In last ten years, the most talked
about-hated-loved politician in India is Narendra Modi. There have been loads and
loads of matter written about him. Some praising his administrative abilities and many
criticizing his role in 2002 riots. Incidentally, my interest and
awareness about politics and modi’s entry in Gujarat happened at the same time.
We have read so much about him written by people who analyze him based on
facts, figures or even their own
prejudices at time. Here, I thought of putting up Narendra Modi through the
eyes of a common Gujarati youngster who has seen his 10 years at the top post
of his state.
Narendra Modi’s ascendance to Gujarat started in early part of 2001 when the state faced a destructive earthquake. Disaster management after that was all over the place and Keshubhai Patel, the then CM faced a lot of criticism for that. BJPs graph was steadily on decline and then modi was sent from Delhi to handle the political erosion. I remember watching him at that time and wondered why a non-Gujarati was made our CM! Of course with time more information about him started coming out but still he looked far from promising. The after effects of quake were still evident and another man-made disaster hit Gujarat, the Godhara train burning.
As a 14 year old boy, I felt deep anger on seeing those gruesome pictures of the carnage. The rage and grief was probably the same as millions of Gujaratis felt on that day. Although Eventually I was able to calm myself down, the same didn’t happen with some others and that led to unfortunate riots for next 3 days. Affected areas of those riots were sporadic and I personally didn’t witness any of that in my city. It was indeed an unfortunate incident that led to a permanent black mark on Gujarat and Gujaratis as a whole.Media coverage in those days was bipolar. While the local media reported causalities on both sides, English media was always of the opinion that Narendra Modi let it happen. The thing that aligned common Gujarati on the side of Modi was this reporting too in a way. It did hurt me a lot when Gujarat as a whole was termed “communal and violent”. It was this time when Modi, the master politician floated the concept of Gujarati “asmita”(pride) and in a sense common man began to look upon him as the one fighting against all the false propaganda against his state.
Ten years down the line, we had two assembly elections of 2002 and 2007 along with two Loksabha elections of 2004 and 2009. People, usually outsiders often argue that electoral mandate doesn’t vindicate Modi of his role or lack of it in the riots, but they forget the result of both the LS elections. In 2002, he rode the emotional wave and after affect of Godhara carnage.I personally believe that the feeling of injustice to the state through reports which painted all of us as communal did work in the favour of Modi. Congress’s weak leadership and silence in opposing those reports lead to their political erosion quickly and Modi got a thumping majority. The stage was almost the same in 2007, when congress leader Sonia Gandhi called him “Maut ka saudagar” on sohrabbudin encounter case. The master orator Modi grabbed that term and dragged all the votes based on it. People did had a feeling that Sohrabbudin was a criminal and keeping aside the dubious encounter, it failed to ruffle many nerves. Again Modi got a thumping majority and Congress was reduced to a mere spectator in the state.
In stark contrast to both the assembly elections were the two LS elections of 2004 and 2009 where congress won 12 and 11 seats respectively out of total 26. It does show the maturity of Gujarati voters and the clarity of thoughts where they can distinguish between what they want in state and at the centre. If this pattern is anything to go by, it makes clear that Modi is not Gujarat for us. In fact, people who try and confine him by bashing whole of Gujarat are doing a huge favour to him. He cleverly combines the allegations on him with the pride of the state and gets the emotional backing of people.We are on the verge of another assembly elections which can decide Modi’s fate on national stage. Modi is again talking about development and industries as we love to do our business.Gujaratis are not violent by nature and love peace because it is essential for their business’s growth. Gujarat has always developed no matter who is in power at Gandhinagar because of this very reason.Congress has also played their campaign well this time but is again failing in matching the charisma of Modi.
This time too we “gujjus” won’t vote for congress, not because we worship modi, but just because we are smart enough to understand that Congress, who doesn’t have a strong leader can’t bring in stability to our state. Once again, English media might credit this to so called “communal polarisation” in the state failing to understand the mechanics of it. Modi is not the only one for us; he is just a good option to the fragile congress and hence gets voted to power. He is not the boss, the common man on the streets is. He knows who is better and deserving enough to rule Gandhinagar. Unfortunately until the "seculars" understand it, they would keep treading the wrong path and until the congress attains clarity of thought and leadership, Modi will rule.
Narendra Modi’s ascendance to Gujarat started in early part of 2001 when the state faced a destructive earthquake. Disaster management after that was all over the place and Keshubhai Patel, the then CM faced a lot of criticism for that. BJPs graph was steadily on decline and then modi was sent from Delhi to handle the political erosion. I remember watching him at that time and wondered why a non-Gujarati was made our CM! Of course with time more information about him started coming out but still he looked far from promising. The after effects of quake were still evident and another man-made disaster hit Gujarat, the Godhara train burning.
As a 14 year old boy, I felt deep anger on seeing those gruesome pictures of the carnage. The rage and grief was probably the same as millions of Gujaratis felt on that day. Although Eventually I was able to calm myself down, the same didn’t happen with some others and that led to unfortunate riots for next 3 days. Affected areas of those riots were sporadic and I personally didn’t witness any of that in my city. It was indeed an unfortunate incident that led to a permanent black mark on Gujarat and Gujaratis as a whole.Media coverage in those days was bipolar. While the local media reported causalities on both sides, English media was always of the opinion that Narendra Modi let it happen. The thing that aligned common Gujarati on the side of Modi was this reporting too in a way. It did hurt me a lot when Gujarat as a whole was termed “communal and violent”. It was this time when Modi, the master politician floated the concept of Gujarati “asmita”(pride) and in a sense common man began to look upon him as the one fighting against all the false propaganda against his state.
Ten years down the line, we had two assembly elections of 2002 and 2007 along with two Loksabha elections of 2004 and 2009. People, usually outsiders often argue that electoral mandate doesn’t vindicate Modi of his role or lack of it in the riots, but they forget the result of both the LS elections. In 2002, he rode the emotional wave and after affect of Godhara carnage.I personally believe that the feeling of injustice to the state through reports which painted all of us as communal did work in the favour of Modi. Congress’s weak leadership and silence in opposing those reports lead to their political erosion quickly and Modi got a thumping majority. The stage was almost the same in 2007, when congress leader Sonia Gandhi called him “Maut ka saudagar” on sohrabbudin encounter case. The master orator Modi grabbed that term and dragged all the votes based on it. People did had a feeling that Sohrabbudin was a criminal and keeping aside the dubious encounter, it failed to ruffle many nerves. Again Modi got a thumping majority and Congress was reduced to a mere spectator in the state.
In stark contrast to both the assembly elections were the two LS elections of 2004 and 2009 where congress won 12 and 11 seats respectively out of total 26. It does show the maturity of Gujarati voters and the clarity of thoughts where they can distinguish between what they want in state and at the centre. If this pattern is anything to go by, it makes clear that Modi is not Gujarat for us. In fact, people who try and confine him by bashing whole of Gujarat are doing a huge favour to him. He cleverly combines the allegations on him with the pride of the state and gets the emotional backing of people.We are on the verge of another assembly elections which can decide Modi’s fate on national stage. Modi is again talking about development and industries as we love to do our business.Gujaratis are not violent by nature and love peace because it is essential for their business’s growth. Gujarat has always developed no matter who is in power at Gandhinagar because of this very reason.Congress has also played their campaign well this time but is again failing in matching the charisma of Modi.
This time too we “gujjus” won’t vote for congress, not because we worship modi, but just because we are smart enough to understand that Congress, who doesn’t have a strong leader can’t bring in stability to our state. Once again, English media might credit this to so called “communal polarisation” in the state failing to understand the mechanics of it. Modi is not the only one for us; he is just a good option to the fragile congress and hence gets voted to power. He is not the boss, the common man on the streets is. He knows who is better and deserving enough to rule Gandhinagar. Unfortunately until the "seculars" understand it, they would keep treading the wrong path and until the congress attains clarity of thought and leadership, Modi will rule.
