"For over a decade, Modi has not lacked for comparators. He's been likened to Nero, Hitler, Putin. To me, he has all the makings of a Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: a hi-tech populist holding together a fragile coalition of big business, impatient urban youth and religious fundamentalists. Those disparate groups can be kept together as long as growth comes. But if it doesn't, Modi and his generals will go hunting for an enemy: Pakistan, India's own minorities, and the pseudo-seculars."
AAP changes political chemistry in an election year (AAP has now declared that it will contest the national elections due to take place in April-May) Opinion by Saba Naqvi, aljazeera 15.1.14: ...one may have expected more enthusiasm from the left: Since the liberalisation of the economy, AAP has been the first influential force to actually unsettle the politician-business nexus and demand scrutiny. What is happening instead, is that commentators are demanding to know AAP's stance on issues like Kashmir and national security, both areas on which mainstream parties have to tread carefully. Because AAP is the creation of an activist like Kejriwal, there is an expectation that he will take a position on every issue. But within AAP there is an argument that realpolitik demands ambiguity on some issues. The party says it wants to occupy the middle and appeal to a cross section of opinion.