What makes General Elections 2014 so very interesting is the presence of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and that of Arvind Kejriwal, former Delhi CM and chief of the Aam Aadmi Party
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What makes General Elections 2014 so very interesting is the presence of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and that of Arvind Kejriwal, former Delhi CM and chief of the Aam Aadmi Party. And to add to the excitement, the two are fighting each other at the Varanasi Lok Sabha consitituency.
The cynic that I have turned into thanks to years of empty promises from politicians and governments has now led me to consume the content rather selectively (and differently).
For instance, I was quite impressed with every bit of what Kejriwal said after he won the Delhi Assembly elections. But he’s been going on and on with ‘main toh aam aadmi hoon, meri aukat hi kya hai’ that people are now tired by the refrain.
So in recent days, I just turn to another news channel, even if it’s in a language I don’t understand.
There’s nothing new that the AAP leader says. His ‘bechara’ demeanour needs an urgent refresh.
In contrast, Narendra Modi isn’t as repetitive, but I now hear him for comic relief. I don’t know whether the channels aired his speech live yesterday, for the way he mocked at his political opponents and spoke of Arvind Kejriwal as AK49 was very funny.
In the early days, he would refer to Rahul Gandhi as shehazaade, but AK49 takes the cake. It’s heartening to see that our possible prime minister is a funny man.
I can see my friends running the general entertainment channels — Star Plus, Zee, Colors etc — getting worried. If Modi continues in the same, amusing way and mocks at all the others (Nitish Kumar next given his Times Now outburst last night?), Kapil Sharma will lose his job. Or at least the ratings of his show will fall dramatically. What Guthi or Chutki couldn’t do to Comedy Nights... , Narendrabhai could.
Pradyuman Maheshwari is a senior journalist and editor. When he’s not chasing news, he’s watching it. Twitter: @pmahesh E: noose@pman.in