There is a buzz throughout India that Narendra Modi’s Gujarat has achieved a lot of progress and has made rapid strides in development and industrial progress largely on account of Modi’s inspiring leadership, unquestioned integrity and good governance. No wonder, 40 percent of the people interviewed in urban India in the LensOnNews poll have voted for Modi’s Gujarat as the state with least corruption and best record in governance.
Don’t be mistaken into believing that Modi’s popularity is an urban, metropolitan phenomenon, or that it is confined to Gujarat. The buzz about Modi and Gujarat is there everywhere, even in the remotest districts of Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal. This has been reported by many journalists who have covered the BJP’s election campaigns in these states.
Throughout the country, Modi has come to epitomize high quality governance symbolized by unmatched delivery of public services, rapid strides in development, ever-growing public and private investments in the state, clean administration largely free from corruption etc. etc. No wonder, most people across the country would like to have a leader like Modi to lead them.
At a time when the brazenly corrupt Congress led UPA government at the Center has shocked the nation with its unmatched record in corruption, Modi has zealously protected his image as an incorruptible leader, while also showing zero tolerance for corruption in his governance. While Modi’s personal integrity remains unquestioned, even his worst political rivals and critics concede that he has been able to provide a corruption-free government in Gujarat.
The change in U.S. administration’s view towards Narendra Modi which denied a visa to him in 2005 is a case in point. In a cable dated November 2, 2006 (84043: confidential), the Consul General in Mumbai, Michael S. Owen wrote, “Modi has successfully branded himself as a non-corrupt, effective administrator, as a facilitator of business…and as a no-nonsense, law-and-order politician…”
Incidentally, Modi is the only political figure anywhere in the world that WikiLeaks cables from the U.S. diplomatic establishment have shown in a positive light.
Under Narendra Modi, Gujarat has made rapid strides in development over the past decade. Go to any part of Gujarat and I bet you will see huge development works underway. Anna Hazare knew full well what is happening in Gujarat when he praised Modi for his leadership. Notwithstanding the unending ranting by pseudo intellectuals of Gujarat, people all across Gujarat say that the state is progressing well. What is important is that the message of development has traveled far and wide defying the designs of opponents to spread calumny about Modi and Gujarat.
Critics are quick to point out the religious divide in Gujarat and how post-2002 riots, Muslims live constantly in fear. All this is bunkum and motivated propaganda by vested interests. In most parts of the state, Hindus and Muslims are living in perfect harmony and there is not an iota of discrimination.
Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, a Gujarati himself, was vehemently attacked for saying that Muslims in Gujarat are experiencing development and are not discriminated against. He was only reflecting the sentiments of common Muslims across the state. Save some parts of Ahmedabad, Muslims all over the state are appreciative of Modi’s government and are even voting in significant numbers for the BJP under Modi.
Law and order situation in Gujarat is the best you can obtain anywhere in the country today. In a state that had witnessed periodic communal disturbances under the Congress rule, Gujarat had been remarkably peaceful over the last decade. There has not been a single incident or a day of curfew in Gujarat since 2002. Can any Congress ruled state match that record? Evidently, what goes on in the name of communal tension in Gujarat is propaganda unleashed by vested interests and there is absolutely no basis for such assessment.
Such is the fast pace of development in Gujarat that people of the state have no doubt in their minds that Narendra Modi will get a bigger mandate in 2012 assembly elections. The Congress party is gloating over a narrow victory in Gandhinagar corporation elections is unlikely to get any cheer in the next year’s assembly elections. As things stand now, the Congress party will be fortunate to win half the number of 59 seats it won in 2007 assembly elections and may end up with below 30 seats in 2012 polls.
The Congress party, which runs its ‘scam a day’ government at the Centre is feeling shaky and extremely vulnerable. How does the Congress party take on an unstoppable Modi who has caught the imagination of the entire nation and has emerged as the mascot of good governance? The egregiously corrupt Congress party knows only way: to tarnish the fair reputations of all its opponents to prove that there are no cleaner alternatives or to target them unfairly.
As Modi’s reputation of integrity is impeccable, it has put into operation a sinister plan to implicate Modi in a plethora of cases involving killing of Sohrabuddin and other incidents. To ensure success of this strategy, the UPA government is firing all cylinders by subverting various institutions, supplementing efforts of bogus NGOs, muzzling voices of support for Modi and managing media to sharpen its attacks.
Whoever has crafted this strategy for the Congress party has not learnt lessons from its past mistakes. Narendra Modi has emerged stronger from every attempt that the Congress party has made to destroy him. The present effort to implicate Modi by dubious means will be no exception.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” said Napoleon Bonaparte. “Never interrupt your opponent when he's destroying himself”, said Paul Begala, a political commentator. The Congress party is in a self destruct mode in targeting Narendra Modi. It must be allowed to fulfill its death wish.
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