“The most significant casualty may well be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reputation as a sound economic manager.”
“In a very real sense, then, one might think of the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, on his 125th birthday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political father.”
“I predict the decline of the BJP and the fragmentation of its state units into regional parties based on caste.”
“It may appear that BJP has won across Maharashtra, but scrutiny of exit polls reveals a fractured mandate. The Opposition will comprise the Shiv Sena with Congress and NCP playing second fiddle. One does not have to be cynical to foresee a fractured future.”
“Modi can only succeed by breaking the hearts of the hot heads who voted for him…He can succeed by being the great economist statesman Manmohan Singh.”
“The fact that the leader of a self-professed secular democracy associates himself overtly and unabashedly with the symbols of India’s majority religion should suggest that America needs to tread carefully or risk being seen as endorsing a Hindu-centric re-branding of India, a country with 176 million Muslims, some 20 million Sikhs, and many other minorities.”
“The future of Indian liberalism and secularism now depends so much on the political calculations of a man who has made clear his antipathy toward such values.”
“It will be embarrassing, if he becomes prime minister, to have him in the same meeting as US President Barack Obama.”
“The powerful Indian leader may actually be the most dangerous of cliches.”
“For all his faults, Nehru is India’s greatest Prime Minister ever. Modi knows it. Given his ambition, he would would like to outshine Nehru.”