Forget the differences, focus on the similarities.

"Is Modi 2019 a done deal?" asks Chetan Bhagat, meaning is his victory assured in the general elections in 2019. He concludes that barring some catastrophic event no one can stop Modi winning comfortably. The Congress does not listen to people. "Rahul Gandhi doesn't inspire India's youth." "Regional parties, which came into being when national parties ignored a particular state, seem to be losing some relevance, at least in a few places." Why has India changed? "The great battle that took place on our peninsula was not between the natives and our colonial overlords, but between a new way of thinking and an old way of existing," wrote Amit Verma. Our early leaders, including Gandhi, were all inspired by liberalism imported from the West, which was inspired by the Enlightenment. This liberalism has been replaced by conservatism with the rise of Narendra Modi. "The biggest manifestation of conservatism in India is what we call the Hindutva right," wrote Verma. However, what is the proof that liberalism is better than conservatism? "It is an escalating global war between rising forces of nationalist populism and the idea of liberal democracy," fulminates Gautam Adhikari. He thinks that these changes "won't survive long amidst the hurricane of change, technological and civilisational, that is buffeting the globe". Perhaps he should look at the world. Properly. Nationalism is rooted in culture and culture makes us completely different. Bengal and Bihar are adjacent states but the people could not be more different. Language, food, music and social customs are so different that they could be on different continents. Only nation and Hinduism are common. Modi is not going to be stopped by angry contempt for the voters, which was classically demonstrated by Hillary Clinton's dismissal of supporters of Donald Trump as "basket of deplorables". The people replied at the ballot box. Some commentators present rational arguments why Modi is not as different as he proclaims himself to be. Ronojoy Sen sees little difference between Modi and the Congress. He has adopted the same pro-poor rhetoric of the Congress, going back to Indira Gandhi, he has given tickets to defectors from other parties, like the Congress, the BJP has rushed to form governments in Goa and Manipur despite having fewer seats than the Congress, and it has appointed partisan governors, like the Congress used to do. Kanti Bajpai gives figures to prove that Modi's boast of 'vikas', meaning development, is a sham. Economic growth is no faster, foreign direct investment just a tad higher, few jobs created and manufacturing actually shrank by 3.7%. Even his program of building toilets is going nowhere, with half the people still defecating out in the open. And, for all his shouting about ending corruption, 114 recently elected BJP MLAs in UP, that is 27% of total BJP MLAs, are facing charges of serious crime. This is what opposition politicians should be pointing out. Sadly there seems to be no one capable of bluffing the people like Modi. For the time being.