The Pulwama terror attack and India’s reaction have certainly altered the political narrative.
Just a few hours after the Indian Air Force struck terrorist bases across the Line of Control on February 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at his aggressive best as he addressed an election rally in Churu, Rajasthan. Amid loud cheers from the audience, Modi harked back to the pledge that he had taken in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, and declared, “Saugandh mujhe hai is mitti ki, main desh nahi mitne dunga (I swear by the soil of this country that I will not allow this nation to perish).” He insisted that the nation was in safe hands.
While Modi did not make any direct reference to the retaliatory action to the Pulwama terrorist attack, the message was clear—that he has lived up to the reputation of being a strong and decisive leader who has the gumption to take bold measures, and that he is the only leader who can deal effectively with the challenges to the country’s security.
This was underlined by BJP president Amit Shah at a party event in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, when he said that India could prove its might through air strikes only because of Modi. The government, he said, had shown zero tolerance to terrorists.
The political appropriation of the air strikes by Modi and the BJP is in no doubt, and the party realises that the scenario emerging from the terror attack in Pulwama has tremendous potential to alter the electoral narrative ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. With less than two months to the elections, the ruling party is expected to project Modi as a leader capable of taking bold actions to deal with challenges to national security, and a corollary of this would be that the opposition lacks a leader or a party with as strong a commitment towards national security. The emerging scenario is also in sync with the BJP’s claims of being a party committed to nationalistic ethos.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 10, 2019-Ausgabe von THE WEEK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 10, 2019-Ausgabe von THE WEEK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Angry, Young America
Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel
We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
The great luxury slowdown
A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music
Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world
Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society
The other Sabyasachi
I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.
THE MANGO HUNTERS
'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes
BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.