[Thread] It is incredible how many Indian American writers in ‘think tanks’ and institutes have not even reacted to India’s massive push for Vaccine diplomacy & how it has delivered vaccines to so many countries. I haven’t even seen many opeds in the West on this. #VaccineMaitri
Unfortunately they are so beholden to the western publications they write for and are so used to parroting a narrative which is establishment friendly that they refuse to talk about these positive stories about India and it would raise uncomfortable questions. #VaccineMaitri
For months many of these commentators were in denial about how India was doing a better job at fighting #COVID19 and also were in denial about what India was doing w.r.t vaccines. Now that their narrative hasn’t worked, they have all gone into silent mode about #VaccineMaitri
The same people ramped up discussions on the #FarmersProtest once Meena Harris and then many folks on the American left started talking. But stay mum on India’s vaccine diplomacy. Rather than giving a perspective on an Indian narrative they blindly follow the establishment.
This is not to say that they should talk about only one issue & not the other. But if they won’t talk about #VaccineMaitri because this is a great diplomatic achievement for @narendramodi & it will make some of their friends on the hill look silly, then it shows their hypocrisy.
[Thread] Fraudulent analysis. NDA got around 45% of the vote. NOT 38%, cannot be said that the other 55% voted against NDA - it also included 2.7% IND and 1+% NOTA .. Those are not opposition votes. And this business of adding votes randomly across seats, does not work. (1/n)
You cannot just randomly add votes that parties received in diff parts of India & just say that nationally if we add them all this is 50%+ against NDA. That can be done if India voted like the US does in presidential elections. In Lok Sabha elections it doesn't work that way(2/n)
Lets take the example of Telangana and Odisha. Where TRS and BJD were in a contest with BJD. Congress polled a few votes there too. If TRS and BJD were in alliance with Congress, there is no evidence to suggest that all the numbers will add up, BJP might get more votes too (3/n)
I am quite surprised to see some of the Canadian MPs tweeting about the #FarmersProtest .. and have no idea about APMC, or what they farmers are actually facing or what many agricultural experts have said about the reforms. Their tweets are pandering to the usual suspects.
And not all of them seem to be from the far left groups (the ones don’t seem to condemn Khalistanis and keep talking about that referendum).. some other voices have tweeted too. The extremists who refuse to condemn Khalistanis are pressuring it would seem. This is a scary trend.
And Canada ke baad a few Brits have too. These tweets just seem like uninformed WhatsApp forwards written to further a ‘certain narrative’. There is a weird pattern emerging
[Thread] After the 2017 Gujarat Elections Delhi media had declared that Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor & Jignesh Mevani will essentially be the future of non BJP politics in Gujarat. Many of us knew that would never happen, and we said so then. This is what ended up happening: (1/n)
Alpesh left the congress and joined BJP, Hardik Patel led congress to a disastrous showing in the #GujaratByPolls where they won 0 seats out of the 8 they held. Jignesh Mevani became an Ind. MLA thanks to Congress not fielding a candidate, but INC won’t do that this time (2/n)
Hardik Patel and his agitation was doomed to fail as I said here a while back: myind.net/Home/viewArtic… .. but the fact that he led the Congress to such an embarrassing result, shows you that the minor gains made have also vanished. The BJP got a whopping 54% of the vote (3/n)
[Thread] One of the most incredible stories in the #BiharElections is that of the ‘Vikassheel Insaan Party’ led by Mukesh Sahani which has a huge base among the Nishad/Mallah community. Earlier in alliance with the UPA, they made an alliance with the BJP/NDA and won 4 seats (1/n)
From the days of Phoolan Devi (who belonged to the same caste) to her tragic death, when it seemed like alliances like the ones that have happened this time would never happen, Indian politics has changed for the better and has come a long way indeed. (2/n)
Last few years BJP has expanded its base, and if the last few elections are any indication- alliances like these will only solidify. It was said by many leftist commentators that BJP was only an upper caste party, and it wasn’t true then, it is certainly not true now (3/n) #Bihar
Crucial for NDA to maintain this to form govt or get closer to 122, because among the 8 others, there are 5 leads of AIMIM, who could support the MGB. Very close fight right now.
And my friend @shwetankbhushan called it days ago on @myindmakers when polls were giving Tejashwi the edge. Do read this piece where he predicted how close the election would be and what are the factors: myind.net/Home/viewArtic…
Ultimately Asaduddin Owaisi is trying to do what Mayawati did years ago, where she would always get a few votes/seats wherever there was a significant Dalit vote. Owaisi is trying to do the same with Muslim vote. He got a few MLAs in #Maharashtra, tried in UP and now in #Bihar.
In Gujarat, @BJP4Gujarat is leading now in ALL the 8 seats that went to the by polls. What the ‘analysts’ won’t tell you is that Hardik Patel - who is leading the Gujarat Congress, massively campaigned everywhere and his impact has been very minimal it seems. #byelection2020
If the trends hold, then it is a big win for @vijayrupanibjp .. in 6 seats the margin is quite comfortable for @BJP4India, 2 are closer. But if they win all 8, Gujarat congress might go into crisis mode again as this is a huge dent against Hardik Patel. #byelection2020
The problem with Congress in Gujarat is the lack of good leadership - they keep passing the baton to the same old guard or chose someone like a Hardik Patel who might be a favorite of a few journalists but won’t work on the ground. Till they get it together, they will keep losing