 We're back to celebrate global connectivity with Think Tech Global, and we have our bureau in Varanasi, India, in the northeast quadrant of India, and we have our regular reporter, our Karnaki Mishra, who just graduated recently and took his Bachelor in Business Administration. Congratulations, Karnaki. Thank you. So I suppose I should also congratulate Varendra Modi because he won the election, hands down, the international press said that it was a sweeping victory. Can you give us a handle on what happened? Yes. First, I'm going to say that Varendra Modi is an anti-Polish member of parliament from my own city Varanasi. So I can say what I have seen in the last five years, a lot of work has been done from 2014 to 2019, a lot of development is done in my city because we took from my own city. We have been elected from the city of Varanasi, and we won the majority, and far better than last time. We won three-tenths out of five weeks last time, and we won three-fifths victory this time. So we created a massive for Prime Minister Modi. So what were his challenges? I mean, he did have some ups and downs during his administration last time around. I remember, for example, the question of the currency, he wanted to get all the hard currency out of circulation and make it into a more modern financial consumer system. And for a while anyway, it was not all that popular. So what was his level of popularity going into this election? What was his level of popularity going into this election? His popularity definitely increased. I should say, from last five years, whatever work he did, it gave people the confidence that this person is a good leader for the next elections, and the children, again, with a sweeping mandate. So it gave them the majority, and this popularity increased. Those some of the intelligence were criticized, but people overlooked that and voted for another leader. So 900 million voters, was this a question of a simple majority vote? In other words, you don't have an electoral college like we have in the United States. You just count all the votes and decide who had the sufficient votes. And I guess a majority would win, am I right? The U.S. works under presidential system elections. India works on the parliamentary style of elections, similar to the British ones, which we had in the past, a little bit of British legacy in the parliamentary elections. So there is a big difference. We left one person from each seat, and the party having most of the seats became the majority government. So it becomes very difficult to get a majority leader. And there are almost, I think, 5-40 seats in total, and you should get around 172 to get a majority to form a government. What areas of India were his strongest supporters? What part of the political spectrum, you know, gave him this popularity? Was it the big cities? Was it the rural areas? Was it the east, west, north, south? Who were his biggest supporters? Biggest supporters, I think, were the people who wanted to work for the first time, the first time voters, the people who were working and were benefited by the political spectrum. So those schemes were there, gender and movement were there. You can call this banking account for everyone. Free gas connections to people of people. Mobitair was also there, life insurance, or health insurance for people of people. So they had cash benefits from there. So these were all the reasons why he was so popular. Not just in urban cities, but also in rural areas. In rural areas, he promoted people in the rural areas, so that open participation in the campaign. So a lot of efforts were made by him. So the overall development of India takes place, and that's the reason people wanted for him, and what he did wanted for me. And what issues was he campaigning on? Was it the economy? Was it foreign policy? Was it, you know, domestic issues and human rights? What was he strongest on in terms of his platform? I don't know. We basically campaigned on two basic issues, which were his primary updates. His primary is one was when we were in the government, how we increased the growth rate, and second was nationalism. National security was one big reason, and was a very good concern for India. In this year only, in 2019, a terrorist attack took place in Kashmir and killed nearly 40% of our citizens. So now we took decisions to reach Pakistan with him, and he said it was the best in Pakistan should the curve, should the curve go. So again, there's a lot of methods here of doing things like that. But he is fighting for the nationalism, he is fighting for the national building, and he is the country economically also and on the different level of him. We're going to take a short break. This is Karnaki Mishra. We're talking about the election, the sweeping success of Narendra Modi. We'll be right back after this short break, and we'll find out more about what happened in India over the past couple of months in the course of this election. We'll be right back. Aloha. This is Winston Welch. I am your host of Out and About, where every other week, Mondays at 3, we explore a variety of topics in our city, state, nation and world, and events, organizations, the people that fuel them. It's a really interesting show. We welcome you to tune in, and we welcome your suggestions for shows. You got a lot of them out there, and we have an awesome studio here where we can get your ideas out as well. So I look forward to you tuning in every other week where we've got some great guests and great topics. You're going to learn a lot. You're going to come away inspired like I do. So I'll see you every other week here at 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon. Aloha. Hey, Aloha. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii, airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii, live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me because security matters. Aloha. Hey, we're back to Think Tech Global. We're talking to Karnaki Mishra, who just recently took his bachelor's in business administration in Varanasi, India, which is in the northeast quadrant of India. And we're talking about the election of Narendra Modi, who won by a sweeping victory only a few days ago in India. So I'm really interested to know how it worked in terms of the involvement of the party. So I guess you elect the president, but you also elect various delegates to the Indian parliament, yeah? How well did Modi's party win in that election? I think it was a sweeping majority. Modi won at least 303 seats on his own in the party win 3-0-3-2. And along with the alliance and the coalition which his party had, he won around 365 seats. And he did pretty well in the election. He played pretty well. It was a victory. It was surprising for everyone in the opposition because no one was expecting at least from the opposition that Prime Minister Modi would win in the election again. He played political parties that made the government say that they could defeat Prime Minister Modi by taking part in it. So what do we have going forward here? What does the legislature look like now? What's the composition of it? And I guess this means Prime Minister Modi is very powerful because he's got all these delegates in the legislature, and he will be able to implement his plans with their support. So what will happen in the legislature and what plans will he implement and how does it look for India? Are people encouraged by this election? Do they think that it's going to be a good time? So we won't actually take a majority in this area. So it becomes relatively easy for him to now implement laws or to make laws. And the area in which Prime Minister Modi will work in the future, I'll expect him to work is economic reforms, land reforms and labor laws. I think these are the three primary key areas in which he will be making laws to have industrial manufacturing units in the country and have a lot of money on the government. So is this, would you say that this is a time of progressiveness that the administration now to follow will be progressive under Modi? Is it a time when the people of India will move to a new and better chapter because of this election? No. The first thing about this election was people voted for development. There are not a lot of issues in India if you look at India. Cards are running this tension for India. Even after all of this, people voted for development. If it's just because cars are available they voted for the government which is voting for the development of India. So a lot of good things happened in this election and I hope in the next five minutes many good things happened under the government. One important thing is there that after Prime Minister Modi India Gandhi Modi is the only and the third Prime Minister to secure the majority in a complicated world. So that makes it more historic. So you can see from what Prime Minister Modi is saying this is a rising factor for India and I think national leader of the Indian sector. Now how about the the loyal opposition? That was a party that tried to beat him down and try to win. How well did they do? How well did they do in the campaign? How well did they do in terms of bringing new voters or holding on to old ones? What was their position and where do they sit in the legislature now? Do they have any real leverage in the parliament now? Well, if we talk about democracy, we see after Prime Minister Modi is capable in terms of the national election to join the government. So the opposition didn't see the government as their national side. The new opposition party was the Congress. The Congress Congress and the National Congress and the name of the party. What is the main possibility of the finalist case? And it is another regional party of different areas which collectively tries to do an opposition against the national party. So this came pretty badly in the case of India. They didn't have quality and they didn't have the idea what to do with the elections. So people had no confidence in the Congress party so they didn't see the elections. So we don't have a very strong election in India right now. Now can this go around 40-40? Now it's around 40-40. So you can see there has been much difference in the number of seats and so if you talk in terms of using them so being the leader of the opposition a party must have at least 10% of the population and that's 542 in a year but the leader of the opposition will need 55 seats and this time the people will be the leader of the opposition so they need to form a coalition and be leaders. Opposition doesn't play a role in this. Well I wonder what the world is flat these days we live in a global village and I wonder how much of a role India's foreign policy played in this election what Narendra Modi was saying about the policies that he would follow the policy that he has followed over the past few years and the opposition I mean with China with the United States with the countries to the west and the east how much of a role does that play in Indian politics and in this election? Well the leaders have started with the election of national security all the names foreign policy which we were keeping in mind that Narendra Modi was keeping in mind which was already done from Pakistan which some of us don't know what Pakistan called one major concern for Narendra Modi's foreign policy but how he will tackle these these foreign lands and presently from the issue of the issue of overall development of India with nations like China and the United States I'm hoping that this will go in as a political strategy with the United States and the United States to make a big challenge for Narendra Modi to see how to deal with Donald Trump because Donald Trump sanctioned from Iran and for that moment all is from Iran India is dependent on already from Iran and other nations in the Middle East so this is one big challenge for Narendra Modi to see how he will deal with the Iran crisis right now Donald Trump is there concern in India about American military maneuvers in and around Iran and the Gulf is this a threat or at least a point of concern for the people in India and for the government in India Yes, that's a concern because Iran is the major close ally of India and Iran exports oil and India is dependent on the United States they are cheap and reliable so this is often the expansion for Iran and the expansion is going between Iran and the United States it will be a challenge for the Narendra Modi how to deal with the crisis because we have to deal with the President Trump and we have to deal with Iran and how we can balance between these two powers and deal with the Narendra Modi Well, you and I have talked a number of times and I remember on one occasion when we talked I asked you how you felt about Donald Trump this is about a year or two ago and you indicated that there was a positive aspect to Trump in the sense that he was a strong leader and in these days the world needs strong leaders how do you feel about him now how you've watched him how everybody in the world has watched him for the past couple of years India has watched him with particular attention how do you feel he's doing how do you feel he's doing on foreign policy and for that matter domestic policy Donald Trump I think the biggest problem is the foreign policy of all the Narendra's other nations if you like Donald Trump in the United States he is taking decision for betterment of the United States but he is challenging the allies if you look at Donald Trump and the allies of the United States whether it be Germany whether it be China whether it be Japan these nations are concerned about Donald Trump's foreign policy because it's not that stable he changes the narrative he changes the perspective look for something that's not Korea's summit he has seen success and he's seen young ones and I think that's pretty great but now it's even time I mean not only in the United States but also in the United States the way it is going on so I think the foreign policy is one key area in which Donald Trump has to live I'm definitely feeling that would you be looking forward to the next American president to normalize things to sort of let them settle down so there isn't so much tension in your part of the world would that be something that the average Indian would like to see a president that is more moderate yes I think I would like to see a moderate president in the United States the United States the United States I think that we signed up to be president again many new states are going to be there from Hawaii I think I think one thing that is from Hawaii is that it's going to be for the US election so there isn't so much that's going to be there I think that that's going to be there for the United States and for the world one other thing I wanted to ask you about is you know so now you're a graduate in business administration what is your expectation for the economy of India all these things considered the election international affairs that affect you you know in the way India is working these days do you think the economy of India is worth betting on do you think the economy of India will improve or is it under stress in some way I would say there is a big stress on the economy right now many factors are there I think I think lack of jobs are there so job creation is going to be a big challenge for everyone for the future and infrastructure and various other aspects of the economy I think the economy of India I think that it's going to be better from this time I believe the economy of India will improve but challenges are there challenges are there for everyone Fardaki now you're a graduate and you're a business graduate as far as I can see you've had a very robust education what are you going to do are you going to go to further graduate school are you going into the economy yourself what are you doing these days and what's your plan I'm planning to do an MBA I'll complete my MBA I'm planning to do an MBA from any college or whatever and I want to specialize in particular areas then work in the corporate sector or most of the job so my plan is go for the market will you come to the United States hopefully if I get a chance I will why do I think that you ultimately will and the last question I put to you is you know you're very familiar and articulate about Indian politics and for that matter Indian business affairs and I wonder if there's a place for you in Indian politics I wonder if you would ever consider and whether the community would ever consider having you as an elected representative to the parliament or otherwise what do you think I think politics is a very big field in India if you are educated and if you are with me you can be a good politician I don't think I have a political background right now but in future if I get a chance I will get into politics if I get a chance I will definitely I will and I think the constructive politics for the DCP president of this world I feel that I think you must take part in politics and actively participate in politics so that people increase the number of candidates for the DCP and help the people and when we say there is corruption if we participate then only we can relieve the corruption of these problems of politics if we take politics we will try to be part of politics you know it's really a treat to talk to you Karnaki it's a treat to get your perspective from so far away it helps us understand what we see from here and I hope we can talk to you again in the near term and check up and see how Narendra Modi is doing how you are doing and how India is doing vis-a-vis all those countries around you it's very exciting to be able to talk to you and I look forward to our next discussion thank you so much Karnaki Mishra India, enjoy so much talking Aloha