If there was a general election tommorow, who would you vote for?

[Sachin=GOD]

Actually' date=' with this result, Modi can bid his chances goodbye. [b']BJP has to take a moderate stand and work on the ineptitude and anti incumbency against Kangress

This.

[beetle]

Who will Indians vote for? Of course NRIs will all vote for BJP without a doubt. Just like its the Pakistani NR's who are more radical than the resident Pakistanis. I am sure it will be a more even congress/BJP split if we look at only resident Indians

Congress is far more radical than any other party.So much so that the party president sheds tears for terrorists. This party is castist and communal .They even tried to divide the people of uttarakhand into paharis and tarai people.The most dangerous and divisive party.

[dial_100]

Congress is far more radical than any other party.So much so that the party president sheds tears for terrorists. This party is castist and communal .They even tried to divide the people of uttarakhand into paharis and tarai people.The most dangerous and divisive party.

Congress appear extremely frustrated at this moment. If they continue to behave in this manner then they will lose big ground in GE 14. Such policies are going to hurt them real bad. How much they lose depends on how much stronger an alternative option from other parties is provided to the voters. Wow, it is going to be very tough time in India for next 2 years.

[Mariyam]

Actually' date=' with this result, Modi can bid his chances goodbye. BJP has to take a moderate stand and work on the ineptitude and anti incumbency against Kangress[/quote'] Somehow I never understood this logic. IMO, in India, you've only 2 parties which have any real ideology. The BJP and the CPI-M (and its variants). Whether or not the ideologies that they espouse are right/justified is a different matter altogether. If the BJP were to become more 'moderate' or let me use the word more 'centrist' (for the want of a better word), they really aren't any different than a Congress/NCP/BSP etc. They're just another party without any unique identity. They'd lose out on their core support group. Whats the consensus people have over the CPI. Though their economic policies have been proven to fail, at an emotional level they deliver. Egalitarian. Nationalist (in a certain way). With a view on being self reliant. And on paper, unbiased to any particular creed or cast. Practically speaking communism may not be implantable into the Indian society/polity, but as an ideology it surely is fascinating.

[Lurker]

Who will Indians vote for? Of course NRIs will all vote for BJP without a doubt. Just like its the Pakistani NR's who are more radical than the resident Pakistanis. I am sure it will be a more even congress/BJP split if we look at only resident Indians

You just lost yourself some big brain-dead Sachin supporters. :giggle: Seriously though, although thats a gross generalization as not every BJP supporter is radical, your larger point that BJP enjoys a big support NRIs, and not so much in India, is right on.

[Lurker]

I sympathise more with BJP then Congress. But looking at the way BJP is shrinking' date=' BJP may soon very well be a regional party.[/quote'] Good riddance to bad rubbish I'd say. Any party that ignores Vajpayee should become as relevant as Republican Party of India (Athwale) group.

[Stuge]

Somehow I never understood this logic. IMO, in India, you've only 2 parties which have any real ideology. The BJP and the CPI-M (and its variants). Whether or not the ideologies that they espouse are right/justified is a different matter altogether. If the BJP were to become more 'moderate' or let me use the word more 'centrist' (for the want of a better word), they really aren't any different than a Congress/NCP/BSP etc. They're just another party without any unique identity. They'd lose out on their core support group. Whats the consensus people have over the CPI. Though their economic policies have been proven to fail, at an emotional level they deliver. Egalitarian. Nationalist (in a certain way). With a view on being self reliant. And on paper, unbiased to any particular creed or cast. Practically speaking communism may not be implantable into the Indian society/polity, but as an ideology it surely is fascinating.

what s that ideology ? every elections they cry with same old drama to built ram mandir or try to lure voters with some kind of rath yatra huh .It's been a lot of time since that unfortunate incident of Babri Majid happened. .Ram Mandir won't earn you bread and better, and many have understood that . here ravi sin't saying they need to become Centrist .All he wants them to tone down that communal image a bit .Which will only help them in getting votes .For the same reason they cannot project Modi as PM anymore .

[Laaloo]

Laaloo Prasad Yadav :isalute:

[Desi Cartman]

Voted for Congress, just to piss off BJP supporters lol

[Khalpat]

For betterment of India as a country its necessary for both of the parties to be strong but none of them should be given absolute power ie Congress should always be dependent on regional parties and BJP on JD (U). I think Indian voters missed a big opportunity by givng UPA power again, let it be NDA and UPA every five years.

[ViruRulez]

Would love to see NDA take the bold step and project Nitish Kumar as the next PM. Just check the magic. I doubt BJP can do anything on its own. Remember that even in many states BJP is dependent on its allies rather than standing on its own strength. Whereas Congress is either winning or losing mostly alone except for Maharastra (NCP) where it has the upper hand too. So, BJP vs Congress is not a real scenario but a NDA vs Congress would be real scenario if BJP plans to even give competition. BJP is present in far lesser states in India compared to Congress and so, it is impossible for BJP to defeat Congress alone on just corruption or anti-incumbency in national elections. Even in States like Karnataka there is a chance that BJP might lose the state next year in the assembly elections due to the negative image. Lost Uttarakhand too today. So, it is not a smooth path ahead and very less states where BJP still have stonghold. They need to think now as NDA in order to defeat Congress. And they need to project a turn around leader. Only Nitish Kumar has the clean image on all ends which can be the trump card which I have been saying for many years. If Nitish Kumar is the next PM, then NDA for sure. If not, I would not vote either party. Hope BJP/NDA realized the Nitish Kumar trump card soon or they may be too late. Compared to an Arun Jaitley or a Sushma Swaraj I see Nitish Kumar to be a far more powerful and mass friendly leader with good common sense and personality. I somewhat like Narendra Modi's developmental politics too but then NDA allies of BJP would never accept him as PM candidate and they also want Nitish Kumar as PM. In fact, some within BJP also do not support Modi as PM candidate and his campaigning itself has created lots of problems in each election. This was a relatively peaceful elections for BJP as Modi was not made the star campaigner after a long time. So, Modi is not an option either. Nitish is the only trump card with which NDA can easily win next central election. Or it might be a hung house in 2014.

[ViruRulez]

what s that ideology ? every elections they cry with same old drama to built ram mandir or try to lure voters with some kind of rath yatra huh .It's been a lot of time since that unfortunate incident of Babri Majid happened. .Ram Mandir won't earn you bread and better, and many have understood that . here ravi sin't saying they need to become Centrist .All he wants them to tone down that communal image a bit .Which will only help them in getting votes .For the same reason they cannot project Modi as PM anymore .

Ram Mandir trump card has nearly died for BJP now. BJP even lost Ayodhya today leave apart anything else. So, the agenda is dead now and I doubt they will again repeat the mistake of sailing on a sinking boat which the natives of the place where the problem started is not that concerned anymore.

[Sachin=GOD]

For betterment of India as a country its necessary for both of the parties to be strong but none of them should be given absolute power ie Congress should always be dependent on regional parties and BJP on JD (U). I think Indian voters missed a big opportunity by givng UPA power again' date= let it be NDA and UPA every five years.

that is the worst possible thing for the country because these small state parties have a narrow state centric outlook and the only thing they concentrate on is trying to get everything for that state and forcing the big party (BJP/Cong) to bow down to their whims or they will stop supporting them. They arm twist the Govt on many important issues (like TMC and DMK did on FDI in Retail) and are a big headache because half the time of the major coalition partner is spent in trying to pacifying them (ex - Congress wastes so much of time in dealing with the eccentric Mamta Bannerjee and also, it blatantly ignored corruption in Telecom for a long time because people from DMK could have stopped supporting UPA).

[bajrang]

He would have been the ideal candidate for BJP to project as PM ' date='but Gujarat Riots left a big black spot in his political carrier .[/quote'] it has only delayed his PM bid by lets say 10 years. soon everybody will realize that if ppl of gujrat who suffered the riots are voting him again and again, then either the ppl of gujraat are islamophobe (which is ridiculous to imagine) or the ppl spewing venom against modi, have personal grudges against him. next election he will be put as one of the probable bjp candidate for PMship along with sushma swaraaj and maybe even nitish kumar . anyday better then rahul baba diggi raja and kapil sibbal .

[Sachin=GOD]

If BJP is to have any chance next LS elections then it'll necessarily figure Modi at the national level. It'll be a gamble which may not pay off but wimping out because of coalition partners' aversion to Modi will spell a certain disaster. BJP can do well only when it polarizes the electorate. And nobody can do this better than Modi. Absent this articulation of a center-rightist agenda' date= people cannot tell BJP from congress.

thing is, Modi will also polarize the Muslim votes against BJP and that will significantly reduce BJP's chances. I don't see a future for Modi as the BJP's leader because of many reasons - his ability to polarize Muslim votes against BJP, most of the allies of the BJP won't accept him, his popularity is limited only to Gujarat (in the past he has campaigned extensively in Maharashtra but BJP failed there and he also campaigned in UP in previous elections but he had no effect whatsoever.). Also, even among the BJP voters many of them still see Modi and they remember the events in 2002 and they wouldn't vote for him at any cost. So IMHO there are far too many disadvantages as compared to advantages of having him as BJP's leader.

[Sachin=GOD]

Would love to see NDA take the bold step and project Nitish Kumar as the next PM. Just check the magic. I doubt BJP can do anything on its own. Remember that even in many states BJP is dependent on its allies rather than standing on its own strength. Whereas Congress is either winning or losing mostly alone except for Maharastra (NCP) where it has the upper hand too. So, BJP vs Congress is not a real scenario but a NDA vs Congress would be real scenario if BJP plans to even give competition. BJP is present in far lesser states in India compared to Congress and so, it is impossible for BJP to defeat Congress alone on just corruption or anti-incumbency in national elections. Even in States like Karnataka there is a chance that BJP might lose the state next year in the assembly elections due to the negative image. Lost Uttarakhand too today. So, it is not a smooth path ahead and very less states where BJP still have stonghold. They need to think now as NDA in order to defeat Congress. And they need to project a turn around leader. Only Nitish Kumar has the clean image on all ends which can be the trump card which I have been saying for many years. If Nitish Kumar is the next PM, then NDA for sure. If not, I would not vote either party. Hope BJP/NDA realized the Nitish Kumar trump card soon or they may be too late. Compared to an Arun Jaitley or a Sushma Swaraj I see Nitish Kumar to be a far more powerful and mass friendly leader with good common sense and personality. I somewhat like Narendra Modi's developmental politics too but then NDA allies of BJP would never accept him as PM candidate and they also want Nitish Kumar as PM. In fact, some within BJP also do not support Modi as PM candidate and his campaigning itself has created lots of problems in each election. This was a relatively peaceful elections for BJP as Modi was not made the star campaigner after a long time. So, Modi is not an option either. Nitish is the only trump card with which NDA can easily win next central election. Or it might be a hung house in 2014.

No chance. Nitish Kumar might be popular in Bihar but in large parts of the country the people don't even know who this guy is!!! Recently in the UP polls in some of the constituencies his party has such a small presence that in its meetings even the candidate didn't turn up :hehe: Some of the BJP's top leaders are more popular because BJP is present in many, many more states than JDU. I would say that either one of Sushma Swaraj or Arun Jaitley would be safe bets for the BJP. Also, I think most people here are being too pessimistic regarding BJP's chances. Its the Congress which has got the biggest drubbing yesterday - it was expected to win Punjab easily but lost badly, It was expected to win Uttrakhand but there also BJP has a chance. It lost Goa and performed poorly in UP so overall a very bad day. The UPA Govt is facing one problem after the other and it cannot get its major schemes passed in Parliament because even its "allies" are not with the Congress. For the past 5 or 6 years they have been trying their best to project Rahul Gandhi as the country's next leader but have so far failed spectacularly in convincing the people.

[beetle]

Somehow I never understood this logic. IMO, in India, you've only 2 parties which have any real ideology. The BJP and the CPI-M (and its variants). Whether or not the ideologies that they espouse are right/justified is a different matter altogether. If the BJP were to become more 'moderate' or let me use the word more 'centrist' (for the want of a better word), they really aren't any different than a Congress/NCP/BSP etc. They're just another party without any unique identity. They'd lose out on their core support group. Whats the consensus people have over the CPI. Though their economic policies have been proven to fail, at an emotional level they deliver. Egalitarian. Nationalist (in a certain way). With a view on being self reliant. And on paper, unbiased to any particular creed or cast. Practically speaking communism may not be implantable into the Indian society/polity, but as an ideology it surely is fascinating.

Being centrist for BJP has become less of a choice and more of a necessity.Most people in India are moderate and centrist.Any party wanting a bigger national role has to be so.The leftist and rightist ideologies get you a core support group which can make you kings at the regional level but not the national level.These kings at the regional level can become king makers at national level but not kings. Even in its earlier avatar when BJP was in power at the centre ,it was a part of a larger centrist and moderate NDA. If Mulayam led SP wants a national role tomorrow,they will have to cut down on the minority centric gameplan.

[beetle]

Ram Mandir trump card has nearly died for BJP now. BJP even lost Ayodhya today leave apart anything else. So' date=' the agenda is dead now and I doubt they will again repeat the mistake of sailing on a sinking boat which the natives of the place where the problem started is not that concerned anymore.[/quote'] BJP lost Ayodhya BSP won Bhatta Parsul Congress lost most seats in Amethi,Raebareli Kya baat hai!!:two_thumbs_up: Khanduri lost:(( while Nishank won:((:((:(( :facepalm:

[kabira]

thing is' date=' Modi will also polarize the Muslim votes against BJP and that will significantly reduce BJP's chances. I don't see a future for Modi as the BJP's leader because of many reasons - his ability to polarize Muslim votes against BJP, most of the allies of the BJP won't accept him, his popularity is limited only to Gujarat (in the past he has campaigned extensively in Maharashtra but BJP failed there and he also campaigned in UP in previous elections but he had no effect whatsoever.). Also, even among the BJP voters many of them still see Modi and they remember the events in 2002 and they wouldn't vote for him at any cost. So IMHO there are far too many disadvantages as compared to advantages of having him as BJP's leader.[/quote'] Muslims are voting for him in Gujarat if you go by recent muncipality elections. Its a big gamble, but its worth a try. They are not winning majority anyways so why don't give that a shot. He is already famous in india, Media has made him really famous outside Gujarat. His focus should be development of India like development of Gujarat and lot of ppl will buy it. Congress will definately opt for negative campaigns against him which will backfire. BJP is in confused state. This is their outside chance in next election. They may lose it badly, but they should atleast take that chance.

[adi B]

I think even Rahul Baba will struggle to match that level of generalization

:haha: