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from India Insight:
Narendra Modi follows his roadmap to Delhi
The Narendra Modi charm offensive showed up in full force in India's capital on Wednesday. Modi, the main opposition party's likely prime ministerial candidate gave a speech on progress and development at one of Delhi's premier colleges, the youthful audience greeted the 62-year-old politician with gusto, news outlets called his speech a "roadmap for India," protesters showed up en masse and Twitter went bananas.
If not a direct declaration of grand political ambition, the nearly one-hour speech at the Shri Ram College of Commerce sounded like a pitch for a national role: here was the chief minister of Gujarat talking about development to more than a thousand students in New Delhi, staying away from the usual and divisive political overtones, repeatedly referring to the youth of the country (future voters), and outlining his vision for India.
"The whole world is looking at India as a big marketplace. Why? Because they (other countries) think they can sell here easily. It is the demand of our time to make India a leader in manufacturing and dump our goods in the world market," Modi said, according to our report on the Reuters news wire.
In December he won a fourth consecutive term in office, and since then many in his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's main opposition group, have called for him to lead the party in national elections due by early 2014.
from India Insight:
Delhi rape case: Verma committee report dredges up old stereotypes
Like many journalists who follow Indian affairs, I have been digging through the 657 pages of the Verma committee report on rape in India and attitudes toward women in that country. You can read about its main conclusion in our wire story, namely:
India needs to implement existing laws, not introduce tougher punishment such as the death penalty, to prevent rape, a government panel set up to review legislation said on Wednesday, following a brutal gang rape that shook the nation. Panel head, justice J.S. Verma, rejected outright the idea of the death penalty for rape cases, a demand from some protesters and politicians in the days after the 23-year-old physiotherapy student was attacked on a moving bus.
from India Insight:
‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ meets ‘Indian Idol’ in West Bengal
(Any career-destroying attempts at irony or humour are the responsibility of the author, and not of the chief ministers of Gujarat or West Bengal or any of their associates.)
Everybody's talking about how Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has fostered fair weather for businesses and investors in his state. Maybe he's making it too easy. In West Bengal, it looks like investors and business people must work a little harder for their returns. Take a look at that state's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee. She isn't just making business people and investors work for their profits; she's making them sing.
from Breakingviews:
Modi’s Gujarat win doesn’t mean he will rule India
By Andy Mukherjee
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Narendra Modi’s resounding election victory in the western Indian state of Gujarat has made Indian businessmen optimistic. Many see his win, the third in a row, as a sign that the centre-right leader with a reputation for effective administration could be ruling the nation in 2014. But a chequered past, an autocratic personality and the peculiarities of India’s coalition politics make Modi less than a shoo-in.
from India Insight:
Narendra Modi, the BJP and the prime minister’s chair
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Thomson Reuters)
Speculation has been rife lately within India's centre-right nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over who will be its candidate for prime minister in the 2014 general elections.
from India Insight:
Narendra Modi, why shoot yourself in the foot?
I usually don’t spend too much time contemplating the bizarre pronouncements, snide comments and muddy slings of India's political figures.
I'm talking about:
- The village elders who consider themselves the law, declaring that Indian girls should marry young to avoid getting raped.
from FaithWorld:
Indian court sentences 11 to death for fiery attack on Hindu pilgrims
(Smoke pours from the burning train in Godhra, February 27, 2002/Stringer)
A special Indian court on Tuesday sentenced to death 11 people for setting fire to a train in Godhra in the western state of Gujarat in 2002, killing 59 people in an act that led to some of the worst religious riots in the country since independence in 1947. The Sabarmati Express was carrying Hindu devotees returning from the site of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.
More than 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the subsequent riots in Gujarat. Critics say the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules Gujarat, did little to stop the violence and many believe the riots led to the defeat of the BJP in the 2004 general elections.
from Russell Boyce:
Asia – A Week in Pictures January 30, 2011
Even though the world's gaze is firmly focused on the events in Egypt and Tunisia, top stories continue to break in Asia. Last week during my morning call with Enny Nuraheni, our Indonesia Chief Photographer, she told there was a ferry on fire with hundreds on board, a train had crashed and Mount Bromo was spewing ash, all on the same day. In Japan Mount Kirishima was erupting, thousands of birds culled to try to stop the spread of bird flu and the economy and government were under pressure. But all Japanese worries were forgotten briefly as Japan beat Australia 1-0 in the AFC Asian Cup final in Doha.
Volcanic lightning or a dirty thunderstorm is seen above Shinmoedake peak as it erupts, between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in this photo taken from Kirishima city and released by Minami-Nippon Shimbun January 28, 2011. Ash and rocks fell across a wide swathe of southern Japan straddling the prefectures of Miyazaki and Kagoshima on Thursday, as one of Mount Kirishima's many calderas erupted, prompting authorities to raise alert levels and call on for an evacuation of all residents within a 2 km (1.2 miles) radius of the volcano. REUTERS/Minami-Nippon Shimbun
from India Insight:
Playing politics over fuel price hike?
For the first time in parliamentary history, the entire opposition led by the BJP walked out during the Finance Minister's budget speech.
The walkout was to protest against the hike in petrol prices.
The opposition is saying the government move adds to the burden of the people.
However, the united front put by the fractious opposition also hints at some pre-planning by the opposition leaders.
from India Insight:
Prohibition policy in Gujarat — a tragic farce?
More than 130 people died after consuming bootleg liquor in Gujarat last week.
While prohibition is in place in Gujarat, liquor is often smuggled in from neighbouring states and people are forced to buy it at inflated prices.
What can the poor do? They cannot afford to buy branded alcohol so they consume illicit liquor. Plastic pouches called 'potlis' of illegally brewed liquor are available for as little as ten rupees.
