Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
India

Modi is the flavour of Indian election coverage in US

Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Apr, 2014 12:48 PM
  • Modi is the flavour of Indian election coverage in US
As American media reports on the sounds, colours and smells of India's crucial parliamentary election, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is the flavour of the season.
 
The big story of course is India's 'insanely huge and complex' (Time), 'jaw-droppingly enormous' (Washington Post) election 'juggernaut' (Wall Street Journal), but analysts have on the most part focused on not who but how Modi may become the new tenant of 7 Race Course Road, the official residence of the Indian prime minister. 
 
Painting the Indian election as a "face off" between "Nehru-Gandhi heir and populist Hindu nationalist" (CNN), leading media outlets as also think tanks, have dilated on the fortunes of the two leading parties - Congress and BJP - as also newcomer Aam Aadmi Party.
 
But "frontrunner" modi gets the lion's share of coverage even as it is acknowledged that Modi's path to the top office will depend on a group of secondary politicians, including "three ladies" - Tamil Nadu's Jayalalithaa Jayaram; West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee; and Uttar Pradesh's Mayawati (New York Times).
 
Time this week listed Modi as number one of the six choices ahead of musician Beyonce and President Barack Obama (3) in an invitation to readers to weigh in on 150 "artists, icons and leaders" who should figure in the magazine's annual Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.
 
 
A CNN story on what it called "India's first social media election" also began with how during the Holi festival more than three million Twitter followers of Modi "received a personalised greeting from him."
 
Some Indian politicians "are borrowing strategies employed by US President Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign, with the use of Thunderclap, an online platform which helps to make content viral," the news channel noted.
 
How "India's Muslims (are) worried about controversial Hindu leader as national elections", as a Washington Post headline put it, is another theme of American media coverage.
 
In the same vein, New York Times Saturday ran an opinion piece by Basharat Peer, author of "Curfewed Night," a memoir of the conflict in Kashmir, on "Being Muslim Under Narendra Modi"
 
"The Hindu nationalist who may be elected India's next prime minister is no comic book hero" said the story pegged on a new comic book "Bal Narendra" ("Boy Narendra") about the BJP leader.
 
The latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine too has a piece by James Traub, a fellow of the Centre on International Cooperation on "Watching Modi, the Maestro, at Work."
 
And to think that less than six months ago Modi was mentioned only in the context of denial of a US visa for his alleged role or inaction during the 2002 Gujarat riots as the State's chief minister.
 
 
Now the visa issue is mentioned, but only in the context of what Jeff Smith, director of South Asia programmes at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, described as "the futility of the (US) visa policy" regarding the BJP leader.
 
Suggesting "the US government has so profoundly mismanaged a decade-long visa ban" he looks at a Congressional report that Modi "would automatically be eligible for an A-1 (diplomatic) visa as head of state" as "welcome - if long overdue - news."
 
Similarly Richard M. Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies writes about "Preparing for a New Team in New Delhi" even as he acknowledges "nothing is certain in Indian politics."

MORE India ARTICLES

Chandigarh Seat: Two Heroines And A 'Villain'

Chandigarh Seat: Two Heroines And A 'Villain'
Actress Kirron Kher, 58, has been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has added glamour quotient to the Chandigarh contest by fielding actress Gul Panag, 35.

Chandigarh Seat: Two Heroines And A 'Villain'

Purab Kohli urges youth to vote in LS elections

Purab Kohli urges youth to vote in LS elections
Actor Purab Kohli, also the ambassador for a campaign that engages the urban youth in governance and voting, Monday said the country's youth should "actively" participate in understanding the nuances of democracy.

Purab Kohli urges youth to vote in LS elections

After AAP and BJP, Delhi Congress to tap Social Media

After AAP and BJP, Delhi Congress to tap Social Media
The Congress' Delhi unit, which has so far overlooked the power of the social media, will finally launch its IT cell to drum up support ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

After AAP and BJP, Delhi Congress to tap Social Media

Akalis can breathe easy: Arun Jaitley ends Sidhu's Punjab politics for now

Akalis can breathe easy: Arun Jaitley ends Sidhu's Punjab politics for now
Having been involved in a war of words with BJP's Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu in recent times, they may not have to bear with "Sidhuisms" for some time as the party has now announced Arun Jaitley as its candidate from the seat

Akalis can breathe easy: Arun Jaitley ends Sidhu's Punjab politics for now

Holi Special: For Safe Holi, Make Natural Colours At Home

Holi Special: For Safe Holi, Make Natural Colours At Home
The best bet for an affordable yet safe Holi is to make the colours at home using natural ingredients like flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Holi Special: For Safe Holi, Make Natural Colours At Home

Clash Of The Titans: Arvind Kejriwal ready to fight Narendra Modi

Clash Of The Titans: Arvind Kejriwal ready to fight Narendra Modi
A day after the BJP fielded Narendra Modi as its candidate from Varanasi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday declared that he was ready to contest against the BJP's prime ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha polls.

Clash Of The Titans: Arvind Kejriwal ready to fight Narendra Modi