THE SECOND IRON MAN OF INDIA AFTER SARDAR PATEL

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> +-----------------------------------------+
> Sting Analysis
> The sting that boomeranged
>
> By Saroj Sharma
> THE ORGANISER
> Page 8/27
> November 18, 2007 issue
>
> The run-up to the Assembly elections in Gujarat
> reveals the desperation in the Opposition camps as
> they deal with the virtually invincible Chief
> Minister Narendra Modi once again. This is evident
> from the fact that it is Madame Sonia Gandhi
> herself who has decided to spearhead the campaign
> in Gujarat instead of dispatching her understudy
> son Rahul Gandhi whose posters had been plastered
> around the state weeks ago. Interestingly, during
> her whistle-stop tour of Anand a couple of days
> ago, Sonia, taking a leaf out of CM Modi's
> election campaign, targetted the women electorate
> in a town where cooperatives have been the prime
> movers of the economy and women play a pivotal
> role. It may be mentioned that the CM has been
> consistently focussing on the enormous
> contribution nari shakti has made to the growth
> and development of Gujarat.
>
> This is Sonia's second visit to Gujarat this year
> which speaks volumes about uncertainty which
> plagues the Congress about its poll prospects in
> Gujarat.
>
> The UPA chairperson's speech too was devoid of any
> issues and she merely harped on the "misrule in
> Gujarat" without being able to provide tangible
> evidence to back her claims. What was really
> hilarious, however, was her attempts to pass on
> the onus of the infamous Ram affidavit controversy
> on the BJP and that too in a state which is not
> only well-known as Hindutva's laboratory but where
> the political awareness of people is well
> acknowledged.
>
> Even the tacky Tehelka sting on what it claims are
> shockingly candid confessions of the foot soldiers
> of the 2002 carnage in Gujarat which has been
> released less than two months prior to the
> elections and almost six years after the dastardly
> burning of karsevaks in the S2 coach of Sabarmati
> Express and the spontaneous backlash is clearly a
> last-ditch attempt to tarnish the CM's image once
> again. The Hand of the Congress in this blatant
> plot to sully the name of Shri Modi by projecting
> him as the perpetrator of the riots is evident
> even to a juvenile.
>
> But while some private TV channels milked the
> expose for all it was worth for a couple of days,
> the Congress, realising that the communal card is
> unlikely to yield rich dividends has consciously
> decided to downplay the controversy. Not only has
> it hardly given any space to the Godhra riots and
> the Tehelka sting operation in its recently
> released election manifesto but is hardly playing
> it up in the poll campaigns of its leaders.
>
> But what has surprised political observers here is
> the fact that the Congress and the Modi-baiters
> within the ruling party could actually be
> foolhardy enough to even contemplate stirring the
> communal cauldron with such a sting operation.
> Despite having failed to do so umpteen times in
> the past almost six years, the Opposition camps
> are yet to learn from their mistakes. Elections
> 2002, in fact, gave the Opposition enough fodder
> for thought by virtually decimating it even as
> Shri Modi made a clean sweep with 126 of the 182
> seats which went to the polls.
>
> At that time, the Godhra riots were fresh in the
> minds of the electorate in Gujarat and even then,
> the verdict clearly showed that no one was buying
> the theory that the carnage was a state-sponsored
> pogrom. Subsequently, the clean sweeps that BJP
> made in the panchayat polls as well as the
> municipal corporation polls in major cities of
> Gujarat including some like Vadodara and Jamnagar,
> which had been Congress citadels for long, have
> only driven home the point that the voter in
> Gujarat is in no mood to be swayed by new theories
> being churned out regularly by the Congress on the
> Godhra massacre and the riots that followed.
>
> In fact, the more the Congress is flogging the
> dead Godhra horse, the more sympathy it is evoking
> for the Chief Minister as the victim of such
> unfounded allegations. "Why doesn't the Congress
> introspect for a change? Its role in the anti-Sikh
> riots of 1984 has been clearly proved unlike
> Godhra where nobody has been able to substantiate
> the allegations against the Gujarat CM," says an
> indignant pro-Modi BJP leader.
>
> As things stand now, CM Modi is poised to win a
> mandate for a second term as CM not only because
> he is in no way connected to the Godhra riots
> which were a spontaneous mass uprising but also
> because he has decided to focus his energies not
> on Opposition-bashing but on the concrete
> development of his state. Gujarat showcases the
> country's developmental strides as few other
> states can and has become a role model for all
> other states to follow. "Call it a sheer
> coincidence or perfect timing that well-known
> global consultancy firm Ernst & Young released its
> latest report on Gujarat titled Gujarat: Beyond
> the Obvious on the same day that the Election
> Commission announced the dates for forthcoming
> elections in the state."
>
> The report has lauded the state government for its
> commendable work in sectors ranging from education
> to culture and from infrastructure to investment.
> It goes on to elaborate that the Gujarat
> government has implemented 72 initiatives in as
> many months which have generated a remarkable
> socio-economic transformation in the state making
> it a role model for other states.
>
> "It is this sterling developmental track record
> which Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will
> use as a poll plank this time around. Unlike poll
> 2002 which saw communalism emerge as the main
> emotive election issue, poll 2007 in Gujarat may
> all be about good governance," says a senior BJP
> leader. He goes on to elaborate, "We have shown
> the world how to run a state efficiently. Modiji's
> achievements with regard to good governance have
> even been acknowledged by surveys conducted even
> by the ruling UPA coalition at the Centre."
>
> That Gujarat has risen phoenix like after having
> been battered in quick succession first by the
> devastating Bhuj earthquake of 2001 and then by
> the post-Godhra communal riots of 2002 to top the
> country's investment sweepstakes as one of the
> most preferred investment destinations under five
> year's of Shri Modi's rule is an indisputable
> fact.
>
> "In such circumstances where Gujarat has made
> significant strides on the road to development and
> where people are happy and prosperous, any
> conspiracy to denigrate the man who is now
> popularly known as the architect of Gujarat's
> prosperity is bound to be thwarted in no uncertain
> terms," observes a Gujarat-based industrialist.
> After all, at the end of the day, actions speak
> louder than words or allegations.
>
> The more the Congress is flogging the dead Godhra
> horse, the more sympathy it is evoking for the
> Chief Minister as the victim of such unfounded
> allegations. "Why doesn't the Congress introspect
> for a change? Its role in the anti-Sikh riots of
> 1984 has been clearly proved."
>
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>
>
> Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
> Om Shanti
>