Narendra Modi, the man most likely to become India’s next prime minister, has a wicked turn of phrase. In one of his most memorable remarks, he subverted his strong association with Hindu asceticism by declaring his support for “toilets before temples”. The same phrase, spoken by a Congress party cabinet minister, had provoked outrage from the Bharatiya Janata party of which Mr Modi is head. The BJP said the remark threatened to “destroy the fine fabric of religion and faith”. But the party hierarchy, knowing that its fate depends on the so-called “Modi wave”, barely demurred when its candidate adopted the slogan as his own.
納倫德拉?莫迪(Narendra Modi，見上圖)，這個很可能成為印度下一任總理的男人，有時在措辭上非常巧妙。他最令人難忘的言論之一，便是他宣布支持“廁所先于神廟”，此言推翻了他與印度教禁欲主義的密切聯系。同樣的話語，出自一名國大黨(Congress party)內閣部長之口，曾激起莫迪所領導的印度人民黨(Bharatiya Janata party)的憤怒，稱這樣的言論可能“破壞宗教和信仰的良好結構”。但人民黨很清楚自己的命運依賴于所謂的“莫迪浪潮”，因此當其候選人將上述口號收為己用時幾乎一聲不吭。