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Assembly election results of five Indian states, viz. Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry were declared today, and here are the 10 takeaways that came out. 
 
1. Days of Congress look limited 
 
Even though it is back in Uttarakhand, but Congress has lost two more states, Assam and Kerala, which means that its days in the country are limited as of now. Presently, Congress has its government only in 6 out of the 29 Indian states. 
 
2. Only central power doesn’t work 
 
After losing Delhi and Bihar assembly elections, BJP seems to have realized that they can’t win everywhere only because of PM Modi. This is why local leadership is always useful. 
 
3. Rahul Gandhi needs another update, fast 
 
Congress scion Rahul Gandhi is having a tough time in convincing Indians about his caliber. With his return to prominence last year, which was named Rahul 2.0, he seems to have lost the zeal once again, unable to engage himself in politics the way he is supposed to. 
 
4. Saffron is India’s new favorite color 
 
Even though the growth is slowly, but BJP is surely paving its way into India’s heart. Winning Assam has made BJP come out of the tag of being a cow-belt party. With governments in 9 states and sharing power in 4 states, one can see how fast India is turning saffron. 
 
5. West Bengal has a strange algorithm of its own 
 
What worked for the Congress party in Bihar, fell on its face in West Bengal. While Rahul Gandhi was able to bring Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad together, forming a RJD-JDU-Congress alliance, he couldn’t defeat TMC (39.79%) even after a Left-Congress alliance (39.64%), because of the visible tension between Left and Congress in Kerala. 
 
6. Age, what’s that? 
 
While India as a country talks of its young population, Indian politics doesn’t understand this concept. VS Achuthanandan and Karunanidhi, both nonagenarians have led their parties to power in two important states. 
 
7. Corruption can still make you win 
 Corruption is not the only factor that would decide your fate in <keyword id="444541" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-elections">Indian elections</keyword>, and this is visible from TMC’s win, despite scams like viz. Saradha and Narada. 
 
8. Incumbent or not, who cares? 
 <keyword id="43868" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mamata-Banerjee">Mamata Banerjee</keyword> became the CM because of being a CM, and <keyword id="6364034" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tarun-Gogoi">Tarun Gogoi</keyword> lost because of this. So incumbent or not, it doesn’t decide your victory or loss. 
 
9. Modi is still to get an arch rival for 2019 
 
When PM Narendra Modi goes in for the 2019 general election, who is going to be his arch rival? This is something that is yet to be decided, because Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar and now Mamata Banerjee have all emerged as possible competitors, but not all of them can stand tall in the 2019 elections. 
 
10. It’s going to be BJP vs regional parties now 
 
With Congress majorly out of scene, Indian would see a national party BJP battling with several regional parties in the future. So one can be ready to see BJP fighting it out with SP, BSP, Nitish Kumar- led coalition and other parties. 
 
<a href="http://blogs.ft.com/photo-diary/files/2013/12/PB2768052.jpg">Image source</a>

Here are 10 things you must know about today’s assembly election results

NEW DELHI: <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> has decided to convene a session of the AICC on January 17 to “motivate and galvanize” party workers for the 2014 polls, setting off speculation that the brainstorming session may see <keyword id="6548660" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Vice-President">vice-president</keyword> <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> being declared the party’s PM nominee. 
 
The session of the AICC — a body comprising delegates from across the country which has been frequently used to endorse the decisions of the high command and invest them with the veneer of consultation — has been conceived to lift the spirit of troops in the wake of the mauling in the recent assembly elections which has raised questions about its viability as a serious contender in the 2014 contest. 
 
As the announcement about the upcoming meeting became public, party spokesperson Priya Dutt told reporters, “The entire Congress is definitely looking forward to the session and if announcement on PM is made, we will be very, very happy.” 
 
She said, “You know in the entire Congress, there is only one leader and we would wish that Rahul Gandhi is projected.” 
 
The remark from the AICC podium at the official briefing, even if termed as a personal wish in response to questions, heightened expectations. Dutt was emphatic about stating her wish that Rahul be projected as she subtly argued that the party policy of not declaring the PM or the CM candidate should be junked. “Congress has not projected anyone as PM or CM candidate in the past but today we feel that people are looking for a face,” she said. 
 
The buzz raises the prospect of a “Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi” clash, a faceoff that may intensify the political bloodletting given that the Gujarat strongman is going about targeting Rahul by calling him “shehzada”. 
 Sources, however, said the final call on the leadership issue was yet to be made, and the possibility of Rahul leading Congress’s charge even without being formally projected as the PM candidate. Asked about the speculation triggered by party’s plans for the AICC session, a Congress functionary cautioned against seeking a linkage between whether party formally projects Rahul and the event. “We did not call an AICC session in 2009 to declare that <keyword id="6359397" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Manmohan-Singh">Manmohan Singh</keyword> was going to be our candidate,” he said. 
 
In case the speculations are proven right, that would cap the swift elevation of Rahul who was made the official No.2 in the Congress hierarchy with the designation of “vice-president’ at the AICC session that followed the Jaipur ‘chintan shivir’ last January. 
 
Rahul, who would often come off as reluctant, has post-Jaipur taken charge of the organization. His growing outreach to media and public advocacy of policies on behalf of the party, like over the Lokpal bill on Saturday, have been taken by many to mean that he is ready to step up to the plate. 
 One of the reasons why speculation mills whirred furiously on Monday was Congress <keyword id="6369681" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="chief">chief</keyword> <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword>’s remark that the party would take the decision on whether to go into the polls with a PM candidate at an opportune moment. It came immediately after the Congress wipeout in the four assembly polls a week ago, seen as rubbishing the estimate that the party would not risk a ‘<keyword id="1530687" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi-Vs-Narendra-Modi">Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi</keyword>’ contest. 
 
Though the tide appears to have turned against the Congress, the assembly polls holding out the strongest evidence, insiders would not mind that the young Gandhi be named for the top job. As a leader said, “when this has to happen, why not now?” 
 The view in the Congress is that putting Rahul at the <keyword id="6411847" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="head">head</keyword> of the campaign would invest the party campaign with high stakes and motivate workers. Else, it would look like the party had given up on the contest.

Rahul may be anointed Congress’s PM pick in January

NEW DELHI: <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> has said he is ready to take any responsibility given to him by the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> leadership, refueling speculation that he might be anointed the party’s PM candidate at the AICC session in Delhi on Friday. 
 
"There is no word called reluctance in my life," he said in an interview to a Hindi daily when asked whether he was wary of accepting responsibilities. 
 
"People of India will decide through their elected representatives who will be the PM of the country. In national interest, it is a must that Congress returns to power. And to fulfill that objective, I will discharge with full dedication every responsibility that the party has given to me or will give me in the future," he further said. 
 He also clarified that his earlier comment, quoting <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword>, that power was like poison did not connote an aversion to power, emphasizing that what he meant to say was that power should be used for the betterment of others, not for self-aggrandizement. 
 
Rahul did evade a direct response to a question about the possibility of a "specific" and "direct" declaration, saying this had never been the party’s style. He also expressed reservation over the obsession with individual personalities and individual posts: a reference to the incessant "will he be, won’t he be" talk about whether he will be declared the PM nominee. 
 
Yet, Rahul’s remarks were interpreted as his readiness to be announced the PM candidate. There has been stubborn clamour within Congress for the young leader to be named the party’s PM pick. 
 Significantly, the interview did not lift the uncertainty on what might unfold at the AICC session on Friday. Congress seems to be divided whether it should name Rahul as the PM candidate or should it stick to the old policy of going into elections without a <keyword id="2015473" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="formal-PM">formal PM</keyword> nominee. 
 
The party has in the last week or so oscillated between the ambitious desire to declare him to be the PM nominee at the AICC huddle on the one hand, and the hardnosed recognition that doing so could be risky and might dent Brand Rahul at a time when the going is not good for the party in any case. 
 
A section in the party believes there is little to be gained by keeping the ambiguity about leadership since Rahul is anyways seen to be leading the Congress and applause and criticism are bound to be directed at him. 
 
Instead, this school of thought thinks that naming Rahul would give a sense of direction to the party and would show it as a confident player in the 2014 elections. 
 But opinion is divided because there is also another group that holds that putting Rahul up for the contest would harm the party’s prospects. With BJP having announced <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> as its PM candidate, it would bring Rahul directly in contest with the Gujarat <keyword id="5269" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Chief-Minister">chief minister</keyword> and open him to closer scrutiny. 
 
It is felt there is little to be gained from changing the party policy of not going into elections with a PM candidate. 
 Many believe that facilitating a "Rahul vs Modi" battle would reduce the <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> elections to a direct battle between two aspirants while keeping Rahul out of the prime ministerial race would let the national battle become an aggregate of state elections which would bring local factors into play. The BJP’s geographical limitation come into play in the absence of a "Rahul vs Modi" contest, this group argues. 
 
Interestingly, the interview was marked by what looked like an almost unprovoked reference to three figures from India’s history. "India has witnessed Samrat Ashok, Akbar and Aurangzeb. Ashok is famous for integrating people, Akbar too worked in this direction and this is why people take their name with great respect. However, Aurangzeb is known for other reasons," he said. Many wondered whether the allusion was a dig at Modi. 
 Rahul also made his first direct criticism of the <keyword id="6354944" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Aam-Aadmi-Party">Aam Aadmi Party</keyword> even as he complimented the rookie outfit for seeking to change the nature and role of politics. "<keyword id="6356115" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="AAP">AAP</keyword> has also worked toward this direction, but we are two different entities with different ideologies and different styles of working. I don’t agree with many of their recent decisions because our decisions should not be based on short-term gains, instead the decision should be made while keeping long-term benefits and a secure future for people," he said. 
 
Times View 
 
Although an online poll by this newspaper suggests that popular opinion is against Rahul Gandhi being projected by the Congress as its prime ministerial candidate, we feel he should take the plunge. There are two reasons for this. First, a strong perception has grown that the Gandhi scion is averse to taking up responsibility that comes with accountability. If he steps up to the plate for the upcoming PM’s contest, he may or may not succeed, but he will certainly dispel this impression and will be taken seriously by the people. It can only help him. Secondly, for long Rahul has been hovering in the wings, exercising considerable authority without any formal responsibility – for instance, the way he intervened to scupper an ordinance. But it is no substitute for real responsibility. Nor is it a happy situation. It's time for him to stand up and be counted.

I Am Ready For Any Role Congress Gives Me, Rahul Says

NEW DELHI: Imagine a Narendra <keyword id="2196111" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Modi-vs-Priyanka-Gandhi">Modi vs Priyanka Gandhi</keyword> contest for the Varanasi <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> seat. It would have been the mother of all election battles, and would have put everything and everyone else in the shade. It would have electrified the nation and riveted the attention of the world. 
 Priyanka Gandhi is reliably learned to have been very keen to be the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> candidate in the holy city. But the party leadership finally decided against fielding her. 
 Priyanka, who has so far limited her political responsibilities to managing her brother and mother's Lok Sabha campaigns in <keyword id="43068" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rae-Bareli">Rae Bareli</keyword> and Amethi, is believed to have made a strong pitch to contest because she felt Modi was “bad for the country” and needed to be “stopped”. 
 
Apart from perhaps tying up Modi in Varanasi and forcing him to curtail his national campaign, Priyanka's entry would have charged up the rank and file of the Congress at a time when a number of ministers and leaders were reluctant to fight elections of fear of losing (one senior Cabinet member is reported to have feared a rout). The fact that she was willing to place 'a higher principle' above a real risk of defeat would have sent out a strong and defiant message to the demoralized troops, and hopefully, the entire electorate, Congress insiders said. 
 
“Even if she’d lost, the results would have been only known after the elections. But it would have come as a huge booster before. It was very courageous of her. That’s something senior Congressmen who’ve run away from contesting didn’t understand,” said a party manager. 
 
 
 
 
Senior partymen said the decision to not field Priyanka was driven by the logic of preferring a ‘local’ to take on Modi the ‘outsider’. But there may have been other reasons too: 
 
* The estimate that Priyanka's presence in Varanasi would have accorded Modi “too much importance”; 
 
* The fear that defeat of one of the three Gandhis might have dimmed the ‘halo’ around them; 
 
* It would almost certainly have exposed Priyanka to attacks from Modi and the BJP on account of her husband Robert Vadra's alleged ties with real estate giant DLF and brought some of his other reported land deals under the microscope; 
 
* Most of all, it would have diverted attention from Rahul and his campaign, and raised questions as to whether Priyanka's entry was an implicit acknowledgement of her brother's lacklustre leadership. There might have been some apprehension that Priyanka, by the force of her personality, would have greater gravitational pull than Rahul. She has been variously described by those who know her as “charming, charismatic and connected”; her political instincts are also said to be sharp, and she can work a crowd. The 41-year-old Priyanka’s entry could have undermined Rahul’s authority not long after he'd been officially anointed future leader. 
 
For Priyanka, who is said to be very close to her one-year-older brother, the reason for wanting to contest in Varanasi was never to position herself as an alternative to Rahul, but to “fight the good fight”, according to an insider. “She has no larger ambition to lead the Congress,” he added. 
 
Still, her desire to take the field against Modi is significant because it’s in stark contrast to the continuing perception of Rahul being a reluctant politician, and because it shows that the younger sibling may not be averse to broadening her political interests behind the family boroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi. For a long time now, there has been a subterranean demand, ‘Priyanka lao, Congress bachao’, which periodically finds public voice. 
 
One of the reasons the Congress delayed naming a candidate for Varanasi was because it was weighing the possibility of naming Priyanka. But the actual decision against fielding her was taken some days before Tuesday’s announcement of local MLA Ajay Rai as candidate for the Congress; the last few days were spent seeking a tacit understanding with SP and BSP for complicating Modi's job in Varanasi. 
 
Significantly, early this month, in perhaps the strongest push yet for bringing Priyanka to the forefront of the Congress, party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said that Rajiv Gandhi spoke to him about his daughter’s political aptitude way back in 1990. The question is: Was Dwivedi aware of the secret confabulations and was he trying to test the waters? 
 
While promising to reveal details in due course, Dwivedi said, “As far as I know, her (Priyanka) interest in politics started at an early age. She was keen to understand political developments and the language of politics from the very start. I even have proof of this but I don’t want to discuss it now. All I’ll say is that Rajiv Gandhi told me something about this in 1990. That’s all for the moment.” 
 
The comment immediately led a group of Congress leaders to claim, off the record, that there were plans afoot to bring Priyanka into active politics. 
 
That plan has been shelved, at least for the moment. As for Rai’s chances in Varanasi, even the boldest gambler is likely to think twice before placing a bet on him. 
 
But Priyanka is clearly still interested in Varanasi, even if she’s not in the fight herself. At a meeting at the Tughlaq Lane residence of Rahul last Monday, Priyanka gave Rai a pep talk soon after the party decided to field him. 
 
“Priyankaji ne kaha ki aap jam kar ladiye. Unhone apna personal mobile number bhi diya aur kaha ki aapko jo bhi zaroorat hogi woh aap turant bolen. Woh aapko muhaiyya karayi jaayegi. (Priyankaji told me to fight wholeheartedly. She gave me her personal mobile number and told me not to hesitate to ask for anything that I may need and said I will be given every help),” Rai quoted her as telling him.

Priyanka Gandhi Was Very Keen To Fight Narendra Modi In Varanasi, But Cong Leadership Said No

<keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword>, vice president of Indian National Congress, has escalated his political campaign for the much debated cause of <keyword id="6391709" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Net-neutrality">net neutrality</keyword>. He has also accused the Modi government of delaying its policy stand on it and has warned that the Digital India pitch might end up as a "surrogate for the interests of big corporations". 
 
"Nasscom has asked for net neutrality, over 500 startup entrepreneurs are pleading for it, young in India have been demanding it, yet we have a government which under the pretext of repeated discussions has been delaying framing of a clear-cut policy on this," Rahul said in a statement which was released on Sunday. 
 
The Gandhi scion also alleged that the NDA regime "quietly looked the other way" when telecom companies started introducing differential pricing through zero rating plans and began attempting charges for OTT (over the top) services. 
 
These comments have come at a time when Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is soon expected to announce its decision on differential pricing for data services and Facebook's Free Basics initiative. 
 
"Like millions of Indian, I am earnestly hoping to see a Trai report and the Modi government's commitment in favour of an open internet in its entirety where there is no ambiguity in regard to difference in pricing or VOIP," Gandhi said. 
 
Congress leaders opine that by taking up the issue of net neutrality, Rahul Gandhi is trying to clearly associate his image with that of the entrepreneurial spirit of India's youth. He already has fought, politically, for the causes of farmers and tribals on issues like land bill and Forest Act. 
 
"Rahul has been the first to forcefully come out in favour of free internet at a time many telecom giants are lobbying hard against it. Gandhi unflinching crusade for net neutrality will mount pressure on the Modi government's and TRAI's wishy-washy attitude on the issue," AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewalla was quoted saying. 
 
Gandhi went ahead to say that Congress has wanted internet and telecom service providers and the government to treat all data with equality. 
"This is imperative for India to grow in 21st century. I sincerely hope that Trai report and Modi government will adhere to this bounden need espoused by millions of Indians," he said. 
 
"Congress party's and my belief is shaped by our faith that Internet users should be free to connect to any website or service that they want, enabling a level-playing field on the 'world wide web'. We recognise the danger of privileging a private platform over a public Internet, introducing a new digital divide," he continued. 
 
<a href="http://sathiyamnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Rahul-Gandhi.jpg">Image source</a>

Listen up! Rahul Gandhi has something to say about Net Neutrality

<ul><li>India’s two leading political parties have distinctly different approaches to the election.</li><li>But India’s diverse democracy may be tougher to crack than what politicians think.</li></ul>The media coverage of the upcoming elections in India is focussed on a sensational standoff between Rahul Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress, and the current Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). What makes this a logical fallacy is the fact that India has parliamentary government. Voters elect local leaders to the Parliament, who then elect the prime minister. BJP is betting on Modi’s charm to repeat the sweeping victory it managed in 2014. Recently, Amit Shah, the President of the BJP, said that the fight in 2019 will be a case of “Modi versus all” describing Modi as the “most popular leader in the world.” Congress has been relentless in calling out BJP’s obsession with Modi. “The issue shouldn’t be about who is going to be the Prime Minister, but who is going to be representing your interests to the government as a member of Parliament. To try and reduce our parliamentary system to a presidential one by saying that its Modi versus ‘x’ or ‘y’ is actually an injustice to the system,” professed Congress leader <keyword id="42749" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shashi-Tharoor">Shashi Tharoor</keyword> at the <keyword id="100214" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jaipur-Literature-Fest">Jaipur Literature Fest</keyword> on Thursday. “I will come with a deep and experience bench of qualified people to work with me and help me solve your problems,” Tharoor said explaining how Congress looks at political leadership. 
	
	
	<div type="image" title="Shashi Tharoor JLF" msid="67685919" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Mihir Sharma at the Jaipur Literature Fest on Thursday, 24 January, 2019&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>







 Dynasty politics What Tharoor deftly downplayed was the fact that Congress has been circling around dynastic leaders — the Gandhis more than any other, for decades now. Rahul Gandhi, the current president of the party, is a striking picture of privilege. His father, his grandmother and his great grandfather have been prime ministers of the country. And now, he is in the race to be the next head of the Indian state. Just this week, Congress appointed Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi as the general secretary of Uttar Pradesh East, which is a politically significant region home to constituencies represented by heavyweights in BJP including Modi and the current state chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. The dynastic flavour of the Congress extends beyond the Gandhi family. Some of the other big leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot, who hold high positions within the party, come from political families that have been strong party loyalists for generations. 'Kaamdar' versus the 'naamdar' “It was said today that I cannot see eye to eye with them. Who am I to see eye to eye? I am from a poor family. You are naamdar (of a legacy name), I am kaamdar (an ordinary worker).” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally in Rajasthan two months ago. Modi’s attacks on the entitled Congress top brass yielded great results in 2014. The BJP earned a full majority and decimated the incumbent United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to just 44 seats. Five years since, Modi has cultivated a personality cult around him within the BJP. He campaigns for every election in every state — big or small — even if it is at the cost of time that he would have spent thinking through some policy decisions more deeply. Every party spokesperson showers praises on Modi for every policy decision as if the government has no other minister working. This can be a double-edged sword in a complicated democracy like India. The coming elections As the next election comes closer, the BJP and its allies have lost a lot of ground with the voters. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Modi is likely to lose nearly one third of its seats in the lower house of the parliament — the Lok Sabha, according to a survey. As Modi took all the praise for the victories hitherto, he will have to take the blame for the fall, if any. 
 
 
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 But the rejection of Modi’s presidential aura does not reflect a revival in the appeal for the Congress’ franchised leadership. The votes that BJP may lose in the coming elections, are likely to get divided between many regional parties, other than Congress. No one party is expected to secure a clear majority in 2019, according to the same survey. If BJP wins the election, the narrative will skewed toward blaming Congress for its corrupt past and obsession with political dynasties. If the Congress wins the election, the BJP will be blamed for its high-handed approach to policy making and disdain for communal politics. It is difficult to disagree when Sachin Pilot says, “Nationalism is trying to be equated the Hinduism. And people are needing certificates for how nationalist you are. And people who are reading the contract are deciding how good of a Indian you are… It’s outside the Constitution. We must stand against that.” However, the same people of India voted Modi and BJP to power despite its shortcomings. The same way Congress, which has been tainted by a slew of corruption scandals in not so distant past, is now a party that won three out of the five state polls held in November 2018, just months before the next general elections. While the media can keep asking voters if they like Gandhi or Modi, the answers will never reflect the true depth of the Indian democracy. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/if-india-goes-to-vote-today-the-result-will-be-a-cacophony-survey/articleshow/67681974.cms">If India goes to vote today, the result will be a cacophony: Survey</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-facebook-twitter-reveal-political-ad-spending-ahead-of-the-lok-sabha-2019-polls/articleshow/67651472.cms">Here's how global tech giants are tackling 'fake news' ahead of elections in the world's largest democracy</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Indias-elections-are-rigged-claims-an-American-expert/articleshow/67629226.cms">India's elections are rigged, claims an American 'expert'</a>

Presidential ego or a dynast’s charm — what Indian voters like is still a mystery to the country’s politicians

Former "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver premiered his new, weekly news recap show "Last Week Tonight" Sunday on HBO.
In case you didn't catch the premiere episode, here's what you missed.
There's a cool opening sequence.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">HBO/Last Week Tonight</a></div></div></div>
Oliver began by welcoming viewers to "whatever this is."
The week's news recap was led by the Donald Sterling <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-sterling-racist-history-2014-4" target="_blank">racist remarks story</a>. Oliver's takeaway on the Clippers owner getting upset with his girlfriend for posting photos with black people to Instagram: "Wow, that is genuinely shocking - an 80-year-old man knows about Instagram!"
It was a nice lead-in to controversial <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cliven-bundy-racist-comments-slaves-ranch-2014-4" target="_blank">Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy</a>'s TV interview, in which he defended his racist comments while holding a dead calf. Oliver mocked the situation by saying, "This old thing? I didn't even know I was carrying it."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
Oliver then switched gears to Pope Francis making history this week with the <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/27/thousands-fill-st-peter-square-to-celebrate-canonization-pope-john-xxiii-john/" target="_blank">dual canonization</a> of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. "Two popes at once? That's the papal sainthood equivalent of a Kentucky Fried Chicken double down," he joked.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
Next up, Oliver blasted Oregon for lagging behind in Obamacare sign ups. "Oregon spent a quarter of a billion dollars on a website designed to sign people up in one sitting, which did that for exactly nobody, and they're now handing the keys over to Healthcare.gov. That's got to be a bitter pill to swallow for the people of Oregon - or it would be, if they could get the pill, which they can't because their sh---- website doesn't work."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
"Last Week Tonight" even went so far as to create a fake commercial, starring Lisa Loeb, to get "Oregon idiots" to sign up for Obamacare.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
Oliver then addressed the U.S.'s upcoming presidential election, heatedly explaining that "Cable news doesn't need to be focusing on an election happening in 926 days, when there's an important one happening right now that they are all completely ignoring - India's election."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
He compared candidate Rahul Gandhi to "an Indian Han Solo," exclaiming, "Wow, that guy is handsome!"<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
Oliver ripped leading candidate Narendra Modi for appearing in the streets of India as a hologram (comparing him to Tupac at Coachella) and promising to put toilets in every home.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
But Oliver thinks India's coverage of the election is even worse than the candidates.
"That graphic is from CNN India. A little fact check - India has just over 800 million voters so their own graphic is wrong by the entire population of Brazil. You truly are a member of the CNN family."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
We were then introduced to a segment called "John McCain Tells The Same Joke 6 Different Times In 6 Different Places." News clips were then shows of McCain saying "Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country" over and over again.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
Oliver then explained the case of Pom Wonderful vs. Coca Cola. Pom believes one of Coke's products is misleading the public by calling a juice "pomegranate juice" when it only contains 1% pomegranate. Oliver jokes that the juice should also list "rat urine" as an ingredient because "let's face it, there's a little bit of rat urine in everything."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
The NFL was awarded "Workplace Of The Week" for the Buffalo Bills' <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buffalo-bills-cheerleader-rules-2014-4" target="_blank">ridiculous list of "Lady Body Maintenance" rules</a> for cheerleaders.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
Oliver then sat down for a comical interview with former NSA director Keith Alexander, who wasn't in on the joke. Watch the interview <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lJ85pfb_E" target="_blank">here.</a><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded">YouTube/HBO/"Last Week Tonight"</a></div></div></div>
To watch the full episode of "Last Week Tonight," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCmriZSxxk&amp;feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">click here &gt;</a>

All Of The News Stories John Oliver Mocked In His HBO Show Premiere

55-year old Imran is a watchman in one of the residential buildings in suburban Mumbai. He sleeps on the same chair he sits on to guard the building and uses the common toilet in the parking lot to clean up. He works two shifts a day of 12 hours each, for a total salary of ₹13,500. If he had worked one shift a day, he would have got ₹7,000 a month and would have had to find himself an accommodation. He would rather send nearly all his earnings to his family in a village in Uttar Pradesh than rent a room in Mumbai. Imran was blissfully unaware of the ongoing trend on Twitter where leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and their supporters have prefixed the word 'chowkidar' to their profile names. Chowkidar is the Hindi word for watchman or security guard and it has since become a buzzword on social media. When told about his humble job being at the centre of the country's political discourse ahead of the elections, Imran's first reaction was that of amusement. "Wasn't it chaiwala the last time?" he asked with a smirk and thinly veiled sarcasm. 'Chaiwala' is what Indians call the local tea vendor in Hindi. Modi's claim to fame in the run up to the 2014 elections was that he had worked in his father's tea stall in Gujarat as a child. He used his humble origins effectively as he challenged the country's political royalty-- the Gandhi family which has sent three Prime Ministers in the past-- and caught the fancy of an aspiring voter base. At the same time, a series of corruption charges against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tilted the scale further in Modi's favour and the BJP swept the elections with a majority in Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament. This was the first time any party had managed to score a full majority in India's Parliamentary elections since 1984. Modi is banking once again on a strategy that worked for him five years ago. The word 'chowkidar' has been bandied around by BJP leaders pitching Modi as a man of strength but someone who lacks political pedigree. That can hardly be true for a person who has been a politician for over two decades, a chief minister for three terms, and currently, the prime minister seeking re-election. The playbook-- underdog versus the entitled-- is as old as time but no one has claimed the 'underdog' tag effectively after the first surprise. But Modi is giving it another shot And in this battle of catchphrases, Modi may have an upper hand over his rivals. First of all, the move has either distracted or diluted the debate on more pressing issues like the economy, policies, and unemployment. Modi's rivals are essentially talking about things that he wants them to talk about. While charging the government with corruption, senior Congress leaders have tweeted '<keyword id="6895071" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chowkidar-chor-hai">chowkidar chor hai</keyword>' or 'the watchman is the thief'. However, by referring to Modi as the watchman repeatedly, even in slander, the opposition is unwittingly fortifying the image he wants: a strongman of a humble background who is guarding the country not just from adversaries across the borders but also keeping a watch on home-grown muggers looking for a way out to safety. For example, the opposition is mocking Modi citing the government's failure to stop billionaire fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi with unpaid loans and alleged bank frauds to their name from leaving the country. However, even if one of the three are nabbed ahead of the elections, it will be forgotten that each of the three businessmen, with close ties to the BJP in the past, did mysteriously escape from the country. The time spent on countering the chowkidar claim could have been used to question the government on its economic blunders like demonetisation, the troubles of the small enterprises, and the rise in unemployment in the last five years. In the run up to the 2014 elections as well as in every state election thereafter wherever the BJP was the challenger, Modi had, in no uncertain terms, demanded an account of the incumbent government's performance. He would set the agenda and let the party in power respond. The strategy has been so successful that BJP is now in power in 17 out 29 Indian states. Instead of holding him to account for the last five years, his rivals are following Modi's lead in political rhetoric. This hollow, partisan, inconsequential, farcical political debate is a lost opportunity for the opposition. Over a 1,300 kilometres away from Mumbai in Gurgaon, Kabir (name changed on request), gets paid ₹15,000 for a 12-hour shift as a watchman. That's more than twice that of Imran, but it's still not enough for him to run a family comfortably. Kabir had seen the rhetoric around watchmen in India on news television and he saw hope. "The PM is one of us and he will improve our working conditions after he wins the elections," he said. In the words of Emily Dickinson, hope is the thing with feathers. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elections-2019-latest-opinion-poll-pegs-unemployment-as-the-biggest-issue/articleshow/68475510.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Modi may not take the fall for rising unemployment in India, latest opinion poll shows</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/general-elections-2019-vvpat-how-to-verify-vote/articleshow/68475130.cms">Here’s how you can verify your vote using VVPAT</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/is-indias-2019-election-really-a-foregone-conclusion/articleshow/68423465.cms">Is India's 2019 election really a foregone conclusion?</a>

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