A family visits an astrologer to know an auspicious date and time for an engagement or a wedding in the family, or for moving into a new home. Parents of a child ask an astrologer to make a booklet that will have the child’s janmaxar (horoscope) and a summary of the child’s future. An entrepreneur consults one before starting a new venture. Astrology has many believers in India.

Narendra Modi too has reportedly shown his palms to a palmist, one who studies the lines on the palms to forecast the future. The palmist as well as many other predicators predicated months before the 2014 election that Modi was going to become a prime minister and that no power was going to stop him from achieving that.

P Khurrana, a numerologist and an astrologer from Chandigarh, did more than a rosy forecast. He said Modi should surround himself with individuals whose names start with the letter A, S, or M.

Astrologer and Odisha resident P K Chaudhary, according to Odisha Sun Times, has a different view. He has prepared a kundali (chart) of the Modi government based on its birth at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 26 May 2014 at 18:11. “Modi’s reign will not be a bed of roses,” said the astrologer. He made the forecast based on the chart and the bad events that happened around the inauguration time.

Intriguingly, the Khurrana’s advice to Modi intrigued Manisha Pande. She wrote in the DNA of 21 May 2014 that:

Considering Modi's key aide, Amit Shah, had a huge role in the BJP's spectacular victory, Khurrana may just be on to something. Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Subramanian Swamy, Arun Shourie, Smriti Irani, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Satyapal Singh, Anandiben Patel, Mohan Bhagwat, Meenakshi Lekhi, Murli Manohar Joshi and MJ Akbar may be the other political players of importance for Modi. Not to forget Madhu Kishwar, who had been zealously canvassing for Modi, in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. Party president Rajnath Singh, Modi's supposed right-hand man, apparently does not make the cut.

The newest person to make the cut and join the Modi administration is Arvind Subramanian. He became economic advisor to PM Modi on 16 October 2014. Notice his name has two of the three alphabets that are valuable for Modi, his first name starts with the letter A and the surname starts with the letter S. Bingo, just like Amit Shah!

Some now ask questions about cabinet ministers Smriti Irani, Maneka Gandhi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ashok G. Raju Pusapati, Anant Geete, Kalraj Mishra, and Manoj Sinha. Are these people truly competent and qualified? Or, are they there with PM Modi to bring him good luck because their first name or last name or both commence with the character A, S, or M?

PM Modi is unperturbed about the questions and seems to be reminding his critics an old proverb: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. (A gander is male goose.)

In other words, PM Modi is saying forget about the A, S, or M link and keep chanting two new mantras until they reverberate in your heart: What is good for Modi is good for India. Whoever is good for Modi is good for India.

Want another apothegm? What is good for the Hindus is good for the ... (Hint: a word starts with the letter M).