India 2014

[minionofmidas]

Of course the obvious question I ask is what does this salute remind you of.  

Nothing. Indians have never been exposed to visual imagery of the Nazis. Nor do they know anything about them.

[minionofmidas]

Oh, the nazis used unrotated versions as well... and the Indians use rotated ones as well, albeit rarely (as well as both right and left facing ones).

[minionofmidas]

Of course the obvious question I ask is what does this salute remind you of.  

Nothing. Indians have never been exposed to visual imagery of the Nazis. Nor do they know anything about them.

Not really.  See

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4711475.stm
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-09-30/india/27144859_1_hitler-gujarat-state-board-school-textbooks

Oh, they have heard the name 'Hitler' alright but if they know anything about him it's that the Britishers fought him just as they were finally being forced from India.
Which is obviously not something negative.

[minionofmidas]

A couple of by-elections took place in Karnataka where two existing JD(S) MPs had resigned to be part of the Karnataka state assembly.  There was a de facto JD(S) BJP KJP alliance to take on INC in these two JD(S) bastions where BJP and KJP did not run candidates and endorced the JD(S) candidates.  The result was a victory for INC in both.  Just to see how significant the swings are the results are

Bangalore Rural

2009
JD(S)       44.7%
BJP          32.9%
INC          17.5%

2013
INC          56.7%
JD(S)       44.3%

Mandya

2009
JD(S)       37.3%
INC         35.0%
BJP          14.0%

2013
INC          53.8%
JD(S)       46.2%

Clearly JD(S) and BJP had elements which opposed the alliance for various caste and ideological reasons defected to INC producing a victory for INC for both seats despite a grand anti-INC alliance.

Bangalore rural had been won by Kumaraswamy himself in 2009, and his wife was the JDS candidate in the by-election. It's a brand-new constituency created by the redistribution and actually extends into a random bit of urban southeast Bangalore.

[minionofmidas]

Is all the rapes reported in western media an issue among politicians in India?!

It's certainly a big issue in the english-medium Indian media. No idea if it goes much deeper. Probably not.

[minionofmidas]

Correction: contrary to what it looks like on that map, RR Nagar is actually on the southwest side of Bangalore. It's just that there's a outer exurban westside segment reaching down to the territory immediately west of it, that's included in one of the Bangalore urban Lok Sabha constituencies.

[minionofmidas]

Because the party has made it abundantly clear that they would like him to retire quietly without a fuss, like Atalji. He won't. They can make him do it, but they can't make him do it gracefully.

[minionofmidas]

lol, this is how INC politicians tweet:

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[minionofmidas]

lol, this is how INC politicians tweet:

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Well, the act of adding "ji" to every name is an honorific in India. 

Duh, I know that, but it was funny seeing it four times in a tweet (also the mix of first names and family names preceding it).

Also, the tweeter is a Muslim.

[minionofmidas]

BJP declared amiable face Harsh Vardhan

Odd how the mind works. I read that name earlier today in a subway station and it jumped at me from your text straight away. Though this other Harsh spells his surname Wardhan and is an Indian classical musician playing the Bansuri (the Indian flute) and giving a workshop during the day and a concert this evening, here in Frankfurt.