Narendra Modi’s election campaign in Hyderabad (“ >Join hands to dethrone UPA: Modi ,” August 12) was full of rhetoric and no vision. As usual, he tore the Congress to pieces but did not say what the BJP proposed to do if voted to power in 2014. Nor did he spell out his party’s plans for Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress should answer the questions raised by Mr. Modi without attacking him personally or indulging in negativism by referring only to 2002. It should remember that Mr. Modi has knocked the doors of the south. If he manages to find an ally, the impact will be significant on the Lok Sabha election.
A.R. Karthick,
Bangalore
I was impressed with Mr. Modi’s speech. He did well to point out the mistakes of the UPA government. But people don’t need old stories, they need new solutions. I would expect Mr. Modi to tell us how India will look like in 2019 if his party wins the 2014 election.
Yuvaraj Kandasamy,
Chennai
Mr. Modi’s accusation of the UPA government — that it is indulging in vote-bank politics — is like the pot calling the kettle black. One wonders which party is not indulging in opportunistic politics. Instead of carping at the UPA government, Mr. Modi should have outlined his plans to deal with Pakistan and other issues. His Hyderabad speech, in a nutshell, was full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
M. Somasekhar Prasad,
Badvel
The BJP leader yet again lived up to his reputation of being deeply divisive. Far from presenting his ideas to tackle the pressing problems faced by the country, he used the stage in Hyderabad to indulge in a tirade against the Congress and its leadership. Mr. Modi needs to offer solutions to issues like corruption, economy and internal security than indulge in trenchant attacks on the UPA government. What we saw in Hyderabad was a routine exercise in self-aggrandisement, aided in ample measure by 24x7 television news channels.
J. Anantha Padmanabhan,
Srirangam
The attendance at the Nava Bharat Yuva Bheri showed that the youth are for an alternative to the UPA. By choosing Hyderabad to launch its election campaign, the BJP took a risk because there was a possibility of poor attendance as South India (except Karnataka) is not a party favourite.
The Hyderabadis shocked all observers by attending Mr. Modi’s address in large numbers. Almost all TV news channels and the Telugu media gave the address extensive coverage. Signs of change in the guard at the Centre are beginning to show.
J.P. Reddy,
Nalgonda
