Adjective Hunting

The pitch was already raised so high in the run-up to elections in Gujarat that by the time they pronounced judgement, most adjectives had l...

The pitch was already raised so high in the run-up to elections in Gujarat that by the time they pronounced judgement, most adjectives had lost their punch. In the event, the 8216;landslide8217; victory notched by 8216;Hindu nationalists8217; only seemed to be a fitting climax 8212; in scale 8212; to an election that had been billed as a 8216;referendum8217; on 8216;India8217;s secular character8217;.

At home, the BJP might protest that it wasn8217;t communal polarisation that did the trick for it in Gujarat but the western media isn8217;t listening. Said the NEW YORK TIMES: 8216;The vote seemed to affirm the success of the campaign strategy of the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party, which had focused on uniting Hindus against a threat of Islamic terrorism and implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, against the state8217;s Muslims8230; the party8217;s greatest gains came in areas where rioting took place last spring8230;8217;

The paper also seized upon something that others in the US and British media picked up as well. The election campaign, it said, had pitted 8216;moderates, like Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee8217; against 8216;hard liners like Mr Modi8230; strongly backed by the World Hindu Council8230;8217;

The WASHINGTON POST agreed that the BJP won its victory by 8216;capitalising on communal and anti-Muslim passions8217;. It noted that the victory had raised fears that the party will adopt a similar approach in other state elections and in national elections in 2004. It was concerned that it will increase the pressure on Prime Minister Vajpayee to adopt a more 8216;nationalistic8217; tone 8212; 8216;particularly in his dealings with Pakistan8217;.

In its analysis 8216;Dark days for India8217;, the GUARDIAN wrote that Modi8217;s strategy was 8216;shameful, disturbing and fascist8217;. But it 8216;worked brilliantly8217;. BJP workers, it said, are now talking up Narendra Modi as a future prime minister.

The INDEPENDENT came up with a revealing articulation. For the benefit of the uninitiated reader, it described Hindutva as 8216;Mr Modi8217;s brand of Hindu chauvinistic nationalism8217;. Is that to be Hindutva8217;s new calling card abroad?

The FINANCIAL TIMES cast the onus on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. It is vital for Vajpayee, it said in an editorial, 8216;to rebuff the extremists and reassert the values of tolerance and secularism in national government8217;. And, 8216;if he fails to do so, the BJP8217;s coalition partners should pull the rug from under Mr Vajpayee8217;s feet and bring the government down8217;.

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By and large, they were sharper in their criticism of Modi8217;s victory in the British media than in the American media. But the most scathing of all was the press in the Middle East. In a ringing editorial, ARAB NEWS took the view that 8216;if the election that has just taken place in Gujarat, where the BJP has been re-elected by a landslide, had happened in Europe or elsewhere in the West, there would be an international outcry8230; this is elected bigotry8217;.

Looking Back In Time

TIME has begun early on the year-end ritual of looking back and peering ahead. And India figures in the magazine8217;s tip sheet for a scary new year. Wedged in between forecasts of al Qaeda continued, and American strikes in Iraq, more student anger in Iran and yet more infighting and purges in China, there8217;s Kashmir. Where 8216;peace is in the balance8217;. Where there is hope after an 8216;honest8217; election and after the turnout has 8216;undermined8217; Pakistan8217;s justification for its support of the insurgency which began to look 8216;less like a freedom struggle against a repressive regime and more a straightforward tussle over territory8217;. But where, with no dialogue between India and Pakistan in sight, 8216;the guns won8217;t fall silent anytime soon8217;.

Gujarat figures in this list too, and predictably, TIME can sight no hope at all in this particular landscape. 8216;Next year8217;, it intoned with the doomsdayer8217;s determined gloom, 8216;could see a return to the dark days of 1992, when Hindu mobs razed an ancient mosque8230;8217;

Meanwhile, Mirabai

Her Monsoon Wedding is nominated for the Oscars. She has plans to develop it into a Broadway musical and promises a funny and poignant look at tradition and change in an American-Punjabi family in a new primetime entertainment series she8217;s making for US television. Mira Nair is on a roll.

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Recently, the NEW YORKER did a mammoth 8,000-word profile on the director who 8216;exudes a cheeky dynamism8217; and 8216;what the Punjabis call masti8212;an intoxication with life.8217; Her gift, it raved, is to make diversity irresistible. That8217;s an image from India that deserves a longer shelf life in the world media.

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