{"id":2236,"date":"2014-05-16T09:15:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T13:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?p=2236"},"modified":"2014-05-16T16:14:26","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T20:14:26","slug":"a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html","title":{"rendered":"a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India&#8217;s new Prime Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As predicted by everyone, Narendra <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/17\/world\/asia\/india-elections.html?_r=0\">Modi has won<\/a> the election and is India&#8217;s new Prime Minister. <\/p>\n<p>Some essential background on the Indian elections here, by John Oliver on HBO (because American news media FAIL):<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aZDYsSOngik<\/p>\n<p>Modi won with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2014\/05\/16\/us-india-election-muslims-idUSBREA4F0ET20140516\">substantial support of Muslims<\/a> in India, despite his role in the Gujrat riots. I hope that Modi takes that lesson of forgiveness and trust to heart as he governs for all of India, not just the majority. <\/p>\n<p>The flip side is Rahul Gandhi, who was probably the most anemic candidate that Congress could have fielded. Watch Gandhi&#8217;s disastrous interview by TV host Arnab Goswani and you will see how unprepared he was:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Frankly Speaking With Rahul Gandhi - Full Interview | Arnab Goswami Exclusive Interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xB_eWW5ttaM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(the <a href=\"http:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/Rahul-Gandhis-first-interview-Full-text\/articleshow\/29455665.cms\">full transcript is here<\/a> and it&#8217;s as painful to read as it is to watch)<\/p>\n<p>and compare Goswani&#8217;s interview with Gandhi to his interview with Modi:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Frankly Speaking with Narendra Modi - Full Interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JIjMGNwStt0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s no wonder Modi destroyed Gandhi. And frankly I don&#8217;t see how a dynastic, inefective candidate like Gandhi would have been any better for India. At best he would have perpetuated the status quo; at worst he would have exacerbated the worst instincts of Indian politics towards corruption and waste and bureaucratic inertia. <\/p>\n<p>Modi was always going to win. The future of India is in his hands. Let&#8217;s hope that having achieved his ambition, he now can focus on his legacy and can resist the calls of Hindu nationalism to create their version of paradise. Modi is Muslims&#8217; prime minister, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As predicted by everyone, Narendra Modi has won the election and is India&#8217;s new Prime Minister. Some essential background on the Indian elections here, by John Oliver on HBO (because American news media FAIL): https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aZDYsSOngik Modi won with substantial support of Muslims in India, despite his role in the Gujrat riots. I hope that Modi&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[138,458,27,28],"class_list":["post-2236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nation-building","tag-india","tag-modi","tag-muslim","tag-muslims"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India&#039;s new Prime Minister - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India&#039;s new Prime Minister - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As predicted by everyone, Narendra Modi has won the election and is India&#8217;s new Prime Minister. Some essential background on the Indian elections here, by John Oliver on HBO (because American news media FAIL): https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aZDYsSOngik Modi won with substantial support of Muslims in India, despite his role in the Gujrat riots. I hope that Modi&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-16T13:15:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-16T20:14:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aziz Poonawalla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India's new Prime Minister - City of Brass","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India's new Prime Minister - City of Brass","og_description":"As predicted by everyone, Narendra Modi has won the election and is India&#8217;s new Prime Minister. Some essential background on the Indian elections here, by John Oliver on HBO (because American news media FAIL): https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aZDYsSOngik Modi won with substantial support of Muslims in India, despite his role in the Gujrat riots. I hope that Modi&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html","og_site_name":"City of Brass","article_published_time":"2014-05-16T13:15:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-16T20:14:26+00:00","author":"Aziz Poonawalla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html","name":"a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India's new Prime Minister - City of Brass","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-16T13:15:07+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-16T20:14:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/05\/a-victory-for-toilets-and-holograms-narendra-modi-is-indias-new-prime-minister.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"a victory for toilets and holograms: Narendra Modi is India&#8217;s new Prime Minister"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/","name":"City of Brass","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Aziz Poonawalla","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb","name":"Aziz Poonawalla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","caption":"Aziz Poonawalla"},"description":"Aziz Poonawalla is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2236"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2244,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236\/revisions\/2244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}