Modi and the art of the sell
His consumer, the Gujarati voter, needs pride, self-esteem. He is delivering it through his product, economic success. The Congress has no real counter offer
Why we call this occasional series from diverse zones of India, often during the elections, ‘Writings on the Wall’, needs repetition, particularly in times when even soundbites have been reduced to no more than 140 characters. So many years of training as a reporter have taught me that one of the more interesting ways of checking out what is going on in our country, what is changing, for better or for worse, or not changing at all, is written, literally, on our walls. So if you go to the most prosperous zones, take Punjab for example, you will find Mercs, credit cards, housing loans and easy visas and immigration to the US, Canada and now New Zealand. You go to a flourishing green revolution zone like Andhra Pradesh and the walls will be selling you tractors, fertilisers, gold loans. In Nitish’s Bihar, even the boom in branded underwear, sold mostly on the walls, tells a story of small new household income surpluses and, of course, aspiration. Go anywhere in India, including the unfortunate villages in the Kosi devastation zone of Bihar, and you will see saria (iron rods) and cement selling on the walls, underlining the construction boom, and the fact that the days of “kuchcha” housing are rapidly ending. We have noted through our travels in recent years (find earlier writings in this series at http://www.indianexpress.com/news/writings-on-the-wall/713872)
traffic jams of thousand women in midnight in Gujarat
drhemantsant | 19-Dec-2012Reply | Forward Compared to any wherein India law and order is better ,during nav ratris we have traffic jams of two wheeler riden ladies young girls all dressed up for the dance carnival the world has never seen in cities like vadodra.at past Mid night!!Modys gujarat..not like past where brazen town of godhra had guts to burn in train loads of hindus who were innocent of any sparking act for such a dastardly mass murder by the whole community in 2002..why will whole Gujarat NOt erupt then if we all accept the anger of Delhi rape incident brazen act??so much of anti national direct connections of few muslims here was known..all train burners are in Pakistan today..why do not give voice to majority from gujarat and go on guilt ridden drives only to Juhapura..have you found any muslim so guilt ridden about Godhra train burning or bomb blast vehemently cursing the community as you all do to all gujaratis fro the 2002 riots..hindus too died then..then harp on it when Mody wants all of Gujarat to go ahead
Enough of this media bias
Sanjay | 09-Feb-2013Reply | Forward I agree; the kind of safety and security that is in Gujarat is unlike most other states. Enough for all the media to bash Gujarat by saying repeatedly that Gujarat is not India... implying that an average Indian is not as "dumb" (or worse some other adjective) that they will buy into Modi's arguments. I will counter that by saying that an average Gujarati is far smarter than an average Indian and therefore we have leaders like Modi today leading the state. Go to any other state and find how they fare when it comes to governance.
