Shashi Tharoor and Mike Ghouse on Narendra Modi at Huffington Post

Is there an Indian who does not want to hear the following statements from his national leader?  “125 Crore (1.25 Billion) Indians are my family” – “Sab Ka Sath sab Ka Vikas: everyone together, prosperity for all” - “I will not fall into the trap of looking at Muslim or Christian colors, but see everyone as my fellow Indian” - “Whether you voted for me or not, I am your Prime Minister” – “No one needs to fear the other” – Let’s build toilets before we build temples” and many such positive upbeat statements from Mr. Narendra Modi.

When Tharoor and I heard the above statements in a variety of expressions, we understood its depth and praised it. Even if he did not mean it, let the man define himself and live up to it. He has a reputation for discipline and in less than ten days, he has straightened the Parliamentary offices – if they know Modi is making the rounds, they clean up the offices and get their acts together. After all, Modi has quoted Mahatma Gandhi “we are the trustees of people” and we have to live up to it.

The accusations leveled against me and Tharoor is that we have changed, we did not!
It is actually Modi ……….. Continued at Huffington Post - to be posted before Monday at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/
   
References:

Links provided after each bullet and additional links, where you can link this as article.

"125 Crore [1.25 billion] Indians are my family."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/news/Full-text-of-Narendra-Modis-speech-in-Central-Hall-of-Parliament/articleshow/35420762.cms

   
"Sab Ka Sath sab Ka Vikas: Everyone together, prosperity for all."
http://www.narendramodi.in/sabka-saath-sabka-vikas-a-synopsis-of-11-years-of-shri-narendra-modi-in-gujarat-as-the-cm/


"I will not fall into the trap of looking at Muslim or Christian colors, but see everyone as my fellow Indian."
http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/in-message-to-muslims-narendra-modi-says-will-reach-out-to-all-512357

"Whether you voted for me or not, I am your prime minister."
https://news.yahoo.com/modi-condemns-anti-muslim-remarks-colleagues-defiant-112857867--business.html

"No one needs to fear the other."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/world/asia/india-muslims-modi.html?_r=0

"Let's build toilets before we build temples."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Build-toilets-first-and-temples-later-Narendra-Modi-says/articleshow/23422631.cms 
 
Gandhi Quote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PQlAJgf8Tc#t=522

 
Mike Ghouse is Public Speaker, thinker and an author commited to building cohesive societies, and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Everything about him is at MikeGhouse.net and many links to media, websites and blogs.

Narendra Modi and dehumanizing women

Modi and dehumanizing women

First of all, I condemn the wife Jokes in India, which are usually derogatory towards women.  That is the kind of humor we don’t need to burden our next generation with. You can call me whatever you want, but in the public spaces, where I am, I will stop you from saying those jokes.

Here is a debate about Narendra Modi, the Prime ministerial candidate making a statement,   "50 Crore ki girl friend Dekhi hai” - have you seen a $5Million dollar girl friend? Referring to Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunananda Pushkar, Shashi’s response was apt, “She is priceless! “Instead of saying, what does this man know about women?  It’s like asking someone to describe the smell of the roses, whose nostril is desensitized.

Somewhere in the discussion, someone suggests, “All it takes for Modi is to apologize for the statement or clarify what he meant by it” and it will be over. Some else jumped and said, “apologize, he never will”.

That took me back to think if there is a pattern. When the lower court in Ahmadabad rejected the Petition of Zakia Jafri, against Modi’s involvement in the Gujarat Massacre, someone had suggested, “If Modi has any respect for human dignity, as a head of the state, he would go and console that Octogenarian Zakia Jafri, that he will make sure, justice will be served to her, even if it were against him?”  Someonelese jumped and said, “ Modi may dum nahin” – Modi does not have the guts to do such a bold thing.

I was looking at the 7 points I had advocated for Modi to consider – to be humble, to do the praischit and move forward. I was told that he will not do that.

What will he do then? How will he handle mistakes if he were the Prime Minister?

Most of you may watch the Indian soaps; the story is repeated daily, “The husband screams at wife, what have I not given you – wealth, car, house, servant, designer clothes, dining in the finest restaurants….what do you want”.  Rarely do they show the response, a woman wants nothing more than respect and dignity. 

The development is a wholesome plank, not economic development at the cost of respect and dignity to the millions of Gujaratis out there.

If you have not watched the following video by NDTV, it is worth watching. There is another revelation; the “right wing people” will never see another point of view. In the video, Mr. Modi is represented by Mr. Rao, who simply cannot see the facts.

Between 3:00 to 27:00 Minutes on the tape

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/left-right-centre/modi-vs-tharoor-a-new-campaign-low/252880?relatedviaplayer

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.
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