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The speech reinforced Mr. Modi’s imageas a Hindu hard-liner. Three years later, theU.S. denied Mr. Modi a visa, responding toallegations that he hadn’t done enough tostop the 2002 rioting, in which mobs killedmore than 1,000 people, most of them Mus-lims.

Now, in national elections that start Mon-day, Mr. Modi has sought to distance himselffrom religious politics. Facing off against Ra-hul Gandhi, the 43-year-old scion of India’spowerful Nehru-Gandhi political clan, whoseCongress party has governed India since2004, Mr. Modi has positioned himself as achampion of economic development and no-nonsense government. He cites growth and

industrialization under his leadership in Gu-jarat and says all of India will enjoy thesame if he becomes premier.

“I am known to be a Hindu-nationalistleader,” Mr. Modi said in one of his firstspeeches after becoming the prime ministe-rial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party,or BJP. But “my real thought is toilets first,temples later.”

That message has resonated with voters.Despite Mr. Modi’s sectarian baggage, opin-ion polls show the BJP well ahead of Con-gress, its main rival. A survey by the PewResearch Center found that 63% of respon-dents want a BJP-led government, while just

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NEW DELHI—The man leading polls tobecome India’s next prime minister may fi-nally be outrunning his past.

When thousands of terrified Muslims fledtheir homes during religious riots in thestate of Gujarat in 2002, the state’s Hindu-nationalist chief minister opposed setting uprelief camps, saying these would be “child-making factories.”

After alluding to polygamy and highbirthrates in the Muslim community, Naren-dra Modi declared: “There is a need to teacha lesson to those people who are expandingtheir population.”

In Israel, moderate members ofIsraeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu’s cabinet called Fridayfor the cessation of any negotia-tions with Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas, with one sayinghis demands on Israelis were a“premeditated provocation meantto blow up the talks.”

Among Palestinians, lead nego-tiator Saeb Erekat recommendedhis government unify with mili-tant groups Hamas and Palestin-ian Islamic Jihad—designated asterrorist organizations by the

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Secretary of State John Kerry,after making Mideast peace a per-sonal priority, threw his messageinto reverse, telling both sides“he’s willing to walk away,” a se-nior administration official said.

Nonetheless, Israelis and Pales-tinians took entrenched positions,further imperiling increasinglyunlikely peace prospects.

The Obama administrationthreatened to pull back fromMid-dle East peace talks and its envoysaid it was “reality check time” asthe process reached its closestpoint yet to collapse.

The U.S. on Friday began apainful re-evaluation of its center-piece foreign policy initiative af-ter 15 months in pursuit of a deal.Its failure, American officials said,would risk fueling violent Pales-tinian actions against Israeli occu-pation and renewed calls in Eu-rope for an economic boycott onIsrael.

WEEKENDREVIEW

WhereHaveAll theWorkersGone?

REVIEWWSJ. MAGAZINE

the taste issue

n U.S. employers added192,000 jobs in March, andthe nation’s unemploymentrate held steady at 6.7%. Butthe figures lagged behind thelevel many economists hopedto see early this year. A1n U.S. stocks fell, led bytechnology and biotechshares. The Dow was down159.84 to 16412.71, and theNasdaq fell 110.01, or 2.6%. B1n Industrial giants Lafargeof France and Holcim ofSwitzerland are in talks tomerge in a deal that isvalued at $50 billion. A1n Twitter is preparing tolaunch ad products in apush to gain more tractionwith e-commerce and mo-bile-game developers. B1n Goldman CEO Blankfein isexpected to be paid an indus-try-leading $23 million. B2n GrubHub shares rose 31%in the online food-takeoutcompany’s trading debut. B5n China imposed tougherrestrictions for imports ofpigs from the U.S. amidswine virus concerns. B5nNissan’s CEO said the automaker is committed to its Rus-sian business and that Crimeatensions will fade in time. B4n Blackstone will buy auto-parts maker Gates Global foraround $5.4 billion. B3

What’sNews

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Business&Finance

World-Wide

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CONTENTSBooks........................ C5-10Cooking................. D10-12Corporate News B1,3-4Heard on Street.......B14Letters to Editor.... A14Opinion.................. A13-15

Sports............................ A12Stock Listings B8,10,13Style & Fashion.... D2-6This Week..................... C4Travel........................... D7-9Weather Watch...... B14Wknd Investor.... B7-10

s Copyright 2014 Dow Jones & Company.All Rights Reserved

InsideNOONAN A15

ObamaCare:A CatastropheLike No Other

TheWhite House threat-ened to pull back from

mediation in the Middle Eastpeace process and Kerry ac-knowledged it was time for a“reality check” on his for-eign-policy initiative. A1n Officials said an argumentbetween the suspected gunmanand fellow personnel spurredthe Fort Hood shooting. A3n An Afghan policemanopened fire on two Westernjournalists, killing one, on theeve of the presidential vote. A7nTheWhite House said Med-icaid rolls rose by three millionfrom the Oct. 1 start of openenrollment to February. A4n States and cities areraising levies and turningto private companies tobuild and repair roads andother infrastructure. A3n The Justice Department’sbulk requests for email in in-vestigations are coming un-der fire from two judges. A4n Russia made only a “to-ken”withdrawal of troops fromUkraine’s eastern border, theU.K. foreign secretary said. A8n Turkey’s premier gave hisstrongest signal yet that hewould run in the nation’s firstdirect presidential vote. A7nAn Indian court handeddown death sentences forthree men convicted of rapinga journalist in Mumbai. A10nThe Navy is unveilingdrone technology that allowsaircraft to take off and plottheir routes autonomously. A4

By Jay Solomonand Carol E. Leein Washington and

Nicholas Casey in Tel Aviv

Middle East Peace ProcessStalls Amid ‘Reality Check’

U.S. businesses finally addedenough jobs to replace the 8.8million positions lost during thedeep recession and tepid five-year recovery, as March hiringgains put the economy on firmerfooting after a winter chill.

Nonfarm payrolls rose a sea-sonally adjusted 192,000 inMarch and figures for the priortwo months were revised up bya combined 37,000, the LaborDepartment said on Friday. Theunemployment rate held steadyat 6.7%.

The U.S. economy remains farshort of the breakout perfor-mance many economists hoped tosee early this year. The latest fig-ures underscored the slow grind:Private-sector payrolls hit a re-cord 116.09 million, passing thepeak set in January 2008, butthey are far below where theywould be if the labor market’s

trajectory weren’t interrupted.And government jobs remain wellshort of their high point.

Still, after months of worriesabout the economy slipping dur-ing a December and Januaryslowdown driven partly by harshweather, the March report was re-assuring. “There is improvement,but it’s gradual,” said J.P. MorganChase economist Michael Feroli.

Stocks rallied early in the dayas traders viewed the jobs gainsas good for the economy but notstrong enough to lead the Fed-eral Reserve to raise interestrates sooner than expected. Butstocks reversed later in the dayas investors sold off technologyand biotech shares, with theDow Jones Industrial Averageshedding 159.84 points, or 1%, to

Pleaseturntothenextpage

BY JEFFREY SPARSHOTT

U.S. ReachesA MilestoneOn Lost JobsPrivate Employment Hits a New High,But Government Hiring Lags Behind

BY RAYMOND ZHONG

DELHI AT THE CROSSROADS

Indian Hard-Liner Nears Premiership

Two of Europe’s largest indus-trial companies said they werenearing a $50 billion merger, apotent show of the prolongedweakness across most of thecontinent and slowing construc-tion growth around the world.

Cement companies Lafarge SAof France and Holcim Ltd. ofSwitzerland—the world’s toptwo players—said on Friday theywere in advanced merger talksthat they envisioned as a“merger of equals.”

The possible tie-up could facehuge antitrust obstacles andraises political sensitivities indozens of countries. But thecompanies may have little choicebut to pursue a deal, given theirdrive to cut overcapacity amidslowing construction in parts ofAsia, political upheaval in key

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By Inti Landauro in Parisand John Revill in Zurich

A $50 BillionResponse toConstructionSlowdown

Source: Pew Research Center survey of 2,464adults from Dec. 7, 2013, to Jan. 12, 2014,with a margin of error of +/–3.8 pct. points

The Wall Street Journal

Voters’ ViewWhen asked whom they wantedto lead the next government,most Indians chose NarendraModi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

BJP63%

IndianNationalCongress19%

Other/don’tknow18%

George W. Bush’s Brush With History

ART SHOW: The former president, now painting, unveiled two dozen of his portraits of world leaders, includingVladimir Putin. He said his favorite is of his father, lower left. Above left is Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. A4

Justin

Clem

onsforTh

eWallS

treetJournal

Uma Scharf of Baltimore wasvisiting Stanford University lastmonth when she approached Me-morial Church, a campus land-mark.

Suddenly, a hornblast pierced the air andsix young men emergedfrom behind the church’spillars. Four of them un-furled a huge bannerthat popped “the ques-tion.” Another raised agiant photo of Kell Co-ney, the guy who had en-listed their help from2,500 miles away. Stillanother accomplice cap-tured the proceedingson video.

Stunned by thesplashy surprise, Umaraised her hands to a bright-redface. Passersby stopped; a groupof tourists clicked pictures. Allcould be forgiven for thinking this

was a marriage proposal.“Uma, Prom with Kell?” the

banner read.Uma and Kell are 16-year-old

high-school students.Kell’s elaborately choreo-

graphed invite is just one exampleof the lengths to whichtoday’s teenage boys aregoing to outdo eachother and land a promdate. For many, theonce-discreet invitationis a chance to create ahighly public spectacleto broadcast on socialmedia.

There’s even a wordfor it: the “promposal.”

Glen Kelly, an orga-nizer for New York RoadRunners, found this outlast Sunday when ateenage boy asked if the

announcer could pop the promquestion the moment his would-bequeen crossed the finish line of a

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BY MIRIAM JORDAN

What’s a Bigger Deal Than PromThese Days? The ‘Promposal’

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To Get to Yes, Teens Go to Showy ExtremesTo Land Dates; Kell’s Campus Caper

Uma Scharfwith poster ofKell Coney

Hire Ground

*Potential jobs measured using 2008 ratio of private-sector jobs to working-age people

Note: Jobs data are seasonally adjusted. Source: Labor Department The Wall Street Journal

Private-sector payrolls hit a high in March, but the recession derailedthe potential job gains needed to keep pace with population growth.*

7.2MjobsJanuary 2008 peak:

116 million jobs

125

105

110

115

120

million private jobs

January 2008million

privat

’102000

Jobs needed to keep upwith population growth

RECESSIONRECESSION

U.S. stocks fall sharply, led bytechnology selloff.......................... B1

Heard on the Street................. B14

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