‘Sentry’ Modi declares war against Delhi

RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
The Telegraph, 2 November

Ahmedabad, Nov. 1: Narendra Modi has tied his pride and victory to Gujarat’s and pitted the state against the Centre as he makes a bid for a third term in office.

“Let us pit Gujarat against the Centre and make the challenge worth it,” said the chief minister, who faces elections next month. “As it is, they have exhausted their dictionary levelling all kinds of charges against me.”

Modi then projected a scenario in which Gujarat and Delhi would sign a memorandum of “non-cooperation”.

“Let’s imagine that in 2008, we agree that neither will give any money to the other. I guarantee you that in less than a year, Delhi’s exchequer will dry up.”

As for Gujarat, no other region in Asia had recorded 10 per cent growth, he said, quoting figures from the Planning Commission and the Reserve Bank of India.

Addressing a gathering of the BJP’s state legal cell yesterday, Modi did not directly mention the Tehelka “sting” that implicates him in the 2002 post-Godhra riots. But he said everything was being done to “humiliate” Gujaratis.

“In these elections, no stone will be left unturned to humiliate Gujaratis…. But fight back every attack because Gujarat must not be allowed to be defeated. Our victory is Gujarat’s victory,” he said.

Five years ago, Modi had won a second term within months of the worst riots since Partition by similarly equating any attack on him with an assault on Gujarati “asmita” (pride).

Modi also used Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary to hammer home his election theme: the Iron Man of Gujarat, he said, had been given a wide berth by the Congress and this “humiliation” must be “avenged”.

The last general budget had allotted Rs 30 crore to “commemorate the memory of the only freedom fighter the Congress recognises”, Modi added, alluding to Jawaharlal Nehru.

“Not one paisa was allocated for Sardar Patel. My message to the rulers of Delhi is, ‘please change your mindset’. Gujarat will not come supplicating to you with a bowl…. We don’t depend on Delhi but we will not allow the humiliation meted out to Patel to go unanswered,” he said. “The pride and prestige of Gujarat is linked inextricably with his political and historical legacy.”

Gujarat was the centrepiece of his speech but Modi, whom the crowd addressed as “Chhote Sardar”, entwined the state’s fate with his own.

“This financial miracle would not have taken place without hard-nosed measures…. I guarded Gujarat’s treasury like a sentry and did not allow any grasping paw to be put inside it. I know that every paisa that comes into it is earned with the sweat of labour. I want to return it to the people who earned all this,” he said.

No mention was made of the communal violence that killed over a thousand Muslims, but Modi did harp on his pet obsession: the Maoist menace.

“Do you know there is a Red corridor from Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) to Pashupati (Nepal) and that 30 per cent of India’s districts are ruled by the Naxalites? We have given a stable government for six years and brought peace and calm to the people of Gujarat. Do you want to be held at gunpoint or have a sword hanging over your head by voting out stability?”