Modi has wrested control of the BJP. Forget what the
immediate elevation relates to – being made the head of the election committee.
In reality, he has de-facto been made the PM candidate of the party. Modi is a
shrewd politician, and he has clearly out-smarted Advani & Co. What that
does to the party is extremely relevant, but this post is not about that. It’s
about knowing the man – once again.
Three things that define Modi are:
1)
His development credentials: Modi has been striving
to stress his growth oriented policies, and his extreme passion for
development. However, as many have pointed out, including his own partymen, the
growth in Gujarat predates Modi by a long way. I have written several times on
this, but perhaps the most interesting read was on 17th September,
2011 titled “Modi’s growth story is a sham…..” which clearly shows that growth
was higher during the Congress regime before Modi, and that growth in Gujarat
was just about comparable with other major states like Maharashtra, Haryana and
Andhra. Modi’s loud claims are a tad unbelievable, and often mistaken with the
general well-being of his state. Modi claims to have grown agriculture a lot,
but he forgets to mention that most of it is thanks to the Narmada waters coming
to his state, in which he had absolutely no role to play. He talks of great
roads, but fails to point out that the National Highways – including the
expressway between Vadodara and Ahmedabad, as well as the new one planned
between Vadodara and Mumbai – are the results of the central government’s work.
Modi’s grandiose exaggerations have earned him the “feku” tag in the virtual
world, which he has so far managed to control using his Americal PR firm APCO.
Modi’s growth has been panned by many others, but most of all by Dibakar Gupta
– read his piece in the TOI of October 6th,
2012: “Telling the Whole story”). Modi’s development claims also ignore the
severe problems his state suffers in the Human Development indicies – pointing
towards very uneven growth in the state. It’s important we know this man – one
who usurps the claims of others with absolutely disdainfully
2)
His governance
credentials: Modi says he is a man who takes fast decisions. He likes to
contrast this with the generally perceived sloth in Delhi. But he likes to
ignore the reality of politics – that he has a solid majority in his state,
while the center suffers from a severe condition of “coalitionitis”. We will
see the reality in this when (and if) Modi does become the PM. How he will
balance the different needs of divergent political parties will need to be
seen. Modi also likes to ignore that all other state governments which have
clear majorities – be in Delhi or AP or Haryana or TN or Bihar – have also been
known for quick decision making. Modi likes to show his governance record as a
genetic blessing of his; in reality it is anything but. Modi’s governance
record also includes the several cases of anomalies pointed out by the CAG, the
absence of the Lok Ayukta for more than 9 years now (and his pushing through a
weak selection process after he was shamed by the Governor recently), and the
terrible record of responding to the needs of the RTI. Modi doesn’t like to
draw attention to all this. He just goes mum, and an indulgent media spares him
the blushes – like it did when he refused to take the “high ground” on the
IPL-CSK mess.
3)
His communal record:
Be it the post-godhra riots, or the Ishrat Jahaan murder or the several other
encounter killings, or the saffronisation of education, Modi is best known for
his communal credentials. It’s interesting that today’s papers carry a story
that suggest that Modi’s top cops may have been personally involved in the
murder of Ishrat Jahaan. Not only may they have given the orders, it is
possible that they actually witnessed, first hand, the murder. It’s pathetic,
to think that Modi claims his state has no communal riots, when the reality is
that the Muslims are a terrorized lot in his state. There was also a story a
few days back, about how a municipal school in Ahmedabad had chosen saffron as
the color for the childrens’ uniforms. It’s not just the uniforms that have
turned saffron in the state; even the curriculum has. My biggest fear from Modi
comes from what a shrewd, clever, determined man like him can do in a state
like UP – where tensions start to simmer at the smallest provocation. With
trusted aide Amit Shah in charge of UP, expect a huge amount of induced
communal tension – induced so that the majority Hindu population comes together
to vote for Modi in one unified block, rather than divide itself along
cast-based lines as it has done so far. Modi is trouble. Make no mistake.
The real truth is that Modi’s not good news for
India. He is communal, and he is a “feku”. He is also bad news for his party.
Wait and watch the fun that unfolds now!
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