Brand Modi on a roll

NEW DELHI 23/12/2007, Sunday: In a conversation with a few colleagues, BJP’s prime ministerial hopeful L K Advani said that a win for Narendra Modi in the Gujarat elections was something like Indira Gandhi’s triumph in 1971. What the saffron veteran was alluding to was the Iron Lady’s success in fending off many foes: a faction of her own party, an opposition gang-up and a hostile media.



Modi had his hands full. In the weeks preceding the polls, party functionaries in Delhi close to BJP president Rajnath Singh were freely offering some wisdom on the Gujarat scene. Modi, they said, was facing a tough battle. The Sangh Parivar was sullen. Was it not revealing that Singh had been asked to extend his campaign in the state?



Often accused of being a loner, Modi is not often a victim of doubt. A stubborn person , he stuck to his guns even when droves of his party colleagues turned against him, and he was run down by RSS and VHP leaders, besides the Congress and political activists.



The Gujarat chief minister has always been an ambitious man. He first came to notice in Delhi circles with Murli Manohar Joshi’s Kashmir to Kanyakumari rath yatra. In the 90s, he was a BJP general secretary. His saffron beliefs were quite evident and he was given to defining the Ayodhya divide as a tussle between “Ram” and “Babri” parties to the media.



However, at a time when BJP rose to power in Gujarat, ironically, Modi was virtually shunted out due to the ire of leaders like Keshubhai Patel.



His big chance came when criticism of Keshubhai’s administration mounted after the January 26, 2001 earthquake. He lobbied hard for himself, getting Advani to endorse him as successor to Patel to pull the saffron chestnuts out of fire.



Even after he took over as CM, BJP faced an uphill task. Modi himself had had to eke out a victory from Rajkot. But then a coach of the Sabarmati Express was torched, killing 59 karsewaks, including women and children returning from Ayodhya, by a Muslim mob near Godhra railway station.



As the burnt bodies arrived at Ahmedabad, Hindu mobs began targeting Muslim. The violence spread through central and north Gujarat and the role of BJP and VHP leaders in fanning the violence was evident. The state government took its own time to act, rendering Modi open to the charge that he masterminded anti-Muslim violence.



Irrespective of the merit of the charge which found credence when Supreme Court strictured Modi with remarks likening him to Nero, there is no disputing the fact that the communal polarisation helped him sweep the 2002 polls.



Modi once told an interviewer that he would never be able to get rid of Godhra taint. There are many who will not allow him to forget the riots, but he also has an opportunity to recast himself in a more accommodative mould. Those who know him feel that Modi will make the adjustments required on the national stage, but the temptation not to allow the dilution of Brand Modi may equally strong.