Most recent surveys put Mr.Narendra Modi as the most popular
choice for the post of Prime Minister of India, from an obscure party
functionary in late 1990's to India's most popular politician in 2013; his has
been the story unlike any other. His followers attribute his popularity to his
administrative skills whereas his detractors attribute it to his
"Feku" (Hindi slang for bragging) skills, but there is more to this
than meets the eye, something that in my opinion that has been missed by almost
everyone trying to analyze his meteoric rise. Mr.Modi basically owes his
popularity to Indian National Congress and a series of goof ups by its leaders.
Let start at the beginning with the first mistake in a series of
several which enabled BJP to rise to its current status as the most popular
party in Gujarat, during the 1970's and 80's some in the Congress hit upon an electoral
formula called KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) which they
regarded as unbeatable and for a while it was, until wide spread corruption did
them in, now this sounds familiar doesn't it? It was this policy which focused on the four
large voting blocks and ignored everyone else which forced Patels - a
numerically large caste group and other smaller caste groups to throw in their
lot with Bhartiya Janta Party, this combined with the rising divide between
Hindus and Muslims across India in the early 1990's enabled BJP to finally form
a stable government in 1998. In 2001 as Keshubhai Patel's government floundered
BJP's national leadership decided to replace him with someone with better
administrative skills and Narendra Modi was bought in as chief minister of Gujarat.
In 2002 the unfortunate incident in Godhra and the riots that
followed propelled Mr. Modi from an unknown politician to a figure that is
either hated or loved. 2002 also saw him winning an election in which Congress
made another tactical mistake of targeting him personally for the riots, rather
than target BJP for its governance, this in fact made Modi’s task simpler, in a
communally charged atmosphere the mistakes of Keshubhai’s administration were
forgotten and the election was comfortably won. Modi after winning his first
election most likely realized that he could not always depend on the Hindu –
Muslim divide to win subsequent elections, so he focused on development
specially those that affect the common man such as electricity, roads and
schools - mostly development that can be felt and seen, helping him to build up
his image as someone who is development oriented. I’m amazed that the Congress
leadership has continued to repeat its mistake and have continued to target him
personally, the continuous attacks on him has actually enabled him to
consolidate his position first among the extreme right wing elements within the
BJP, thus giving him a toehold in the national politics which he has since used effectively to become BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
Congress made its biggest mistake in the Gujarat elections of 2012
when they offered free plots of land, low cost housing, laptops and tablets for
students in their election manifesto at a time when their own government at the
center was bogged down with corruption scandals and its credibility was at an
all time low, these fancy promises became the butt of jokes among the people
in Gujarat. Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party failed to help either
and Modi sailed to a comfortable win with more that 47% of the votes polled.
This victory won against such odds finally sealed his place as the front runner
in the leadership race within the BJP. Congress on the other hand which had
shown its desperation by going all out, promising everything to everyone has
not really recovered from this defeat, it is now seen as a rudderless ship
headed for destruction and its flip flops on recent issues such as the ordinance
on convicted MP’s is not helping it much either.
You would think that three consecutive losses in Gujarat would at
least teach the leaders in the Congress some lessons, Now do we see them
doing anything sensible when it comes to Modi? the answer is no but then can we really expect
anything from a party which has become a collection of dynasties with second
and third generation princes running the show with absolutely no clue of ground
realities, they continue to target him with the tag of “feku” and figures that
show Gujarat is not doing as well as its being claimed. Somebody should tell
these princes that the common man does not believe in figures he is more
worried about the pot holes in the roads around him, he likes it when there is 24
hours electricity in his home even when there is a major grid failure and most
likely appreciates the fact that the mafia dons are on the run and scared of
the police and not the other way around. Many people I know have traveled to
Gujarat and have come back as Narender Modi’s ardent fans impressed with
Gujarat’s infrastructure development, calling him names is not going to help
Congress stop him, rather It would be much better if the Congress leadership decides
to fight him by constructing more roads, schools, hospitals and by targeting corruption
and crime wherever it is in power.
