Who is the real Narendra Modi ?
In my last post, I made a mention of two important decisions that came out from the Indian courts last week. But there was another important verdict delivered in the same week, which I felt I must mention. It was in the Best Bakery case related to the post-Godhra riots of '02 in Gujarat.
Nine of the 17 people charged with torching the Best Bakery in Vadodara killing 14 people were convicted and awarded life imprisonment by a sessions court in Mumbai. The court issued show cause notices to all the witnesses, including Zaheera Shaikh, who had turned hostile, asking them why they should not be prosecuted for perjury.
But I'm not talking about the case or the decision here. I want to bring up the obvious dichotomy in the character and the image of the state of Gujarat and its chief minister Narendra Modi.
For decades, Gujarat has been the epicenter of business activity in India. The community has spread far and wide across the world and has made a name for itself. They are probably the most successful Indian community in the US and elsewhere, alongside the Punjabis and more recently the Gults. In the US, its more a rule than an exception that a typical Shah or a Mehta would drive a Lexus or a Mercedes rather than a Toyota or a Honda.
In India, the business acumen of the Gujaratis is well known. One of the biggest empires in corporate India today, Reliance, has its roots, and its refineries in Gujarat. The meteoric rise of Dhirubhai Ambani is well-chronicled along with his business acumen. The entrepreneurial spirit of the Gujaratis is epitomized by people like Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma fame who took on the might of the multinational in Hindustan Lever and gave it a run for its money. Karsanbhai who was earning a paltry salary of Rs. 400 started delivering on foot, the detergent he concocted and today Nirma has a 35% market share.
With just 5% of India's population and 6% of the area, Gujarat accounts for 16% of the country's total investment, 10% of its expenditure, 13% of its industrial production, 21% of its exports and 30% of the stock market capitalization. The state's growth rate has been over 10% consistently for the last few years. Those are very impressive numbers.
Gujarat also stands first in terms of industrialization in the country. Gujarat is a leader in various sectors like chemicals, pharmaceuticals and dairy. Also, it has some of the most important ports in the country including the first private sector port.
Ofcourse the credit for this goes to the successive governments in the state over the years and to the spirit of the Gujarati people.
That was the positive side. But there is a lot of negative opinion going around as well, that Narendra Modi is single-mindedly pushing a religious agenda and crushing the minority Muslim community.
But the economic environment has in no way been affected, atleast in a visible way, by the post-riots situation. Narendra Modi has been portrayed as the villain of the episode. He has been convicted many times over, not by the courts, but by a large part of the opinion-shaping public, the opposition parties, human rights groups and the international media. However he has been very supportive of the economy all along.
Modi has been directly blamed for the Gujarat riots and its aftermath. And just a couple of days ago, the Banerjee committee probing the possible cause of the fire in the Sabarmati Express, which sparked off the Godhra riots, has held that the mishap was an accident and not a conspiracy. The fire that killed many kar sevaks was alleged to have been set off by members of the Muslim community. This report from the Banerjee committee has given further ammunition to the opposition Congress to condemn Modi. They have referred to Modi as being beyond shameless and that he should now look within and resign.
So why this dichotomy? On the one hand Narendra Modi is the progressive chief minister facilitating business and fuelling the economy, and on the other he is the source of hatred and animosity towards the Muslim community. The dichotomy arises because its hard to believe that these two facets could come together in one person, one ideology is progressive and the other is regressive. So who is the real Narendra Modi?
For the sake of the Gujarati asmita, Modi has to make an effort to answer that question. From his side he has to take steps to make the Muslim community feel safe and comfortable. At the same time, the opposition and the media must take an objective view and shed the seemingly irresistable urge to make a villain out of Modi. They must stop using the situation to their political advantage, because this attitude is doing no good to the pride of the Gujarati people.
The two sides must make peace and move forward so that Gujarat retains its prominent place in business as well as in culture.
Nine of the 17 people charged with torching the Best Bakery in Vadodara killing 14 people were convicted and awarded life imprisonment by a sessions court in Mumbai. The court issued show cause notices to all the witnesses, including Zaheera Shaikh, who had turned hostile, asking them why they should not be prosecuted for perjury.
But I'm not talking about the case or the decision here. I want to bring up the obvious dichotomy in the character and the image of the state of Gujarat and its chief minister Narendra Modi.
For decades, Gujarat has been the epicenter of business activity in India. The community has spread far and wide across the world and has made a name for itself. They are probably the most successful Indian community in the US and elsewhere, alongside the Punjabis and more recently the Gults. In the US, its more a rule than an exception that a typical Shah or a Mehta would drive a Lexus or a Mercedes rather than a Toyota or a Honda.
In India, the business acumen of the Gujaratis is well known. One of the biggest empires in corporate India today, Reliance, has its roots, and its refineries in Gujarat. The meteoric rise of Dhirubhai Ambani is well-chronicled along with his business acumen. The entrepreneurial spirit of the Gujaratis is epitomized by people like Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma fame who took on the might of the multinational in Hindustan Lever and gave it a run for its money. Karsanbhai who was earning a paltry salary of Rs. 400 started delivering on foot, the detergent he concocted and today Nirma has a 35% market share.
With just 5% of India's population and 6% of the area, Gujarat accounts for 16% of the country's total investment, 10% of its expenditure, 13% of its industrial production, 21% of its exports and 30% of the stock market capitalization. The state's growth rate has been over 10% consistently for the last few years. Those are very impressive numbers.
Gujarat also stands first in terms of industrialization in the country. Gujarat is a leader in various sectors like chemicals, pharmaceuticals and dairy. Also, it has some of the most important ports in the country including the first private sector port.
Ofcourse the credit for this goes to the successive governments in the state over the years and to the spirit of the Gujarati people.
That was the positive side. But there is a lot of negative opinion going around as well, that Narendra Modi is single-mindedly pushing a religious agenda and crushing the minority Muslim community.
But the economic environment has in no way been affected, atleast in a visible way, by the post-riots situation. Narendra Modi has been portrayed as the villain of the episode. He has been convicted many times over, not by the courts, but by a large part of the opinion-shaping public, the opposition parties, human rights groups and the international media. However he has been very supportive of the economy all along.
Modi has been directly blamed for the Gujarat riots and its aftermath. And just a couple of days ago, the Banerjee committee probing the possible cause of the fire in the Sabarmati Express, which sparked off the Godhra riots, has held that the mishap was an accident and not a conspiracy. The fire that killed many kar sevaks was alleged to have been set off by members of the Muslim community. This report from the Banerjee committee has given further ammunition to the opposition Congress to condemn Modi. They have referred to Modi as being beyond shameless and that he should now look within and resign.
So why this dichotomy? On the one hand Narendra Modi is the progressive chief minister facilitating business and fuelling the economy, and on the other he is the source of hatred and animosity towards the Muslim community. The dichotomy arises because its hard to believe that these two facets could come together in one person, one ideology is progressive and the other is regressive. So who is the real Narendra Modi?
For the sake of the Gujarati asmita, Modi has to make an effort to answer that question. From his side he has to take steps to make the Muslim community feel safe and comfortable. At the same time, the opposition and the media must take an objective view and shed the seemingly irresistable urge to make a villain out of Modi. They must stop using the situation to their political advantage, because this attitude is doing no good to the pride of the Gujarati people.
The two sides must make peace and move forward so that Gujarat retains its prominent place in business as well as in culture.
posted by SN @ 3/04/2006 01:28:00 PM
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