Posts tagged ‘Narendra Modi’

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13/09/2013

Modi all set to be anointed BJP PM candidate

The Hindu: “BJP was all set on Friday to declare Narendra Modi as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate after hectic parleys by senior leaders to convince L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi to give up their opposition to him.

Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP election campaign committee chief Narendra Modi during his visit to Hyderabad recently. File photo: P.V. Sivakumar

BJP Parliamentary Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the party headquarters in New Delhi, it was announced.

While Mr. Joshi is said to have been won over, last minute efforts were on to bring around Mr. Advani and Ms. Swaraj.

The decision to convene the panel meeting came after Mr. Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Mr. Advani.

Earlier, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari met party president Mr. Rajnath Singh to discuss the issue. Later, Mr. Gadkari met Mr. Advani to persuade him on Mr. Modi’s name. Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Ananth Kumar also joined the meeting.

Mr. Advani had conveyed his reservations about announcing Mr. Modi’s name at this juncture. He had suggested that the BJP chief ministers should be consulted on the issue and the party should wait till the forthcoming Assembly elections to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi are over.

The BJP patriarch is of the view that making Modi the Prime Ministerial candidate will put issues like price rise and corruption — on which the BJP has attacked the Congress — on the backburner and make the controversial leader the issue, party sources said.

The sources indicated that the BJP leaders want a unanimous decision on Mr. Modi at the Parliamentary Board meeting and hence had intensified efforts to win over dissenting voices.

Mr. Joshi was asked to return to the capital by a special flight from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh where he had gone to attend a party programme. Though he is not convinced about Mr. Modi being projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate, he has conveyed to the party that he will abide by the majority view in the Parliamentary Board, the sources said.

Mr. Modi got a shot in the arm on Friday when NDA allies Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal extended their support to him for the Prime Ministerial candidate post.”

via Modi all set to be anointed BJP PM candidate – The Hindu.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/recent-indian-politics/

Posted in Democracy, Elections, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

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20/05/2013

* A robust defence of India’s growth story

English: Arvind Panagariya

English: Arvind Panagariya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

FT: “Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth In India Reduced Poverty and The Lessons For Other Developing Countries, by Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, PublicAffairs, RRP$28.99/RRP£19.99

English: Jagdish Bhagwati

English: Jagdish Bhagwati (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With an election due in 2014, India may soon face its most intriguing political choice in a generation. On one side stands Rahul Gandhi, the son of Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, and scion of a dynasty stretching back to the nation’s independence in 1947. On the other is Narendra Modi from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party opposition, a controversial but effective chief minister who runs the business-friendly state of Gujarat.

Both men have drawbacks. It is never clear Mr Gandhi actually wants the top job, while Mr Modi’s appeal is blemished by a massacre of Muslims that occurred on his watch in 2002. Nonetheless, the potential clash has New Delhi’s political class salivating; it could even offer something approaching a battle of ideas between the broadly centre-left Congress and the more centre-right Mr Modi.

Yet behind it lies the need for a deeper debate about the direction of the economy; a debate that is often poorly articulated by political leaders, even as India’s growth has lately come off the boil so conspicuously.

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For that reason this latest contribution from Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, two Indian-born economists at Columbia University, is welcome. In Why Growth Matters, the duo provide perhaps the most full-throated defence to date of India’s economic liberalisation, which began in 1991 and is widely understood to have led to a period of fast growth over the past decade.

But not so fast: leftwing critics are undermining these achievements, the authors claim, promulgating a series of “myths” that are debunked in the first half of the book. The result is a convincing (if at times slightly wearying) litany, arguing that India’s growth spurt did indeed benefit lower caste Indians, for instance, or that it lifted many millions of people from poverty.

It is notable for its pugnacious tone too; for this is a book that comes out swinging. In its early pages the economist Joseph Stiglitz and the financier George Soros are accused of “Jurassic Park economics”, for their questioning of pro-market orthodoxies. The work of Dani Rodrik, a respected Harvard academic who backs some trade restrictions in developing countries, is dismissed tartly as “hollow”.

The Indian thinker Amartya Sen is mentioned only in passing, however, which seems odd, given Why Growth Matters is in large part a riposte to his arguments – namely that post-reform India has suffered rising inequality and performed badly on development indicators, at least when compared to poorer neighbours such as Bangladesh and Nepal.

Indeed, Prof Bhagwati and Prof Sen have been staking out their sides of this debate for years, with the former styling himself as the chief defender of further liberalisation. It is a cause he clearly relishes, although one that would benefit from considering the unpopularity of the measures he backs. If the argument for further growth-enhancing liberalisation has only upsides, the reader is left to ponder why it often has so few allies.

Despite this, the authors’ contention that India needs a further shake-up is surely correct, as is their suggested focus on rejigging outdated systems of land acquisition, planning and a tightly regulated labour market.

The latter point is especially well made: India ought to be a global giant in low-skilled, labour-intensive manufacturing industries, such as garment-making and electronics. But it isn’t – in fact the country employs only about 5m workers in manufacturing facilities with more than 10 staff, a pitiful record in a country with about half a billion workers, but where senseless regulations stop too many businesses expanding.”

via A robust defence of India’s growth story – FT.com.

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14/04/2013

* Rajnath non-committal on Modi’s PM candidature

The Hindu: “Amid speculation about Narendra Modi’s projection as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, party president Rajnath Singh on Sunday remained non-committal on the issue but hailed the Gujarat Chief Minister as the “most popular leader in the nation”.

BJP president Rajnath Singh with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He expressed confidence that no ally of NDA including JD(U), which has been expressing reservations against Mr. Modi, will go out of the alliance. File photo

Mr. Singh also expressed confidence that no ally of NDA including JD(U), which has been expressing reservations against Mr. Modi, will go out of the alliance.

He maintained that the final authority to take the decision regarding the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate remains with the BJP Parliamentary Board, and added, “…only the board that will decide what parameters it adopts to decide about the PM candidate.”

Referring to Mr. Modi, a top JD(U) leader had on Saturday said at the party’s national executive meeting that “being popular is a different thing and becoming Prime Minister is another.”

via Rajnath non-committal on Modi’s PM candidature – The Hindu.

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14/04/2013

* India’s JD(U) Refuses to Back Modi

English: Image of Narendra Modi at the World E...

English: Image of Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum in India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WSJ: “India’s Janata Dal (United) party Saturday signaled that it would continue to oppose efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to make Narendra Modi the main opposition alliance’s prime ministerial candidate for the next federal elections, citing the failure of the Gujarat chief minister and BJP leader to stop deadly anti-Muslim violence during the 2002 riots in the western Indian state.

The Janata Dal (United) instead backed former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani as the prime ministerial candidate for the BJP and the main opposition National Democratic Alliance for national elections that are due before May 2014, JD(U).”

via India’s JD(U) Refuses to Back Modi – WSJ.com.

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12/01/2013

* India Industry Praises Modi at Gujarat Conference

WSJ: “India’s top industrialists and foreign diplomats met at a conference in Gujarat state Friday, singing praises for the pro-business policies set in place by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a man widely tipped to be a leading candidate for prime minister in 2014.

Mr. Modi took the compliments in his stride, smiling and clapping, and even rising to give billionaire Anil Ambani a hug after a particularly laudatory speech at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

“Narendra Modi is a king of kings, a leader of leaders,” said Mr. Ambani, chairman of the $76 billion Reliance Group.”

via India Industry Praises Modi at Gujarat Conference – WSJ.com.

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05/09/2012

* Who will be next Indian Prime Minister?

Reuters: “With the Congress-led coalition government more than halfway through its five-year term, the political temperature is heating up in the world’s largest democracy. The question on everyone’s minds is — who’s going to be the next prime minister?

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A recent Nielsen survey had showed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was the top choice for the post, ahead of Congress party scion Rahul Gandhi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

But last week’s conviction of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker in the Gujarat riots is a blow to Modi, and the political fallout from the case may have dented his hopes of sitting in the prime minister’s chair.

Senior party leader Lal Krishna Advani had earlier stoked controversy by blogging about the possibility of a “non-Congress, non-BJP prime minister” after the 2014 elections.

It’s not just internal party dynamics, the BJP’s allies are also giving Modi sleepless nights. Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar has made it clear he won’t be happy if Modi is projected as the BJP candidate.

And what about the Congress? Incumbent Manmohan Singh seems to be out of the reckoning and several senior Congress leaders have hinted at the elevation of Rahul Gandhi.

But that’s easier said than done. A political crisis over suspected corruption in the allocation of coal blocks has put the government on the back foot. Its performance in this year’s Uttar Pradesh state elections, often a barometer of success at the national level, wasn’t good enough to stave off regional rivals. What was more painful — its main campaigner was Rahul Gandhi and his ‘magic’ did not work.

With the Congress-led coalition government more than halfway through its five-year term, the political temperature is heating up in the world’s largest democracy. The question on everyone’s minds is — who’s going to be the next prime minister.”

via India Insight.

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