More God bullshit, it never ends with politicians. The devil if real would pretend to be God dressed in fine clothes. ...................................... Modi’s latest campaign message to supporters: ‘God has sent me’ By Rhea Mogul, CNN Tue May 28, 2024 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/28/india/india-narendra-modi-chosen-by-god-intl-hnk/index.html CNN — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a new message for supporters on the campaign trail: God has chosen him. “I’m convinced that God has sent me for a purpose, and when that purpose is finished, my work will be done,” he told local news channel NDTV in an interview last week. “This is why I have dedicated myself to God.” Modi continued: “God doesn’t reveal his cards. He just keeps making me do things.” Since assuming power in 2014, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have promoted a strident brand of Hindu nationalism in a country where about 80% of the population are followers of the polytheistic faith. And while he has used such language in the past, his message of being a leader chosen by God has become much more apparent as attempts to win a third consecutive five-year term in power. Throughout India’s mammoth weeks-long national election, which declares results on June 4, Modi has given multiple media interviews and speeches that echo the comments made to NDTV. He has taken on the persona of an openly devout Hindu, said Subir Sinha, Director of the South Asia Institute at SOAS University of London. This, he added has “rallied his base who feel pride in such religiosity.” India is a deeply religious country. But historically its post-Independence leaders have remained publicly secular, in part to avoid being seen to pander to any one side in a nation with a long history of inter-religious violence. “(He is) the first prime minister, they say, to be unashamed about this faith,” Sinha said. When he first contested elections a decade ago, Modi chose India’s spiritual capital Varanasi as his constituency, making the ancient city the perfect backdrop to meld his religious and political ambitions. “Mother Ganga has called me to Varanasi,” Modi said at the time, referring to the holy Ganges River, considered to be the body of the Hindu deity Ganga by many followers of the faith. Standing on its banks earlier this month, Modi made another reference to his perceived divinity. “Until my mother was alive, I had believed that perhaps my birth was a biological one,” Modi told CNN affiliate CNN News-18. “But after her death, when I look at my life experiences, I’m convinced that God has sent me here.” God has, Modi said, made him “nothing but an instrument.” Modi’s grandest display of divinity was on display in January this year, when he consecrated the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, a controversial Hindu temple that was built on the site of a destroyed mosque. Billboards celebrating the temple’s opening featured an image of Hindu deity Ram alongside Modi’s face, with the leader of his BJP even dubbing the prime minister “The King of Gods.” Modi fasted for 11 days in a purification ritual before the event and visited temples across the country, performing customs sacramental to India’s majority faith. He publicly called himself “an instrument” of Lord Ram, picked by the divine to “represent all the people of India.” At the consecration, Modi presided over the “Pran Pratishtha” – the unveiling of the much-anticipated Ram idol – taking on a role typically reserved for priests. During the election Modi has also sparked a row over hate speech when he accused Muslims – who have been part of India for centuries – of being “infiltrators,” and echoing a false conspiracy voiced by some Hindu nationalists that Muslims are displacing the country’s Hindu population by deliberately having large families. It ignited widespread anger among Muslim leaders and opposition politicians and calls for election authorities to investigate. BJP party spokespeople subsequently said Modi was talking about undocumented migrants. The election commission has asked the BJP to respond to the allegations.
Zelenskiy Blasts Modi’s Visit to Russia As a Blow to Peace Modi to hold talks with Putin Tuesday on two-day Moscow visit US says it’s raised concerns about India-Russia relations Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a private dinner on Monday following his arrival in the Russian capital, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said. Photographer: Gavriil Grigorov/AFP/Getty Images By Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Dan Strumpf July 9, 2024 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-russia-as-a-blow-to-peace?srnd=homepage-asia Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy slammed a visit by India’s prime minister to Russia, calling it a blow to peace efforts that fell on the same day as a deadly Russian missile strike. “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day,” Zelenskiy said in a post on the social-media site X. The post included photos of a missile strike that hit a children’s hospital in Kyiv and killed dozens. Zelenskiy’s comments came on the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Moscow, a trip that affirms longtime ties between the two countries but that has drawn concerns from the US, which has sought to isolate Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Vladimir Putin, right, with Narendra Modi take a walk during an informal meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on July 8.Photographer: Gavriil Grigorov/AFP/Pool/Getty Images Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a private dinner on Monday following his arrival in the Russian capital, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said. Russia’s first deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov received Modi at Moscow’s airport. US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Monday that Washington has already raised its concerns about India’s relationship with Russia. “We welcome people engaging with Russia about the war in Ukraine if they made clear to Russia that Russia needs to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Miller said. India has avoided censuring Russia for its war and abstained at United Nations votes on the issue, but has advocated diplomacy to resolve the conflict. Modi posted photos of himself on X hugging Putin when they met Monday, saying he was looking forward to further talks “which will surely go a long way in further cementing the bonds of friendship between India and Russia.” Isolated for its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has laid out the red carpet for Modi. India is a major buyer of Russian oil and military hardware supplies. Maintaining the relationship is a balancing act for Modi, which is seeking investment and technology from the US. Washington is also seeking closer ties with India, which it sees as a regional counterweight to China. Economic issues, energy supplies and manufacturing will dominate Modi’s visit, as the two countries look to bolster the relationship, Indian officials said. On Tuesday, Modi will visit an exhibition of the Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy industry in Moscow before engaging Putin in formal bilateral talks in the afternoon. Russia and India are likely to agree on a long-term uranium supply pact for a nuclear power plant coming online in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and also sign an agreement allowing the military to use each other’s facilities for training, port calls and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.