"Narendra Modi has won and that too by a landslide."
"Yes and it shows that Modi's narrative was accepted as the truth by the Indian people."
"Are you referring to claims of Indian action in the aftermath of Pulwama?"
"Yes."
"So our narrative didn't win the hearts and minds of the Indian people. But one would not have expected that surely!"
"That's not what concerns me, what does concern me is that a divisive, Hindu fundamentalist, anti-Muslim guy has won the elections in spite of India boasting sizeable minorities and this is the defeat of the narrative of Indian liberalism as we knew and respected and enjoyed in their films..."
"Ah yes, liberalism. That my dear sir appears to be dead in many, many countries, Hungary and then the rise of the far right in other European countries and..."
"And important for Pakistan is Trump's likely re-election. I reckon he may attack Iran before the elections if his popularity numbers are down but I don't think they will be; Trump's core supporters have so many similarities with Modi's core supporters, the two leave the sceptre of national security hanging on the heads of their supporters and claim that they alone can ensure security concerns are dealt with as their domestic opponents are too soft in relations with foreign countries especially Muslim countries."
"Hey, Trump is the head of a superpower, he has taken on the world; Modi has just taken on a few countries..."
"Don't be facetious. Anyway you know what the irony is?"
"What?"
"That I don't know of any Muslim country perhaps with the exception of Iran that has an Islamic fundamentalist government."
"In many Muslim countries dictatorships have been installed, and in some cases dictatorship has pre-empted the installation of a Muslim fundamentalist government - Egypt is one case in point."
"So where does Pakistan stand?"
"I can't imagine Maulana Fazlur Rehman being handed over the government!"
"I agree, it's not gonna happen, the Maulana likes to head the committee on Kashmir..."
"Don't be facetious."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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