Monitoring Desk: Crushing and cruising victory of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in biggest ever elections of the human history has confirmed that rule of Hindu Nationalism is now unchallenged reality of so-called secular India.
While writing a new history of heaviest turn out of ballot, Indian voters confirmed that there is no space left for non-Hindus in Saffron India and radicals elite, powerful establishment and resourceful corporate sector stand together to form a New India, which is of course would different than India of Mahatma Gandhi rather of those who killed Gandhi.
The Guardian in its Editorial writes:
The BJP is the political wing of Hindu nationalism, a movement that is changing India for the worse. Little wonder, as it stands for the flagrant social dominance of the upper castes of Hindu society, pro-corporate economic growth, cultural conservatism, intensified misogyny, and a firm grip on the instruments of state power. The landslide win for Mr Modi will see India’s soul lost to a dark politics – one that views almost all 195 million Indian Muslims as second-class citizens.
The New York Times writes that:
Exceeding all predictions, Modi’s party is winning a majority of seats.
Mr. Modi, one of the most powerful and divisive leaders India has produced in decades, appeared easily headed for another five-year term, according to election returns.
US News writes:
Modi’s image as a strongman is part of what propelled him to win a second term as the country’s prime minister this week, in the world’s largest democratic exercise. Around 600 million individuals – nearly half of India’s 1.3 billion population – cast their votes in a weekslong national election that ended May 19.
Washington Post writes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party won a landslide victory in the world’s largest election as voters endorsed his vision of a muscular, assertive and fundamentally Hindu India.
The result represents a stunning vote of confidence in Modi, a charismatic and polarizing politician who is part of a crop of right- leaning populist leaders around the globe.
Official results showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, on track to win 303 seats in Parliament, well above the 272-seat majority mark. No Indian prime minister has returned to power with a similar mandate in nearly five decades. The size of Modi’s victory was unexpected, surpassing his party’s winning performance in 2014.
Under Modi, India and the United States have become closer as both seek to manage a rising China, and he and Trump appear to have a good relationship. Trump on Thursday tweeted his congratulations to Modi on the “BIG election victory” and said he looked forward to “continuing our important work together!”
In the News Islamabad, Imtiaz Alam writes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing his victory rally, has boasted that “no party could dare talk of secularism” after its exposure at the hands of “pseudoto secularists”. Epitomising the retreat of secularism was the massive victory of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accuse in Malegaon, Ajmer Dargah, and Samjhota Express terrorism and who declared the murderer of Mahatma Gandhi being a “great patriot”, declared her success as a “victory of dharma (faith)” over the Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh who on his part took a competing course of soft Hindutava while taking the blessings of every possible priest in the area.
Riding a high nationalist tide and pushing hard Hindutva agenda, Mr Modi trounces his all rivals, including secularists, caste-based exclusivists and most regionalists—barring Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and secular Kerala with a Hindu minority. His second consecutive landslide victory pushes India towards a contradictory course of ideological revivalism and modern corporatization. And that is what is meant by Mr Modi’s 21st century’s “New India” on the corpses of the founders of Indian secularism. He is destined to re-write India history as envisioned by the ideologues of Hindutva as defined by RSS.
In The Nation Islamabad, Adeela Naureen writes:
The greatest casualty of this election has been the Muslim, Dalit and Christian voter; bewildered, confused and divided, the minorities have been suffocated completely. Another trend during campaigning in Lok Sabha election was inability or fear of Congress and other secular parties to raise the voice for minorities, this appeasement of majority Hindu population has now become a standard pattern in all political discourse in India. Another major group to suffer badly is the ‘Left and Liberal’ segment of educated Indians, who was already labelled as Urban Naxal by the RSS-BJP cabal, this group who lost great names like Gauri Lankesh and Professor Kalburgi at the hands of RSS affiliated terror groups will be pushed into a tight corner.
The right wing media, aka Godi Media (nick name for Modi Media) fully backed up by corporate India has also played a major role in bringing back Modi to power, this time with more ferocity and fanfare. The larger than life image of Modi built over last decade has paid off and Modi cult appears to be assuming the face of a new Holy Deota or Awatar. Reportedly 7 billion dollars were spent on this election and most of it was funded by Corporate India and the candidates who will be talking of alleviating poverty.
One must give the credit of Modi’s victory to organization in BJP and RSS leadership’s ability to consistently pursue their political objectives through sustained hard work and networking. The number of BJP activists may be a secret, but their activities on Social Media as well as in the filed indicates that more than 10 million Saffron Sevaks or Sanghis were out in the field to motivate their voter and spread the message of Vikas`or development and Raksha (security).
Another major factor in the Post Truth politics and appeal to sentiments, rather than actual issues faced by common people. The Godi media anchors and opinion makers in print and electronic media and Saffron Bhakts or ‘Chaukidars’ on social media created so much of election fog that the common man remained oblivious of actual issues of demonetization, farmers suicide or poverty. An estimated one billion dollars was fed into media by corporate India to market Modi as the ultimate saint and a Mahapurush (holy man). Modi rallies were organized at grand scale, one example is the Varanasi rally and road show, which cost two crore Rs excluding the cost on entertainment and travel.
