Transgender mystic Zoya Lobo turns over three oracle cards, studies them for a minute and looks up. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will definitely win India’s general election this summer, she
proclaims. Clairvoyant Larra Shah also predicts a victory for Modi owing to his “extremely powerful aura”, but astrologer Raj Kumar Sharma thinks opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will win because his party’s moon sign is Virgo.
Vedic astrology is big business in Hindu-majority India and stargazers are
making a host of predictions for the world’s biggest elections starting next
month — their many followers hanging on every utterance.
Some 900 million voters are registered to cast ballots in the vote in April
and May which will see Gandhi’s Congress party seek to dislodge Modi’s
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power.
Shah, 49, a celebrity holistic healer who practises tarot reading, says
most of them will plump for Modi, himself a devout Hindu.
“When it comes to tarot cards Modi is like the emperor or the magician
where the power of self-knowledge, of spiritual balance, of karma, is in
perfection,” she explains to AFP.
“Rahul Gandhi is more like the devil because he’s always confused. There is
a conflict there because he is a Gemini so has a dual personality,” Shah
adds.
Modi, 68, and the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP swept to power five
years ago by winning 282 out of 543 seats, forming the country’s first
majority government in almost three decades.
Shah expects Modi to be returned, but with a vastly reduced majority. Pre-
election polling suggests an even closer contest, with many forecasting that
neither party will win the 272 seats needed for a majority.
Lobo also has a prediction that hits closer to home for her — a 35 percent
chance that Modi will do something to help India’s two-million-strong
transgender community.
– Planets aligned –
Indians consult soothsayers for advice on a raft of subjects from whom to
marry to whether to buy a house or strike a business deal.
Many businessmen, Bollywood actors and politicians have personal
astrologers scrutinise their stars closely to determine auspicious days to
hold functions, release a movie or make political announcements.
For the election, Sharma says the planets are aligning in favour of
Congress — based on the birth dates of the parties and their leaders — and
that it will be able to persuade smaller, regional parties to join them in a
coalition.
“Congress’s moon sign is Virgo and at present a favourable Jupiter
Mahadasha (period) is happening for them while the BJP’s moon sign is
Scorpio,” he explains.
“Rahul Gandhi’s favourable period has started and his moon is more powerful
than Narendra Modi’s moon so my prediction is very clear: Rahul Gandhi will
either become the prime minister or will make the prime minister with the
support of his party.”
He sees the elections being “extremely volatile” because they were declared at an inauspicious time — when the sun was setting instead of rising — and that they may witness more violence between India and Pakistan.
(AFP)
