Hindu Right-Wingers Speak Out on Modi - Wall Street Journal
By Vibhuti Agarwal
Divisions among supporters of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi seem to be getting deeper.
Differences came out in the open in sharply contrasting editorials that ran in a pro-BJP magazine and in several publications affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an extreme right-wing Hindu group that traditionally endorses the BJP.
An article published in the latest issue of the “Organizer”, an English-language magazine run by the RSS, described Mr. Modi as “by far the most popular leader in the country” and the “most preferred prime ministerial choice of the people”.
Describing Mr. Modi as the “BJP’s mascot” for the national elections to be held in 2014, G.V.L Narasimha Rao, the article’s author, said he has the potential to catapult the party to power.
“Modi as the leader of the BJP would deliver huge gains to it in the battleground state of Uttar Pradesh,” argues Mr. Rao. “He would help the BJP cross a threshold level of vote share to start winning seats in states like Orissa and Haryana and improve vote share substantially in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to make it an attractive pre-poll alliance partner.”
The BJP has deep-running ties with the RSS: many of the party’s leaders –including Nitin Gadkari, L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee – have their roots in the group. The RSS, which relies on an extensive grassroots network, wields considerable influence on the BJP’s policy agenda.
Mr. Rao’s views contrast with those published in the RSS’ Hindi weekly “Panchjanya”.
“Opponents of BJP get an opportunity to attack the party if such a popular leader [Modi] acquires an image of being intolerant who cannot take his colleagues along,” writes Devendra Swaroop in an editorial.
This appeared to be a reference to an episode that took place last week, when Mr. Modi refused to attend a meeting of senior BJP politicians in Mumbai over policy differences with fellow party member Sunil Joshi.
It was only after Mr. Joshi resigned as a member of the BJP’s executive body that Mr. Modi agreed to participate in the session, according to media reports.
“It is being felt that Modi needs to do a rethink about his style of functioning and organizational capabilities,” Mr. Swaroop wrote in the Panchjanya editorial.
The BJP magazine, “Kamal Sandesh” echoes similar views. Without explicitly naming Mr. Modi, author Prabhat Jha argues that the “BJP does not function on the basis of any individual’s contribution alone.”
“It is always seen that on reaching the top, even after knowing that a day will come when he has to come down, he tries to belittle the ones below him,” Mr. Jha writes.
BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar played down the articles saying “don’t make a story out of nothing.” He refused to comment on whether Mr. Modi will be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections.
A major obstacle for Mr. Modi’s potential candidacy is that he does not enjoy the support of several key BJP politicians, including Mr. Advani and Sushma Swaraj.
The Gujarat riots are another major issue. While Mr. Modi has been hailed for his development efforts in Gujarat, his legacy has been tainted by the communal riots of 2002 in which over 1000 people died. Mr. Modi has been criticized for not doing enough to stop the violence, allegations he denies.
Political analyst Chintamani Mahapatra, professor at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University says “Modi might be the BJP’s popular face but the party will take a decision on him only after consultation with potential coalition partners.”
The RSS will likely play a big role in determining whether Mr. Modi could become the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. “Without the RSS’ backing, no candidate can do well,” says Mr. Mahapatra.
Do you think the BJP should choose Narendra Modi as its leader? Please share your views in the Comments section.
Poster campaign keeps Modi-Joshi row alive - The Hindu
The Narendra Modi-Sanjay Joshi issue is far from over. Ten days after BharatiyaJanata Party president Nitin Gadkari sacked Mr. Joshi from the national executive under pressure from the Gujarat Chief Minister, mysterious posters have surfaced in Gujarat and here targeting Mr. Modi.
While the BJP maintains that it has no clue to who is behind the poster campaign, senior leaders have conceded that the Modi-Sanjay row has divided the BJP as well as the Sangh Parivar. Influential sections within the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP have openly sympathised with Mr. Joshi, an RSS pracharak and Mr. Modi's bête noire.
According to a senior BJP leader, the poster campaign as well as articles in the mouthpieces of the RSS and the BJP critical of Mr. Modi reflect the divisions within the party and unease over the manner Mr. Gadkari yielded to the Chief Minister.
An article in Panchjanya, RSS mouthpiece, not only questioned Mr. Modi's style of functioning but also suggested that the issue of the BJP's prime ministerial candidate be decided only after the 2014 general elections — an obvious reference to the race within the party to position oneself as the nominee before the poll.
The posters, which have surfaced in parts of central Delhi, with Joshi's pictures read: Chote man se koi bada nahi hota, tute man se koi bada nahi hota (nobody becomes big with a narrow mind). They go on to say: Kaho dil se... Sanjay Joshi phir se (Say with your heart, Sanjay Joshi once again).” Though name of the Gujarat Chief Minister does not figure in the posters, the reference to the post-Mumbai conclave of the BJP is obvious.
Responding to questions, BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “These were not authorised banners and posters of the party, so I do not have to say anything about them.”
On the pieces in Panchajanya and the BJP's Kamal Sandesh, expressing concern over internal affairs of the party, Mr. Prasad said much should not be read into the articles.
“What appeared in Panchajanya and the Organiser are only the personal views of the author and not of the organisation (RSS). RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav has already clarified this and I as a Swayamsevak of the RSS and Chief spokesperson of the BJP am saying this.”
Ireland set to break with tradition - UEFA
Anyone who suggests the Irish are incapable of making fun of themselves simply has to recall the joke the former Republic of Ireland defender Mark Lawrenson made about the predictability of his team's tactical strategy. "Sure if Plan A fails," Lawrenson said with a smile, "we can always opt for Plan A."
Time has not altered the widely-held view that Irish teams are wedded to 4-4-2 formations. There has been only one adjustment from this system in Giovanni Trapattoni's tenure, which came in Bari three years ago, when the Italians were reduced to ten men and 'Trap' immediately opted for a 4-3-1-2 shape.
The chance of him doing something similar again for Sunday's UEFA EURO 2012 opener against Croatia seems strong. After drawing against Hungary on Monday night, when their opponents managed to effectively position players in between Ireland's lines of four defenders and midfielders, Trapattoni has spoken openly about changing his plans.
"At half-time last night, I took Robbie [Keane] aside and asked him to play a little deeper," said Trapattoni. "He can do this role cleverly. He has the quality. And if it has to be done, it has to be done. It is something we Italians are used to doing in order to get a result. Sometimes the best defender on the pitch has to be your striker."
Change is not something Ireland's players are afraid of either, with striker Jonathan Walters, saying: "With our clubs we make three, four tactical changes per match. It’s what we do."
What Ireland's players must do, to stay sweet with Trapattoni, is adhere to his work ethic. "There is a player in my squad - I won't name him - who, under a previous Ireland manager, ventured up field once. Ireland lost the ball," Trapattoni recalled. "The man he was supposed to be marking scored while he had stayed upfield. He had washed his hands of blame like Pontius Pilate. As a manager, I can't allow that thing to happen."
Much is happening for Ireland this week, though. After attending a civic reception in the afternoon, the players then trained in front of 12,000 fans, who saw 20 of the 23 players work out. John O'Shea, Shay Given and Glenn Whelan were rested but, Trappattoni insisted, all three will be available for Sunday.
East Bay voters hit the polls to decide state, local races - San Jose Mercury News
East Bay voters took to the polls Tuesday to decide races that will affect their community and their checkbooks, affirming one of the best customs of Western democracy while avoiding the snafus that have come to plague modern-day elections.
Well, mostly.
The Asian Law Caucus, a San Francisco group that monitored poll sites throughout Northern California, reported some problems in Alameda County, including a nearly one-hour delay in the opening of a polling place in the city of Alameda.
Some county volunteers were unable to access a few voting locations, said Dave Macdonald, the Alameda County Registrar. In those cases, volunteers improvised and set up voting booths outside the regular polling place, taking advantage of the warm spring weather, Macdonald said.
"We have almost 800 polling places and 4,500 volunteers countywide, so there's always going to be something," he said. "That's why we have paper ballots; it didn't really slow the process down."
Federal observers from the Department of Justice were watching and recording activities in at least nine county voting precincts, joining the Asian Law Caucus' volunteers in monitoring more than 50 sites in Oakland Chinatown, East Oakland, Hayward, Union City and Fremont.
Alameda County is now required under the Voting Rights Act to provide language assistance to Latino, Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino voters, and had pledged to do a better job staffing bilingual poll
workers after settling a Justice Department voting rights lawsuit last year. The county is one of three in California that federal monitors say they are observing today. The others are Fresno and Riverside.Kristen Sajonas monitored three South Hayward polling places on Tuesday morning for Union City-based Filipino Advocates for Justice and said one, a seniors-only mobile home park, still hadn't taken the alternate language ballots out of the box when she arrived late in the morning.
"They're supposed to display all the languages they have available," Sajonas said. "We told them that and they took them out."
Other than that, Sajonas said the poll workers she observed were more aware of voting rights requirements and less resistant to election monitoring than in 2010, when one Fremont poll worker questioned the legality of her being there.
"They're more accommodating and understanding this year," she said.
As of Election Day, the county had received about 100,000 ballots from those who voted by mail, little more than one-fourth of the 380,000 ballots mailed to voters this spring, county officials said.
Officials said they expected voter turnout to be less than 40 percent, close to the predicted 35 percent statewide turnout. That would be significantly lower than the 61 percent who voted countywide in the last state presidential primary in February 2008.
That hotly contested presidential primary pitted Hillary Clinton against eventual winner Barack Obama, Macdonald said.
Turnout was not a problem in Berkeley's Francis Albrier Community Center at San Pablo Park, which was busy with voters streaming in before noon Tuesday.
Poll worker L.C. Stephens said many voters come to get the red, white and blue "I Voted" stickers even if they already voted by mail.
"It's something about this little sticker that lets other people know that I participated in the democratic process of the United States," Stephens said. "The sticker is what they're after and it's one of those things people seem to love."
Donna Graves of Berkeley said she was motivated by Proposition 29, the state ballot measure that adds $1 to each pack of cigarettes to fund cancer research.
"There's an argument that the money should go to the state's general fund, but I think it's appropriate the money go to solve that particular problem," Graves said. "My mother died of lung cancer."
East Oakland resident Gina Austin echoed the sentiment, saying she voted partly to support Proposition 29 because several of her relatives had died from cancer. "I'm here to do my piece, to make my stand," Austin said. "We need the help."
In Walnut Creek, Charlotte Darius -- who's been volunteering to help run the city's voting for five years -- said turnout at the polling place at Bancroft Elementary School was pretty average.
However, some voters complained of being confused by recent redistricting and consolidation of polling places.
"Hopefully, we can get some energy back in the next election," said Marsha Schwartz, a Walnut Creek resident. "People are just feeling down this time around; they're not enthused about it."
Staff writer Sean Maher contributed to this report.
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