set to become India’s next prime minister, Guardian assistant foreign editor Phoebe Greenwood explains how a lowly ‘chai wallah’ from remote Gujarat blossomed into a Hindu nationalist poster boy and might soon be the political leader of 1.25 billion people – one sixth of the world’s population
mike / May 17, 2014
It remains to be seen how a lowly thug from Medamulana “blossomed” illegally into being the President of Sri Lanka!!
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Solutions / May 17, 2014
Mike, don’t rush.
Modi is not the BJB. BJB is a mechanism. Its not a single family party or an individual who can dominate.
Its not Modi himself or the BJP contributed massively to its victory. Of course they did a good job but its the brave Indian media which sent the Mother and Son party home.
Medamulana thugs’ carnival will be over soon.
Inviting Modi was a real comic. Mara thinks he can fool or buy Modi as he did with Kalama (Sharma). Modi will certainly merge with Jayalalitha, which is the third force in the parliament. Modi needs more majority in the Lokh saba although BJP could form a government without anyone’s blessings.
Modi wouldn’t toalrate the SL’s illicit romance with China/Pakistan when its comes to effect the India. Modi will be an instrument to uproot the SL’s southern criminals from power.
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M.Sivananthan / May 17, 2014
haha
Good imagination. Sri Lanka is not part of India. Jayalaitha is struggling with tons of court cases in Bangalore.
LTTE buffoons think they are Hindus now but hang on to the criminal Catholic Church.
LTTE killed Hindu priests and robbed many Hindu temples. We already informed the anti-Hindu activities of the LTTE even before the elections.
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Sengodan. M / May 17, 2014
Modi is a true son of the soil. He represents real India. Media have painted a bleak picture of him in the past. Hopefully they will correct themselves in due course. India will definitely emerge as a true regional power under Modi.
Sengodan. M
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manel fonseka / May 17, 2014
May I suggest you read Pankaj Mishra on Modi and what his election portends for India?
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Javi / May 18, 2014
You read the UP buruva paid for by the Rahul captured press.
The RSS/BJP does not need sihala offshoots or the west to guide its destiny.
We know who we are and the worse sceanario would be the 20 million would be driven off like diego garcians or we will nuke you for playing ducks and drakes at geopolitics.
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lanka lover / May 18, 2014
True son or false son we don’t give a damn, all what we want is Modi to kick Moda-Mara out for good.
Then I will claim Modi is the best PM in the world.
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mike / May 18, 2014
MODI vs MOD(aya)
Master Of Developing India and Master Of Destroying {Sri Lanka} !
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K.A Sumanasekera / May 17, 2014
So a Dalit now the PM of India …
What great company for our own non Elite President in Srilanka.
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shankar / May 17, 2014
Dayan says that mahinda is going to be caught between Modi and MoD.In my case it looks more like Mad and MaD.To make his choice easier modi is getting ready to cut off gota’s head.
Is there a connection between being celibate and going after muslims who have 5 wives and are enjoying themselves night after night.Is it jealousy?i’am thinking of Gnanasera too.Will modi and he become chums.
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gamini / May 17, 2014
It is no secret that Democracy and the franchise has enabled the ordinary majority in societies to elect their own to govern countries that were earlier ruled by Monarchs and the Nobility in society. Apart from a few vestiges remaining as symbols in a few countries, the rest have been completely overhauled. All societies had more of the Corrupt and the Evil, among the ordinary than among the Nobility. Therefore without exception all societies have been over run by the Corrupt and the Evil from the ordinary masses thrown up by the masses them selves to power and are in governance today. Some of the Nobility have joined the bandwagon, while most have made a quiet exit. The virtues upheld before of Honesty, Ethics and Decency have disappeared and in place have taken root of Dishonesty, Impropriety and Impunity. O’ tempora! O’ mores.
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paul / May 17, 2014
There was Margaret Thatcher the daughter of a grocer, John Major the son of an unemployed circus performer, Willy Brandt the illegitimate son of unknown parents, all ‘thrown up by the ordinary masses’, but they were good leaders.
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Native Vedda / May 18, 2014
paul
“all ‘thrown up by the ordinary masses’, but they were good leaders.”
Margaret Thatcher, you must be kidding.
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paul / May 18, 2014
Love her or hate her, she was a Leader. Actually I was only trying to point out that the social origins of leaders do not matter. Their efficiency and sincerity matter.
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gamini / May 18, 2014
‘Efficiency and sincerity that matter and not the social origins’ Why not! Why Not! are we not seeing in full measure of once a murder suspect and a Tsunami Fund embezzler today defying all norms of decency with dictatorial fiats, having suppressed the Judiciary thus denying justice to the masses, allowing Rapists and Murderers to roam freely who support him. Further no Laws apply to his offspring like how Rohitha Rajapassa driving an unregistered American Automobile ramming a three wheeler injuring the driver seriously is not news to the nation, but the scene is cleared by the STF in no time and another driver substituted instead. What efficiency and what sincerity? My foot! These lap dogs who hold a candle to such uncivilized are also from the gutter. Therefore no wonder they speak in favour.
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gamini / May 18, 2014
The good you have mentioned is only a miniscule while the rest the majority elected have been corrupt, arrogant undesirables.
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Ajith / May 17, 2014
Modi may be a Hindu Nationalist but he is for great India which lost its power and independence during the rule of Sonia Gandhi for the last 10 years. Under Sonia Congress, India behaved like a slave of Sri Lanka. Mahinda was playing tit for tat game by threatening India using China card. Rajiv Gandhi’s murder made Sonia lead India to take revenge against Hindus in Sri Lanka in collaboration with Buddhists of Sri Lanka and Islamist Pakistan. The recent alleged murder attempt of Modi in Tamil Nadu by Pakistani Islamist terrorists in collaboration with Sinhala Buddhists Sri Lanka will decide India’s foreign policy related to Sri Lanka. Whether Modi supports for Tamils or not, definitely he will not allow Sri Lanka to play games with India using China card or Pakistan card.
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mike / May 17, 2014
With Narendra in power Mahendra cannot play tit for tat instead he should think of playing tit for tit??
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Dawn Dale / May 17, 2014
looks like region is following Sl example – electing ultra nationalist leaders.. maybe it is true MR is influencing the world afterall?
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Mallaiyuran / May 17, 2014
In the west, profile of candidates always considered as important. They normally introduce themselves with and including family members though there, anybody, who does not have family backgrounds also can stand for anything. South Asia mainly family dependent, though family’s characteristics do not count. Hypocrisy reign there. When Sonia’s Congress won the last election and Singh was appointed as the prime minister, the Times described her as another Mohandas Gandhi as she self-sacrificed to country and brought a very good person as prime minister (this was because of the North Indian media created a completely wrong picture of her). Sonia, Namal, King, Rahul, Sirimavo, all Bangladeshi Leaders (other than Mujibur Rahman) and all Pakistani leaders (Including Jinnah and Bhutto) never stood up to the needs of the positions that they were holding. In this, Modi is tea vender and a wife abandoner. In fact this is considered as undesirable in the western standards and South Asian standards too. But, he has created a history today. This is because India is a South Asian country and a true democratic country too. South Asian cannot understand what is democracy is, so none of their countries are democracies. Here India, like western countries, it is a true democracy. At the same time it is true South Asian Country too. So Modi’s tea vending fitted into the western democratical part and his unattached family behavior worked with the south Asian Standards.
Because of this complex nature, it is very difficult to explain the Indian election results. As I watched and read from media, I did not find any of the pundits appeared to be have understood the wave that passed through this time.
Tamil Nadu has shown some symptoms of its ailments in the last state election. That time it appeared like the election was influenced by Mullivaikkal. It appeared that Seeman, Vaiko and Nedumaran had the harness of that election horse, though none of them were candidates. Tamil Nadu had achieved a kind of growth that is next to Gujarat, under Karunanidhi, though he swindled a large amount of it. The economic development he achieved in Tamil Nadu did not bring any good to Karunanidhi’s in 2011 election. Further, his corruption too had not come out fully to the road on those election days. So his loss was explained as because his iron fisted suppression of the Mullivaikkal sympathizers. Now, in this election, Vaiko is distant 2nd to ADMK. (While UPF lost 175 of its old seats, BJP lost only two, astonishingly one of them is, Vaiko’s).He worked hard and has almost freed the seven Tamils punished on Rajiv’s murder. Jayalalitha played only a minor role on that. On all the TN State Assembly resolutions passed for Eelam Tamils, all TN parties took part. They all had passed unanimously all states resolution. Almost all of them publicly advocated supporting the UN Resolution. Now, basically all of them are with Eelam Tamils san one issue that is Tamil Nadu Congress supported of not releasing the seven prisoners of Rajiv’s murder case. So how did they create the Jayalalitha wave in TN, which had completely crushed Modi wave in Tamil Nadu?
Within the last three years, TN has not seen any big stunning change in their life that was brought in by ADMK government for this Jayalalitha wave which overran the “All India Modi Wave”. The only difference is, this election did not have Karunanidhi’s and Congress’s violent management that was present in the 2011 election. So still there is no explanation why Vaiko in the NDP+ lost so badly and other all parties lost too, but AIADMK only won. The extreme revenging nature of Sonia was shown out only after TN election (April 24th, 2014), on the Seven’s release, Anti Tamil Army General’s appointment at the last minute and a 5 year ban (extension) of movement LTTE that is no longer exist. These did not have their chance to reflect on the TN 2014 election. If the Tamil Nadu’s election result is to show Sonia Congress’s anti-Tamil sentiments, then the results are showing much less than what the TN Tamils now might be feeling. Last point I like to tell on this is, though Tamil Nadu Congress had rebelled many time against Sonia congress on Eelam Tamils issue, still TN congress leaders have been badly punished for the atrocities of Sonia. So, if one say this is because of Mullivaikal, then It appears that they are saying the TN voters punished TN congress for Sonia’s mistake and they say here, only injustice had been served for TN Congress.
North have its complexity too. Modi’s victory is an indication, North is not dying for strong central. He is a federalist. Jayalalitha and Mamta is showing regional are in the driver seat. Communist’s departure is also a indication that peoples did not pay attention to the call for strong central. The main question there is “Is this Modi wave or anti- Annai Sonia wave?” There are lot of symptoms, indicates, second one weigh much more than the first one. The eloquent one out of them is, from the third ally, (other than SP, JDU and CP) all others have gained a lot of seats like BJP allies(NDA). Though CP and SP, this time in the third ally, they have been considered as UPF’s allies. So they too took the fate congress took. In reality Third allies did better than BJP allies in improving the seats. BJP allies 337: 196 seats (Total : New gains, Additional news seats) but the others for 120: 75. This is a bar better ratio the BJP allies got. It is the same phenomena in the BJP allies inside(NDA) too. BJP allies parties improved seats better than BJP’s improvement. In either case, here Modi wave is not just simply not visible, Visibly it is completely absent. W.Bengal and TN are clearly telling that there was no Modi wave that can go with the massiveness or pervasiveness of the election result. It appears even Muslims and Christians were not with Sonia’s Congress this time. If the 10% Muslims votes have been with Sonia Congress this would not have happened. This could partly explain why the political Pundits so badly underestimated the wave that swept through. Fonseka too has said its was Sonia bitterness(he meant corruption) is the reason, people looked for regime change. So this is mainly anti – Annai Sonia wave.
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Leelawathie / May 17, 2014
Srilanken muslims will have no good future since newly elected MODI´s principles against injustice are almost simlar to that of Rajapakshe.
In lately reported incidents that budhist segements led by BBS back by GR open or behind the scene were totally neglected by the incumbent president not even focusing on such clashes. It is reported the way Modi has reacted in 2002 in comparable incidents in that country against their muslims are seen to be the same.
As it is the case with rural masses that have been hallozinated by Rajapakse rhetorics – it is reported that modis popular rhetorics have made blind the poor hindu people in India.
Anyway, India´s newly elected PM will not be a good sign to lanken politics at all. May be Rajapakshes are little happy being able to overshadow lanken alarming issues. Rajapakshe either have no vision for the future or they are born fools by all kind of principles.
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ela kolla / May 19, 2014
leelawathie, please go and kiss jayalalitha’s backside
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mike / May 19, 2014
Thana Kolla, why don’t you give it a try and then make your suggestion? I am sure you would love it and may also think of sniffing her undies??
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ela kolla / May 20, 2014
buru mike, your experience related to undies is shown here…
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manel fonseka / May 17, 2014
May I draw attention to a lengthy analysis of “who is Modi?” and what his succession portends for India, by Pankaj Mishra, in “Narendra Modi and the new face of India” at
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/16/what-next-india-pankaj-mishra
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vishvajith / May 18, 2014
Our Mahinda, the Protector of the Buddha, Perpetual winner of everything Democratic, will take Modi for a good ride.
My Tamil Brothers and Sisters, don’t expect much from Modi. You are just political footballs to him.
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D.Nimal / May 18, 2014
Since 1990s Neo-Liberal economic policies that development of India characterized by growing frustration with capitalist path of democracy reflecting growth of all areas are unsatisfactory process and its outcomes. In fact the social area, growth of disenchantment is the result of the uneven way that benefits of few rich have spread in developing Indian society, that vast gap between People of India and few rich of India nation.
The political democratic-deficit and economic growth lagging behind of that uneven development due to the high financial volatility and board regulatory deficit had been resulted in a sequence of nation and global financial crisis unprecedented since 2008 Great Depression. Modi’s BJP, comes into power of Governances legacy of Indian Congress Party set that policies of Neo-Liberalism had been implemented by and large by last 10 years in Indian Ruling class.
Is Modi going to change these set of policies laid down by INC?
Hope not that.
But he will ( Modi) be more in favor apply for all ills of Indian system that un-secular of policies will be guided by National policies adopted by Western nation had been practices very inception development of their Capitalism since last 400 years.
Nationalism is part and parcel of Capitalism and as well as ‘corny’ Capitalism India and the West. No doubt Hinduism is major culture and religion back bone of Indian society, under the leadership of BJP will apply too.
Indian Nationalism and Religion go together in path and Model of Neo-Capitalism in emerging nation as west in past history and Future of India.
West’s cannot blame to Indian’s BJP, that on Indian Political Nationalism is class nature and its base of politics at all.
What ever the Party in power – Ruling class of BJP key responsibility for even and balance development of political economical and societies that effective of its action to uplift millions from poverty level. That is urgent task of Indian Democracy.
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