Modi Is the Flavor Of Indian Election Coverage In U.S.

WASHINGTON: As American media reports on the sounds, colours and smells of India's crucial parliamentary election, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is the flavor of the season.

The big story of course is India's 'insanely huge and complex' (Time), 'jaw-droppingly enormous' (Washington Post) election 'juggernaut' (Wall Street Journal), but analysts have on the most part focused on not who but how Modi may become the new tenant of 7 Race Course Road, the official residence of the Indian prime minister.

Painting the Indian election as a "face off" between "Nehru-Gandhi heir and populist Hindu nationalist" (CNN), leading media outlets as also think tanks, have dilated on the fortunes of the two leading parties - Congress and BJP - as also newcomer Aam Aadmi Party.

But "frontrunner" Modi gets the lion's share of coverage even as it is acknowledged that Modi's path to the top office will depend on a group of secondary politicians, including "three ladies" - Tamil Nadu's Jayalalithaa Jayaram; West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee; and Uttar Pradesh's Mayawati (New York Times).

Time this week listed Modi as number one of the six choices ahead of musician Beyonce and President Barack Obama (3) in an invitation to readers to weigh in on 150 "artists, icons and leaders" who should figure in the magazine's annual Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.

Also Read:
India's Top 5 Trending Political Slogans
Over 4.5 lac India's Child Workers Hit E-Waste Industry: Report