The conspiracy theories about elections in India must stop

An edited version of this article, written jointly with Karuna Gopal, appeared on New Indian Express here.

A few days ago, the online news portal Wire uploaded an astonishing report on the ongoing 2024 general elections. They claimed that the number of votes in the first 5 phases had dropped by almost 20 crore in comparison to the 2019 elections. Of course, that is nowhere near true. But that is not how the internet works. The screenshots of their report are ready to be shared in Whatsapp groups, or picked up by eager Youtubers. How could almost 20 crore voters suddenly not turn out this time? This will add to the already large number of conspiracy theories about what is happening at the Election Commission.

For anyone who cares, here is the truth. In the first 5 phases, the number of votes is actually up by some 2 crore, not down by 20 crore. But how many people will go to the website of the Election Commission, download the official report, add up the numbers for 427 seats that have voted so far, and check? It is far too boring for almost anyone. And online content creators know exactly that. That is why the conspiracy theories.

Take the case of “Form 17C,” which is now suddenly internet famous. Why is the Election Commission hiding it from us? But they are not. There are some 10.5 lakh polling stations in India. Wherever voting has been completed, the candidates or their polling agents have already been given Form 17C, containing the booth level data. So lakhs of people already have this form. If they are serious, they can upload it anywhere they want.

But why won’t the Election Commission upload these forms on their own website? Okay, it was never done before, but so what? Let us have even more transparency. You could, but let us be clear about what the conspiracy theorists are doing. Next they will ask for hourwise data to be uploaded. After that, maybe CCTV footage of voting at each booth, from at least 6 different camera angles.  This is not about transparency, but trolling. And anytime the EC turns down any request, it can be used to create fear that the election is rigged. This is dangerous. It seems they want mass unrest if the election does not go their way.

Through a massive social media outreach, they are pumping audiences full of theories that the EVMs are rigged. After 2014, many loyalists of the old establishment lost their jobs in regular media. They are now forced to live off clicks on Youtube. And they know that fear sells. Even respectable newspapers and television channels have run misleading headlines about how elections are happening. Such as the Modi government bringing a bill to “remove” the Chief Justice from the panel for appointing election commissioners. They have replaced the Chief Justice with a union minister, who will obviously go along with the Prime Minister. This gives the government a 2:1 majority on the panel. 

But should you really put it like that? In the entire history of India, the Chief Justice has never actually sat on such a panel. In fact, there was no panel. The Election Commissioner was always picked by the Prime Minister alone. Does this mean that every general election since 1952 was unfair? In 2023, the Supreme Court created a panel with the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the Leader of the Opposition. This was a temporary arrangement until parliament brought a law. So the Modi government brought a law. For the first time ever, the bill gave the leader of the opposition a voice in picking election commissioners. As for the 2:1 arrangement which favors the government, it is standard. This is exactly how the Chief Information Commissioner is appointed, for instance. A panel consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and another union minister.  That is according to the RTI act passed by the previous UPA government. Again, how many people would check these legal details? So when the media leaves out this context, it only creates fear.

We have to talk here about the big tech platforms, most of them based in the United States. Now that everyone depends on clicks, these platforms are effectively the biggest players in the media space in India. We have seen how these platforms took extreme measures in the United States, to control the spread of misinformation about elections. They have done almost nothing of that sort in India. As we saw in the United States, such misinformation can lead to terrible things. Who could have imagined that there would be an attempt in 2021 to overthrow the US government by physically attacking Capitol Hill? 

In India, the fears about the election are being fanned in exactly the same way. On the ground, these fears are slowly turning into real anger. Right now, an online mob is being prepared. If these people do not get what they want, will they accept the results on June 4? Will this online mob turn towards real world violence? We certainly hope not. But it is time to start worrying. 

87 thoughts on “The conspiracy theories about elections in India must stop

  1. There have been constant and unrelenting attacks on Narendra Modi and the BJP government from the opposition, the Liberals, and the Islamists locally as well as from abroad. I am sure ever since the 2002 racial riots in Gujarat, Narendra Modi has been on the receiving end of unfair attacks. These unfair attacks, I am sure have resulted in sympathetic factors making Narendra Modi more popular. I wish the Modi government would come up with a figure like say, Narendra Modi enjoyed 20 percent more popularity due to this sympathy factor. If that happens people might think what they are doing is making Mr. Modi more and more popular.

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  2. No need to worry about any mob now. Modi is out. Or at the very least weakened considerably.

    All his ardent bhakts should feel ashamed. Instead of holding him to account for his failings, they became his flatterers and sycophants. It was a disgusting, pathetic sight as they defended his every failing, kept silent when they should have spoken, given frank and fair feedback and made him accountable.

    Modi’s fans never fail to point out the sycophantic behaviour of Nehruvians, but don’t see that they are themselves sycophants of the highest order.

    What was the point in “exposing” secularists and the secular media everyday? Didn’t everyone know that already? What was needed was civilizational revival. Modi had an open, unguarded goal-post, and he failed to kick the ball in. His screaming fans were to blind to see that.

    Those who were watching Modi and his policies closely could clearly see that he never worked for long-term civilizational interests, which is why he was voted in in the first place.

    Articles 25-30, Temple Control, RTE, History Text Books, Ram Sethu, Conversions, jailing the Gandhis…not a single thing was done. All the while, Modi’s bhajan mandli was too busy singing praises of his masterstrokes and 5D chess moves.

    One only hopes that the Pappu doesn’t become PM now. At any rate, Hindu civilization is doomed now. Only a matter of time.

    If Pappu becomes PM, the Congress party, which is an extreme right-wing party of the two rapacious desert cults, will infiltrate Bangladeshis in the millions into the country, especially states where Hindus are strong. And the missionaries will go berserk, permanently changing the demography of large swathes of this country.

    They will also ensure that the BJP comes nowhere near power, and will probably jail or bump off prominent leaders. They will also disband EVMs and will double down on anti-hindu laws. An apocalypse of gargantuan proportions awaits the Hindus if Pappu becomes PM.

    And foreign countries will have a willing puppet in the PMO, acting out their orders.

    All in all, a pathetic situation for the Hindus. And Modi’s ardent supporters should be ashamed.

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    1. I feel you are being too harsh. Definitely more could have been done on the civilizational front including freeing temples but the Ram Mandir was the biggest thing and that was done in Modi 2.0. It is another thing that Ayodhya seat went to SP inspite of BJP pouring lot of money and political capital into Ayodhya. But the returns from Ayodhya should not be measured in terms of political seats.

      UP and Maharashtra cost the BJP in terms of absolute majority. They did well in other states. They need to figure out what went wrong in these two states.

      This is definitely a setback but not an utter debacle. BJP’s vote share has gone up from 31% in 2014 to 39% in 2024. The opposition has got smarter with alliances and consolidating the non-BJP voters together. BJP has to figure out how to cross this hump.

      BJP also invested in other states (like AP, Telangana, TN and Kerala). While the results there may not have tilted the election this time, it was definitely important to make inroads in these states and not depend only on the Northern states.

      The good thing is that BJP is still the single largest party by a huge distance. Keeping an alliance going where none of the parties is close to majority is an impossible task. Even if INDI alliance manages to come to power somehow, there are going to be too many internal contradictions for it to last the full term.

      Another way of looking at this is that despite a two term incumbency, foreign interference in the elections and a host of other factors, BJP still got 240 odd. Which means that in the most adverse scenario, it still managed to get within touching distance.

      In summary – yes, results could been better but it could have been a lot worse. But BJP has lived to fight another day.

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    2. What you are saying is the Indian voters, especially the Hindu voters showed the mentality that we will suffer, but we will punish Narendra Modi for not doing all we want and we will elect those who will give first right of the national resources to their vote-bank.

      I strongly feel that counting the population of every caste and the promise of redistributing wealth did the trick for the opposition.

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      1. Hindus in many states voted for BJP including first time states like Orissa. UP also gave huge support to BJP in last two LS elections and last two assembly elections. So further analysis is needed.

        Each election is a different pitch. Older generations remember how elections from late 1980’s to 2014 were ones where each government was a rag tag coalition.

        Indian elections are always difficult and surprises are always around the corner with a heterogenous population. But BJP during 2014-2024 has shown what is possible. Good economic growth, great progress on the infrastructure front, almost zero terror attacks. Whatever government comes next and whoever becomes PM next, the benchmark has been set by Modi. Any party that comes next has to fulfil these new benchmarks. And that is going to be impossible for a rag tag coalition.

        Finally (and this is important), Indian people have still voted for NDA to rule. Put another way, those who want Modi to continue far exceed those who want a change.

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  3. Vishwasghat, ehsanfaramosh, I wish to hate India in my weak moments. Yes, there is open interference and conspiracy. What explains else stabbing in the back? Is it not the time to build on the next level of governance going behind this lame participation by all people including the brain compromised?

    We have to remember the system is for all the people and not people for the system. In the next system Ram Rajya only sacrificing honest patriots hard working efficient dharohari should have right to rule and participate in deciding the governance for India..

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    1. One has to remember that UP for a long time was very feudal and voted on caste lines. They gave themselves a shot at progress but seem to have relapsed somewhat. Nevertheless tremendous infra has been put in place there, Ayodhya mandir and Kashi corridor have been built. Am sure that like a stock that has a temporary fall but bounces back, UP will bounce back.

      BJP has also invested a lot in improving its pan nation footprint. TN has gone from 2% to 10% vote share and may take couple of election cycles to yield significant number of seats. Ditto with Kerala. But if you dont make these investments today, there will be no states to cover you when some states vote weirdly like UP did. The goal has to be always to avoid a completed collapse in seats. Companies do this routinely by investing in new products even at the cost of reducing investment in existing successful products.

      Hindus would have gladly taken this verdict in 2004 or 2014. That expectations have been raised to a point where it feels BJP should win absolute majority every time itself shows the tremendous progress made. To shake off status quo, number of hard decisions have to be taken and there is always a chance that some of them may displease a significant percentage of the population.

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  4. I wonder how much influence Dhruv Rathee had on the election. I’m seeing claims that he influenced some seats at least.

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  5. We are in the middle of a civilizational run chase. The target is 25% of world GDP, peace and prosperity and polytheism. This target has been set by our ancestors. It is a difficult target.

    The pitch is a last day pitch with spin and unpredictable bounce. The opposition bowlers are formidable with many bowlers from foreign countries.

    The target is achievable but our batsmen have to stay at the widket. It is okay if they dont hit sixes every over. But they have to stay at the wicket. If many of them get out quickly, the chase is over.

    Today was one of the quieter overs of the run chase. It does not matter. Our experienced batsmen are still out there. They have the experience to score quickly later if needed. In the 2004 run chase, too many of our batsmen threw their wickets and the run chase stalled for 10 years.

    Maybe the batsmen need a fresh bat, a fresh pair of gloves, some water to drink. But they dont need to learn how to bat.

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  6. In Maharashtra, the issue of Maratha reservation must be a reason that hurt the NDA candidates. But a major reason for this scenario is various parties with completely different manifestos, and completely different political philosophies joined hands together on one issue, opposing Modi/BJP hurt BJP more than anything else as the vote-cutting advantage that BJP enjoyed previously was not there this time.

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  7. There is a wide variation in quality of BJP candidates.

    At the top end, we have someone like Tejasvi Surya – very savvy with Social Media, constantly keeps his voters informed, produces a report card every now and then, shares videos. The ideal MP in many ways.

    At the middle end of the spectrum, you have someone like Lallu Singh – he has a social media account but mainly retweets. I had honestly not even heard of him before (my ignorance, every Hindu should be aware of the MP at places like Ayodhya)

    At the low end of the spectrum we have candidates who are more or less unknown.

    Somehow BJP has to up the game for those at the middle end and low end – showcase their achievements, keep periodically informing the voter what they are doing etc. The RW on social media can then enhance their image, amplify their posts etc. Elections are sometimes a perception battle and all candidates constantly need to constantly work on this, not just at election time.

    There is a sign in National Defence Academy that says – the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. BJP has bled 60+ seats in 2024. It needs the MP’s to sweat more to avoid electoral disasters in future

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  8. The BJP had given a UP ticket to a man named Kripashankar Singh. This Kripashankar Singh was a Congi leader earlier.

    In 2010, he was on the stage with Digvijay Singh in that infamous book release of “26/11 – RSS Ki Saazish”, in which RSS was blamed for 26/11.

    They brought him to UP all the way from Mumbai to fight from Jaunpur.

    He lost.

    https://www.news18.com/elections/the-maha-picture-jaunpur-ticket-for-kripashankar-singh-makes-state-bjp-leaders-list-less-8804294.html

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    1. It might be a good idea for political parties to announce prospective candidates on social media with explanations for the candidature and wait for the common man to review the choice. Atleast a few people need to say few good things about the candidate. Why do you want to discover after the elections that people did not like your candidate, discover it before and save yourselves the embarassment.

      Social media for their part should analyze each candidate and give suggestions to the party to change it if required. Apart from candidates who opposition sees as a threat, lot of candidates slip under the radar. This is not healthy for a democracy, each candidates performance and potential should be questioned and analyzed.

      UP is a big loser in this. Now huge packages will have to be given to Bihar and Andhra to coalition partners and that is money that will be unavailable to UP.

      Anyways, looks like coalition politics has come back to stay for a while. Absolute majority is a rare luxury in Indian politics and the BJP had full two terms to do whatever they wanted with absolute majority.

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  9. I read about a good understandable reason for the election results: Before the election, there was a very strong belief that NDA would cross 400 numbers, and if not, at least 370-380 seats. So the ‘softy’ middle-class and upper-middle-class Hindus who would have voted for BJP/NDA decided that his/her one vote is not going to make a difference so why bother to stay in the voting line at 110 degrees? So they stayed home and did not vote.

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    1. I dont think this is the reason. MP and Gujarat voters did not follow this logic.

      Success covers up some weaknesses, read Nupur Sharma’s article in OpIndia. These are real weaknesses that BJP has. Unless the weaknesses are addressed, opponents will exploit it even more ruthlessly.

      Remember, UP was a pioneer in the way it gave 60-70 seats in general elections. Jaws dropped when Yogi got 325 in 2017 in assembly elections. UP made a real hard turn from Samajwad to Hindutva. If India got ten solid years, thank the UP voter

      Getting the UP voter back has to be a priority for BJP. UP gave BJP a cushion that neutralized variations in other states. Now that the cushion has dropped (not gone away mind you), we see the coalition spectacle

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  10. There will be many analysis ofcourse but this is one. BJP is lucky in that very smart high IQ people advise it for free on social media.

    https://x.com/VikasSaraswat/status/1798418166835732689

    What BJP could do is come up with a document on what they believe are the reasons for the seats in UP getting cut and what they will do to address it. If they shove it under the carpet and dont take actions, this contagian could spread to MP and Gujarat too.

    They can be transparent about the steps they are taking and share them on social media too. BJP needs to come up with innovative ways to use social media – choosing of candidates, soliciting feedback, appraising people of remedial steps etc. This needs to happen at MP or MLA level, not just at PM level.

    Because if you are not active on social media, your opponent will be and rumours will start flying when election date nears. Sweat in peace so that you dont bleed in the election war.

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  11. In Ayodhya, BJP dropped 5% votes and BSP/Congress votes got transferred to SP. It is this electoral arithmetic that cost BJP the seat.

    https://x.com/KesariDhwaj/status/1798592546161176612

    So one way to look at this election is that opposition tried every trick in the book

    • Strategic transfer of votes
    • Unfulfillable promises like 1 lakh transfer
    • Caste census
    • Foreign interference, Dhruv Rathee etc

    Still opposition could not prevent BJP from returning to power. People have not voted Congress because of the 1 lakh promise. This shows that BJP voters still value Dharma over money. This is very encouraging.

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  12. Interesting analysis

    https://x.com/TheHinduCafe/status/1798624257989329323

    It is strange that BJP does not have a coherent social media strategy as a party. While individual influencers (including Abhishek) can influence to some extent, they are liable to be throttled by the likes of Google, Youtube etc. Also there are MP’s like Tejasvi Surya who are masters at social media but a party wide strategy and approach is needed

    BJP really needs to put together a top notch social media team because that is where the electoral battles are really being fought. Election day is just an outcome of the social media battles, no one makes up their mind on election day

    This team should have constant social media campaigns – achievements of MP/MLA, solicit feedback, respond to users etc.

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  13. The big difference between BJP and Congress is execution. And people of India have started taking the integral of five year performance and not getting swayed by last minute allegations. BJP needs to train all voters on how to evaluate parties to vote for by considering five year or even 10/15 year performance. This needs to be in first standard textbooks.

    Unless opposition can show that it can match BJP in execution at state level – build roads, infrastructure, improve the economy etc, they will stay out of power for the foreseeable future

    https://x.com/Starboy2079/status/1798618215540760658

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  14. The USA team defeats Pakistan: Once again proves our scripture: “Samay Samay Balvan, Nahi Manushya Balvan, Kabe Arjun Luntiyo Vahi Dhanushya Vahi Ban”.

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  15. Lately, we keep hearing threats from the nuclear bombs possessing countries like Pakistan and Russia. In light of such threats, other nuclear bombs possessing countries should join hands and declare that if any country initiates a nuclear attack that country will be destroyed by the rest of the world’s countries with nuclear attacks. So initiate a nuclear attack and commit suicide.

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    1. Pakistani nukes are not a real threat. Even if all their nukes land on India, a large percentage of the Indian population will still survive. But only a small fraction of Pakistan will survive after the Indian response and Indian military boots will stay in Pakistan after that for a long time to mop up the remaining survivors.

      Russia can wipe out significant parts of the world. India should aspire to become Russia and improve the quality and quantity of its nuclear arsenal and the delivery mechanisms.

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  16. I read stories in the media about numerous houses have been destroyed in Ayodhya to make roads leading to the Ram Mandir and those Hindus whose houses have been demolished are crying and angry at the (BJP) government. Is that the truth? Are these people not promised houses somewhere else? The articles suggest the reason BJP lost in Ayodhya.

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  17. The Western media have started their expected attacks on Narendra Modi. Modi’s aura of invincibility is gone now they say, or the result was the blow to the forceful political leader or Modi’s personal brand has been deemed, and so on. In such criticism, they are inadvertently confessing that until now they too believed that Modi was invincible, that Modi was a forceful leader, or Modi had his personal brand. All these virtues that they believed that Narendra Modi had and never confessed before.

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  18. Here is one more blog. This is no slouch. He is Srikant Talageri, no less. He has challenged Western academicians’ theories of Aryan invasion, migration etc. and is as rooted in Hinduism as one can be. His works are very well known in academia and he is feared by Western Indologists.

    https://talageri.blogspot.com/2024/06/who-pulled-down-bjps-numbers-hindu-anti.html

    Not even a week after the results, and there are already signs that the sycophancy will continue with renewed vigour. And in all likelihood, the BJP will conclude that they were not secular enough and double down on their anti-hindu policies.

    Pay heed to well-meaning people. Anyone with a voice must and should speak up now, or it is all over.

    People like Ritu Rathaur, Media Crooks, Koenraad Elst, Reality Check India etc. should be heeded.

    Here is one more blog which exposes BJP’s betrayal of the Hindus:

    https://talageri.blogspot.com/2024/05/ritu-rathaur-last-hindu-standing.html

    Very, very bad times. Modi is not up to it, it is time we woke up.

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    1. Let us take 4 parameters for deciding who to vote – Infrastructure, economic growth, security and Hindutva.

      BJP is way ahead of every other party in India today on the first 3 counts. It has built up more infrastructure in 10 years than Congress did in 60 years. It has created reasonable economic growth – banks are in the best shape. Very few security and terror incidents in India since 2014.

      On Hindutva, while it can do better, BJP has done more than opposition dynasty parties will. If BJP can take care of infra, economy and security, Hindus can take care of Hindutva themselves. Ram Mandir was built on Hindu contributions, Hindus should build a new temple of scale in every state in the next five years. One more in the next five years or so.

      Opposition did not fight the election on any of these most important parameters – Infrastructure, economic growth, security and Hindutva. It tried to win by making impossible khatakhat guarantees, threatening X-Ray with goal of robbing Hindu wealth and dividing Hindus by caste.

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    2. If the Hindus did not vote or vote against Modi/BJP because they believed Modi/BJP did not do enough for the Hindus, what can we say about such Hindus? Do the Hindus have any other strong Hindu in mind as our leader? Didn’t the Hindus vote against BJP in UP? So Aditya Yogiji is even bad (or not good enough) in the minds of Ravinars of India?

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      1. The fault is as much BJP’s because it did not train people in how to evaluate a party or even an individual for giving your vote. A lot of BJP MP’s or MLA’s are not on social media and dont communicate what they are doing.

        All MPs and MLA’s need to take a tutorial class from Tejasvi Surya who to my mind is one of the best MP’s BJP has – positive approach to problems, find solutions and then communicate what you did.

        Hindus need to understand that dynastic politics is incompatible with democracy and belongs to the feudal eras of zamindari. It has no place in a modern democracy.

        Also there is no point in voting for parties that have been given many chances and still turned out be a dud. If you want to change your vote, find a better party or stick with your current political party. You are not punishing a political party by randomly changing your vote, you are only punishing yourselves.

        As for the Ravinars, it is good to have people like him who can voice counter opinions. But even Ravinars can exist only when BJP is at the center. We saw how Congress sent police from Karnataka to arrest Bhiku Mhatre. They would never allow a Ravinar to exist.

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  19. Mihir Sen was the first Indian to swim the English channel (very tough swim those days end even today).

    He came back to India and set up a business in Kolkata. The communists asked him to campaign for them and he refused. The Communists destroyed his business.

    Today these communists want to advise India on inequality, unemployment etc.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihir_Sen

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  20. Modi and BJP have to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem.
    The only real solution is going to be to populate Kashmir with lots of Hindus. Also buffer zones with Hindus need to be built up in the border with Pakistan. Nothing else is going to work.

    People are getting tired hearing of terrorist attacks in the third term of Modi/BJP. A solution needs to be found. The Chinese would have found a solution when the Jihad started. We are just fumbling around

    https://x.com/itihasika/status/1800365843932479502

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      1. Actually BJP treats them better than their core voters.

        Looks like a few Bangladeshis voted in the elections. BJP is not solving this problem, just sitting on it for years and years. They have to get into the mode of solving problems, not just say Vikas-Vikas all the time.

        https://x.com/MeghUpdates/status/1800501530946326884

        People have also started questioning BJP’s inaction on the minority ministry

        https://x.com/MonaPatelT/status/1800288415352803443

        BJP has to understand that it is not business as usual after the current election results and they need to act faster, not sleep on important matters for years

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  21. Lots of questions being asked of lots of BJP ministers at the start of their tenure. This is very good. The expectation from people in this Modi tenure is huge.

    Dharmendra Pradhan (and indeed all BJP ministers, MP’s and MLA’s) can do the following

    1. Open a social media account
    2. Thank the voters for electing them
    3. Lay out their plans for five years – what they want to do and how they will do it
    4. Ask people for suggestions and help
    5. Set the milestones based on the plans and a tracking mechanism
    6. Communicate achievements periodically

    BJP cannot just ignore social media criticism and wake up after 5 years to another Rathee assault or khatakhat challenge. Ministers cannot be invisible without anyone knowing what they do or even whether they do anything.

    BJP should appoint Tejasvi Surya and Annamalai to oversee their IT cell and social media campaigns and come up with a plan for the next five years. Otherwise we will have the same spectacle of everything falling on Modi’s shoulders whenever the next election comes

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    1. If it is possible to bring in the law to punish anybody who blatantly lies to create a false impression in the minds of voters. I read that creating a false impression against Amit Shah’s statement by the INDI alliance that BJP is planning to abolish reservation was responsible for votes against BJP in UP. By the time a reaction came from the BJP against this false propaganda it was too late many voters had made up their minds.

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      1. Bringing any law is possible if the intent to use the law is there. The SC/ST atrocities act is an example where an upper caster person can be arrested without proof based on a mere complaint. It is misused a lot.

        If some problem is lingering, we can be sure that BJP has no intent to fix the problem. They were given absolute majority for ten years to fix lots of problems. They fixed some, slept on lot of others.

        My sense if that voters are getting tired of BJP sitting on lots of issues without solving them. BJP needs to fix this in the current term else they can expect to drop another 100 seats or so in the next election and get to 140 or so seats.

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          1. No, people wont get anything from the next government and they wont expect anything from a coalition government either. The disappointment is only if an absolute majority government does not perform to their expectation.

            BJP could go to the voters and say – we will give you great economic growth, security, infrastructure. But as we saw in this election, it was not enough to retain their absolute majority.

            I feel Hindutva issues will have to be addressed now if BJP wants to rebound back to absolute majority. If they are happy with being a coalition partner, then they can continue in the current manner.

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            1. Agree. But my fervent wish is for people, especially the Hindu voters learn to vote for the lesser of two evils. Also hope the women protesting outside of the AAP office and Rahul Gandhi’s office demanding promised thousands of Rupees will learn to not get fooled by such shysters.

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  22. David Fernandes is back in form….

    BJP-SS govt in Maharashtra has allocated 0 crores Minority Welfare Funds to Waqf Board Before Elections: Modi ji said congress will take the resources of Hindus and give it to Muslims After Winning elections on Hindu vote: BJP govt allotted funds for welfare of Muslims. This is how Hindus are fooled

    https://x.com/RituRathaur/status/1801305393445892591

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      1. This is how BJP keeps loosing the trust of Hindus. Looks like they are targeting below 100 seats in next election

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    1. This is strong criticism from JSD. But I think of it differently.

      The opposition in India is all third rate leaders who are clueless about everything and will wreck the country. Most are arrogant multi-generation dynasts. Their only talk and game is divisiveness, they have nothing constructive to offer. They cannot be given power under any circumstances.

      BJP has a few first raters and many second raters. Yogi, Modi, Shah, Tejasvi Surya, Himanta, Annamalai – these are all top class politicians. Maybe few others like Gadkari too. The second raters are just piling on the efforts of the first raters – very average politicians.

      But atleast the progression in BJP is to having more first rate leaders. If they can have even 100 MP’s of the caliber of the first rate leaders, India would be a different place. Till this happens, BJP has to learn the art of keeping the Hindu voter in its flock. Opposition party getting power in next fifty years at the center is like loosing battle of Panipat. Hindus should guard against this.

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  23. In 2010 during the UPA (Congress) government, Arundhati Roy stated that the government’s Operation Greenhunt was the government’s war against the poor people of India. At that time Narendra Modi was not even in the picture. So her accusation was against the MMS Sarkar. No repudiation from MMS or the Gandhi family. She accused the Indian state (which was governed for 60-65 years since the independence by the Congress party) of forceful occupation of J & K which according to her is not an integral part of India and again no repudiation from the Congress party, but now that the Modi government is about to go after Ms. Roy, the Congress party is attacking Mr. Modi. Does that mean that the Congress party agreed with her accusation?

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    1. Arundhati Roy is a fiction writer but she takes it too far and starts talking fiction everywhere. Everything she says is just made up, cannot take her seriously. Maybe this is why the government did not prosecute her earlier.

      This constant fiction creation is a Leftist trait. It is also a Leftist trait to constantly create problems and accuse others of not solving it. For instance Leftists will complain against unemployment.

      But in West Bengal which was the most industrial state, they shut down industries and created employment. In short, their attitude is – we will create tons of problems everywhere and accuse you of not solving it. They themselves have zero solutions to any problem because they are the problem creators and not solvers.

      This is why the understanding of Dharma and Karma is so necessary. Once a country slips into Adharma, poverty and crime is inevitable. This is why in the US you have people going and stealing from shops – goaded on by the Leftists. There is no understanding of Adharma.

      The intelligent Hindu has seen through these idiotic Leftist traits and that is why communism has shrunk in India. The most intelligent people in the West also take up Hindu thought. But the unwashed masses there are very dull and it take lots of time for them to absorb concepts like Karma and Dharma.

      Like

  24. Used to think Elon Musk was smart but he comes up with an extremely stupid comment. Everything under the sun can be hacked. Including your mobile phone and PC. Doesnt mean they should not be used.

    The alternative (paper ballots) can be hacked or hijacked even more.

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  25. This is a very wise post. India is the land of Dharma. BJP got absolute majority in 2014 and 2019 because people perceived Congress as Adharmis and Hindu psyche does not permit Adharma to continue. That is why Bharat is the punya bhumi.

    Communists had a very seductive ideology but got banished from India because people could not see them ever going in the direction of dharma. Discriminating brains can see Marxism as absurd and junk but even uneducated Hindus consider Marxism as nonsense because they dont talk dharma.

    If BJP is inactive towards civilizational issues, it just appears like another political party and people loose interest. This was evident in the 2024 election results. Hindus want politics not for its sake but for dharma.

    Every BJP MP should be having a twitter account where they are discussing civilizational issues and how they are doing their bit.

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    1. I am sceptical of your assumption that Hindus don’t respect Marxism. Maybe it’s true for the above-35 generation but the new generations being minted by the secular education system are very vulnerable.

      The danger posed by Dhruv Rathee is the greatest in this demographic – the 15 to 22 age group. They are easily influenced, and once you have a critical mass in this demographic, it’s downhill for this country.

      This is why Modi’s bihgest failure is in Education.

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      1. For whatever reason throughout the world among the younger generation being a ‘Liberal’ has become fashionable. The word ‘conservative’ has become villainous. The Liberals of the world are going to take the world forward and the conservatives are hell-bent on taking the world backward. Our poor people who are not exposed to education see these Liberals as their uplifters. The biggest puzzle is why these Liberals are so hell-bent on favoring the most conservative community in the world? These Liberals keep this community in the victimhood state perpetually.

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      2. There are two types who support Marxism. The first is children of the rich or Marxists who dont have to work and can be woke. Those going to Ashoka University or JNU. The second is brainwashed foot soldiers, the types who fight in Chattisgarh or such areas.

        Children from middle class cannot afford to pass their time shouting slogans, holding placards and trying to level the world. Their parents indoctrinate them before the Marxists get hold of them.

        But I agree to your point that BJP needs to educate young minds about the dangers of secularism and Marxism. They have made a start in NCERT textbooks on the latter. BJP also needs to educate the young about how freebies are go broke tactics and in fact exacerbates their poverty by diverting funds from development

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  26. I don’t understand why EC jumps up and down when anti-BJP government people start shouting from the rooftop about the accusation of opening EVM with a phone. All EC has to do is say that there is a constant challenge to anybody to open or manipulate EVM with a phone or any other electronic device.

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    1. The EC has already asked people to hack EVM, no one has done it so far. Since VVPATs (the printed proofs of votes exists), the SC has allowed the cross verification of the EVM tally with printed tally.

      Midday newspaper is in contempt of court by spreading false rumours about EVM’s, its license should be cancelled and its editor should be jailed.

      As for our liberals who still see a problem with EVM’s, they are technology illiterate and very dull to boot. They cannot be convinced anyhow.

      Like

  27. Karnataka citizens finding out the hard way that so called guarantees means they get squeezed more times than a sugarcane in the juice machine

    https://x.com/east_bengaluru/status/1802923542226309139

    I reckon staying in a Congress ruled state is 30% more expensive compared to staying in a BJP ruled state, maybe someone in BJP should come up with stats to show how hard it is to stay in a Congress ruled state.

    Like

  28. RW dont want to teach BJP a lesson, they in fact want BJP to win by a huge majority. And use that majority to solve civilizational issues for the Hindus.

    https://x.com/ShefVaidya/status/1802939855267041359

    A simple model for evaluating a political party is on infrastructure, economy, security and ideology. In a perfect world, ideology would not have a role but the en-bloc voting of minorities makes this very important in Indian politics.

    BJP is far ahead of any opposition party on parameters of infrastructure, economy, security. But opposition is ahead of BJP in that they stay true to their ideology and core supporters.

    BJP starts doing secularism and that it where it disappoints its core voters. Also BJP regularly confuses its supporters on the ideology front (unlike the Congress which never confuses its core voters). But ideology is the easiest parameter to fix for the BJP.

    In the next election, BJP can either go to 340 or 140. Which direction it goes depends mainly on how well it does on the ideology parameter.

    Like

    1. This sentence in the below tweet thread nails it

      “The problem is BJPs compass is not guided by Dharma”

      https://x.com/e4Dharma/status/1802892783696351504

      Indian soil is not conducive to anything that is not Dharma. This is why Communists were electorally eliminated and Congress got 44 and 52.

      BJP needs to always have its compass oriented towards Dharma. It is very difficult to play electoral games and please every constituency

      Like

  29. Looks like even isolated and sanctioned North Korea has fantastic road infrastructure

    https://x.com/VivekSi85847001/status/1803302545764565373

    Our politicians have utterly and completely failed us as far as roads in our metros are concerned. Driving in our metros is a nightmare, you cannot go 100 feet without hitting a pothole or some unevenness.

    Hope this is something Modi can look into in term 3. The local governments wont do anything on this front

    Like

  30. Pappini is entering politics. And her husband, the former national son-in-law has also expressed his political ambitions.

    This is a very dangerous development. The reasons are as follows:

    1. Pappu has become stronger. He will be the LOP, and the secular media and people like Dhruv Rathee will give him blanket coverage for every small thing.

    2. The “Pappu” epithet is past its sell-by date. Pappu the PM is a looming threat now, and can no longer be dismissed as laughable.

    3. Pappini’s victory in the mini-Pakistan seat vacated by her brother is a foregone conclusion. The family’s hand will be much strengthened now, because even if Pappu doesn’t perform, they will push Pappini as his replacement.

    4. This game can go on for the next 10 years, by which time Pappini’s kids will be pushed into the limelight.

    5. In the meanwhile, the shady son-in-law will have formally entered politics, maybe even becoming an MP.

    We ought to remember a very important thing about this family – They are crucial for the Church to maintain control over the Congress party and establish a permanent political foothold in the country. It may not happen in 2, 3 or even 4 election cycles, but the foothold will be there. This is an organization which plays a long game, think centuries, not decades.

    All it needs is one fateful election, and Hindus are done for, permanently. They have already sowed the seeds of doubts on EVMs. If they grab power, they will disband EVMs, and booth capturing will become the norm. Friendly Supreme Court judges (left leaning and biblically inclined ones) will ensure that the EVM ban is permanent.

    The media is anyway easily purchased, and influencers like Dhruv Rathee are already bought off.

    Western powers are behind the Congress-Church-Mullah axis.

    In the meanwhile, the BJP has not said anything about who will succeed Modi.

    In other words, the enemy is primed and ready for battle, and the Hindu side is not.

    The Hindus are asleep. The future is bleak.

    Like

    1. As they say, “Ye To Hona Hi Tha”. What is happening in WB may happen in the entire India. The only change will be instead of one religion another religion will start to dominate.

      I hundred percent agree with all sentiments that the Modi/BJP government is not doing many things for the Hindus as they should have done. But should the Hindu voters punish BJP and invite the situation you are describing? Shouldn’t the Hindu voters learn to evaluate candidates based on the “Lesser of two evils” and vote accordingly? Also ‘Not creating totally pro-Hindu policies’ or even any appearance of such policy could be a compulsion of the Modi government to invite foreign investment?

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      1. BJP must be made to fear Hindus, and that can be achieved by shining light on their failures. That will make them sit up and take notice, and hopefully, act on critical issues.

        The lesson of the last 10 years is very clear – the BJP is not a Hindu party. They are opportunists who care about votes. So they must be made to fear loss of votes, and that can be done by giving wide publicity to their acts of betrayal against Hindus.

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        1. All political parties in the world are opportunistic that care about the votes only. It would be a mighty trick for the voters to strike a balance between punishing the political party that not doing enough for them and not getting punished ourselves by electing much worse political parties by electing Pappanis and Pappus who are openly against Hindus and pro-minorities. As you have described the suffering of the Hindus will be immense if Pappani-Pappu takes over from BJP.

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      2. The thing that Hindu voters now look for is for BJP to atleast level the field and be truly secular and even this BJP is not doing. After ten years of BJP rule, Anand Ranganathan is writing a book on how Hindus are still eighth class citizens of India. Did Hindus give absolute majority for this ? Hindu voters see how Congress is absolutely loyal to the ideology of its core voters and expect BJP to be the same.

        If BJP wants to play world secular statesman, that is fine but they will drop to 140 seats in the next election. In the current election they have been served with a warning. They were given absolute majority for advancing the civilizational needs of the Hindus and they have largely failed in this aspect.

        Without doing ideologically oriented actions, they will quickly fade out and disappear out of the Indian electoral scene. Even Chandrababu Naidu realizes this and has upped his ideological game. BJP is still in kindergarten here, permanently sucking the secularism lollypop.

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        1. If and when the BJP goes down to 140 seats and the Khichdi government from the opposition parties takes over, as suggested by Girish above they will try to dump EVMs and after that, the entire nation will turn into WB. If that happens the Hindu voters will never have a chance to punish a pro-Hindu government for not doing enough for Hindus.

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          1. BJP has shown some positive intent at the start of their third term. The fact that Congress is going after BJP supporters like Bhiku Mhatre and Ajeet Bharti shows that they are quite rattled. BJP needs to keep up this momentum. This kind of intimidation can be countered only by tit for tat intimidation.

            Bhiku Mhatra has 164000 followers. Each follower must be spreading the message to 200 to 300 others over whatsapp, personal conversations etc. This means a reach of about 50 million. Ajeet Bharti has 400000 followers. A reach of 200 million. There are several in the BJP ecosystem like this.

            BJP just needs to some basic stuff to keep the motivation of Hindu voters going. For example, today they sent a French journalist back. What prevented them from doing this ten years back ? Congress takes decisions on the day they win the election and starts implementing them.

            BJP also sends lots of confusing signals.They rewarded Ram Guha with the Satish Dhawan chair. Yogendra Yadavs name still appears on NCERT textbooks. Do you think Congress party will award Abhishek the Satish Dhawan chair if they are in power ?

            It is not too difficult to bounce back to 340 if BJP does the right things. No one considers any of the opposition parties as a serious contender.

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  31. When the new Modi government passes the “One Nation, One Election” rule, I wish the election is moved to the December-January slot so the voters would not have to stay in line at 105-106 degrees heat.

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    1. Elections in May actually favours the opposition as their voters are the most ideological and dont mind the trouble.

      Electionsshould be moved to February or early March when weather is pleasant throughout India

      Like

      1. Also, most middle-class Hindus who generally vote for BJP are softy. They would avoid suffering in the line at 105-degree temperatures especially if the prevailing notion is such that BJP/NDA would get 400 plus seats. On the other hand, poor people who were promised thousands of Rupees go out of their way to vote for the party that made such bribing promises.

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        1. There is tremendous anger against the Congress party for promising 8500 per month and not giving it. It might have fetched votes in the last election but all those angry people are going to vote against them in the next election.

          I dont agree Hndu voters are soft. Wherever the BJP MP’s have performed well and communicated their achievements to the people, they are re-elected with tremendous majority. A good example is Tejasvi Surya.

          Many BJP MP’s are doing well but communication is lacking. This is a problem in the age of social media where foreign funding is flowing to the opposition during elections. BJP needs to improve its game here – Each MP/MLA needs to communicate on Twitter in 2/3 languages. Anytime they do a Hindu friendly action, it has to be massively publicized and given repeated exposure.

          BJP has a class of voters who have shut out the opposition – they will vote BJP no matter what. And they will indoctrinate their family and friends into voting BJP. But there is a section that needs constant ideological drips and BJP MPs’/MLA’s need to provide that. They can learn from the Congress how to do this.

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  32. The destructive role of the opposition in India is highlighted so well in this tweet.

    https://x.com/dotnagpur/status/1803623569341161591

    In the last ten years no one has heard anything constructive from the Indian opposition. This has given rise to a whole generation of new voters who are never going to vote for the current opposition parties in their entire voting life.

    Indian voters deserve better. Indian voters deserve another constructive opposition (which means another Hindutva political party). Voters need to go out and vote not fearing a destructive opposition but for two parties competing to do politics constructively.

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  33. As expected freebie pradesh is ultra expensive for the common man. Essentially freebies choke the common man while transferring money to the vote banks of parties.

    Each citizen of Karnataka has to see if he is getting atleast Rs 5235 from the government, it will just break even the additional cost the government is imposing. They are probably getting far less and are in loss because of freebies.

    https://x.com/Randeep_Sisodia/status/1804717862835425418

    Liked by 1 person

  34. The fate of the next elections will be evident in the next few weeks and months. If Modi 3.0 is the same sedate, diffident, non-aggressive man we saw in the last 10 years, we should prepare for Christo-Islamic rule.

    The Abrahamics have sensed blood, and they will do everything possible, including burning the country down to oust Modi. Not that they didn’t try earlier, but this time, they will really go for it.

    Modi’s has his work cut out for him:

    1. Work on civilizational issues.
    2. Groom the successor.

    Here is a set of practical steps that Modi should take, as described by R. Jagannathan in this Swarajya article:

    https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/five-soft-hindutva-ideas-for-modi-30-that-neednt-raise-the-hackles-of-secular-allies

    Game over if Modi doesn’t do these.

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