BJP supporters celebrate Holi around a Narendra Modi photograph after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results are announced.NurPhoto/SIPA USA/Press Association. All rights reserved.Any foreign correspondent who came to India to cover the state elections must stay on to report on this land of miracles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being called ‘Magic Man’ after he won the largest state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) for his Hindu nationalist party, the BJP.
The voters gave an overwhelming mandate to Modi who was not a candidate. He was elected to Parliament in the 2014 elections from UP’s world-famous temple town of Varanasi, but he did not leave this election campaign to the state-level leaders. The Prime Minister kept going from New Delhi and addressing public rallies in UP. He camped there for three days, visiting temples and holding road shows that dominated the TV screens.
Modi attacked political opponents in blunt words that were lapped up by his listeners. He conveyed messages to the poor. He appealed to the Hindus by blaming the State Government for its appeasement of the Muslims.
