Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Devnagri: नरेन्द्र दामोदरदास मोदी, Gujarati: નરેન્દ્ર દામોદરદાસ મોદી [nəɾɛn̪d̪ɾə d̪ämod̪əɾd̪äs mod̪i]; born 17 September 1950^[1]) is the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat since 7 October 2001, making him the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat.^[2]

Born in a middle class family in Vadnagar, a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood, and an active politician since early in life having a masters degree in political science, Modi, along with Keshubhai Patel was seen as a hardliner early on and his coming to the fore in BJP led to a shakeup in the organization with Shankarsingh Vaghela leaving the party. In 1998, he was chosen by L K Advani to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh. His aggressive and confident style was successful in the midst of failure to unite between Vaghela's RJP and Congress and the campaign culminated in a victory leading to Keshubhai becoming the chief minister in March, 1998.

Due to his successful direction of campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Modi, who was working at national level then, was promoted to become general secretary soon after.

He became Gujarat's Chief Minister in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections.

He was re-elected in December 2002 as chief minister with 127 seats in the 182-member assembly. His term has been praised by leading industrialists^[3][4] and hindu religious leaders^[5] for outstanding administration for turning Gujarat into an economic powerhouse and controlling terrorism. He has been criticised for alleged mismanagement of and alleged complicity in the 2002 Gujarat violence, for which the United States government has instituted a ban on him traveling to that country.^[6][7]

In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously.^[8]

He was elected again for a third term^[9] on 23 December 2007 with an emphatic win in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".^[10][11]

Some members of Corporate India consider him as a potent "future Prime Minister of India". These views were openly kept forward at the "Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit" (VGGIS) by Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, who called him "the next leader of India (Future Prime Minister)”. Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal, too, have openly acknowledged this view by stating that “if there is a CEO who can lead this country, it is Narendra Modi”.^[12]

Modi 'rewards' BJP ex-rebels

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday 'rewarded' several BJP leaders, who had once sided with his bete noire ex-CM Keshubhai Patel, with government postings. The most surprising is the induction of former MP Vallabh Kathiria, who was Union minister in the NDA government but later became one of the main campaigners against Modi. Kathiria was made chairman of the Gujarat Go Seva Ayog, one of the smallest state-run boards with little importance.

Kathiria was suspended from the BJP but was re-inducted after he apologised. He was one of the chief managers of the rebel rally in 2007, organized in association with Congress, at Rajkot. Gordhan Zadaphia, who heads the Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP), which consists mainly of BJP rebels, said Kathiria's induction is "definitely a demotion for a man who once was Union minister handling portfolios like heavy industry and human resource development."

Another former rebel, Mahendra Trivedi, has been made chairman of the Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikas Board, which is responsible for overseeing the management of all major temples, including Somnath, Dwarka and Ambaji. Trivedi was part of the rebel coterie headed by another ex-CM Suresh Mehta, which at a later stage joined hands with Keshubhai Patel in his fight against Modi. Trivedi had served as minister of state for home and culture in two terms under Keshubhai Patel.

A third rebel, Kaushik Patel, who was not so active openly but worked as background man organising things for the rebels, has been made executive chairman of the Twenty Point Programme implementation committee, a defunct body. Patel has worked as Cabinet minister for energy and revenue in the state government.

Two other earlier rebels who have been inducted in the government are Mansukh Mandavia and Punam Makwana. If Mandavia has been made chairman of Gujarat Agro-Industries Corporation, which is on the verge of being closed down, Makwana is the new chairman of the Bechar Swami Ati Pacchat Vikas Board, a small agency.

Several well-known pro-Modi men who were out of job have also been awarded. Ex-minister Bhuprendrasinh Chudasma has been made vice-chairman of the Gujarat Planning State Board, almost non-existent body. Jayanti Barot, former Rajya Sabha MP, has been made chairman of the Gujarat Housing Construction Board. Purshottam Bhojani, a Saurashtra-based businessman and BJP leader, is chairman of the Jamnagar Urban Development Corporation.

Modi banners set afire in capital

Police suspect it to be the work of people who are unhappy with the plastic ban enforced in the capital

Dilip Patel

The offenders did not burn the posters entirely. They set fire only to the section containing Modi’s image. This banner stood at GH-4 Circle near Udhyog Bhavan Unidentified men burnt Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s posters in Gandhinagar late on Monday. The police have still not been able to trace the person/s responsible for the incident. However, they believe it could be the work of people who are unhappy with the plastic ban that has been in force in the city since January 1. Though there are several posters of Modi dotting the capital, the ones that the vandals burnt were put up at GH-4 and CH-3 crossroads. Such an incident has happened for the first time in 10 years, say sources. Mean against Green In the two posters, Modi was seen asking Gandhinagar residents to keep the city green and free of plastic. Interestingly, the offenders did not burn the posters entirely. They chose to burn just Modi’s image. The rest of the poster is intact. The police believe it was a premeditated act. “The posters are 12-foot high. Anyone trying to burn it would either need a ladder or would have to stand atop a vehicle to reach it. We have found a kerosene can at the GH-4 spot which is near Udhyog Bhavan,” said police. Ban against plastic The police, who removed both the posters, believe the act could have been carried out by people unhappy with the ban on plastic bags. The Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation had passed a resolution to ban sale as well as amassing of plastic bags below 20 microns from January 1. The civic body also decided to invoke the Forest and Environmental Protection Act against any offender who violates the ban thrice, and arrest him. Most importantly, the ban extends to gutkha pouches that the Supreme Court recently said should be banned by state governments in three months. The GMC has warned vendors at vegetable markets and shopping centres, commercial complexes, milk parlours and laariwallahs against using plastic. Offenders fined The GMC officials have been ordered to charge penalty of anything between Rs 50 and 5,000 from shop owners possessing plastic bags. The stringent ban includes closure of plants producing loose plastic. A team comprising officials from departments of health, forest, roads and building along with those from the collector’s office, Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority and fire brigade have been set up to monitor sale of plastic in the city and implementation of the ban. They recently raided two plastic manufacturers and imposed a heavy fine on them for violating the ban.

All must benefit from state’s best practices: Modi

All must benefit from state’s best practices: Modi

Chief Minister Narendra Modi today stressed the need to evolve a model work culture of best practices in good governance for public services, initiating a group discussion on 18 topics on the third day of the 7th Chintan Shibir at Mehsana.

Collectors, district development officers and municipal commissioners took part in each group discussion, followed by a question-answer session after the presentation on best practices. Emphasis was on agriculture and township services in the state’s golden jubilee year.

Modi said that best administrative practices and successful experiments employed by the Gujarat government should be modelled to extend the benefits to the people of the entire nation, and experts should deliberate on it and sketch a model to actualise it.

The chief minister was speaking on the third day of the Chintan Shibir, at which he joined the discussion initiated by Dr Ajay Kumar.

Muslims and Modi

Muslims and Modi

Deoband VC’s attempt to bridge the divide made little sense

POINT OF VIEW BY RIYAZ AHMAD

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Last week Deoband vice chancellor Maulana Ghulam Muhammed Vastanvi praised the functioning of the government of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. He also called on Muslims in Gujarat to forget the 2003 Pogrom and move on. His remarks heaved a big rock into the otherwise quiet pond of Deoband seminary with many clerics and students alike expressing a strong disapproval of the VC's opinion. Across the country, predominant Muslim opinion looked at the VC's praise with disbelief, seeing it as betrayal from a person who effectively happens to be their top religious leader. Vastanvi soon offered to resign and now his fate will be decided by the Deoband Shura which is scheduled to meet on February 23.
The VC's observations about Modi have also generated a massive media buzz with opinion bitterly split between the Maulana's right to say what he did and the sharp criticism of his attempt to exonerate Modi. Media, on its own, has watched at the development with a certain degree of affected impartiality and amusement, letting this crucial introspective turn in the Muslim understanding of Gujarat riots play itself out. The debate only became more interesting as Vastanvi added his own observations to it. Even though, he subsequently retracted his alleged praise of Modi, he didn't step back from his admiration of the economic progress in Gujarat during Modi's tenure and his earlier acknowledgement that minority Muslim community there was also its beneficiary.
The debate has since wound down without resolving anything. Vastanvi continues to be safe in his job. It, however, did offer a rare glimpse into the Indian Muslim mindset, their fears, apprehensions and grievances, marked by a conspicuous absence of hope.
One of the debaters on TV drew an interesting picture of the post-riots plight of Muslims in Gujarat, by dividing Muslim population in the state in three sections. One, which had completely lost hope and left themselves at the mercy of fate under Modi. Another continued to struggle for their rights against heavy odds. And third - like Vastanvi, the debater stressed - had compromised.
There are others who have passionately defended Vastanvi's right to have his opinion - even if in their wisdom it would mean a subtle defense of Modi. But all the same, Vastanvi who unlike traditional religious heads is an MBA and has a Facebook account, has found himself mired in the swirling controversy from which he won't be able to extricate himself for a while to come.
However, what makes the debate over Vastanvi's comments important is not the alleged internal politics of the Deoband where Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind is said to be seeking to regain control of the Darul Uloom - that is a distracting dimension - but the very nature of its having arisen in the first place. And that is the Muslim relationship with Modi. And he cannot and is not the past from which Muslims need to move on or reconcile with. There can and should be no problem if he always remains a hate figure.
Muslims in Gujarat, of course need to come to terms with the 2003 pogrom as a collective tragedy. How do they deal with this past: they might try to forget it, reconcile with it and then hopefully move on. These things happen as a matter of course, as part of an inherent natural process. But to move on from an unpleasant past they certainly do not need to absolve the people who made it painful for them.
Trouble with Vastanvi is that he in an unwelcome way has ushered Modi into this process. So, instead of dealing with the past and its painful memory, we start engaging with Modi as a person and along the way the emphasis on the serious priority of Muslims getting on with their lives appears like absolving the Gujarat chief minister of his all too apparent role in the riots. More so, when the detritus of this past is still strewn around us. And that, it is the Deoband VC who unsuspectingly or deliberately is aiding the exoneration of Modi has a certain troubling dimension that sits above the simplistic freedom of expression debate to which it has been reduced to. Nor is it the internal Deoband politics which needs to be stressed over and above the import of Maulana's utterances about Modi.
The larger question that hangs over the debate is whether Muslims or their leadership, both political and religious, can reconcile with Modi. Or whether there is a need and necessity to reconcile with him at all. Isn’t it just ok to just ignore him and move on.
Or is there a need to relentlessly fight Modi and his hate-mongering, divisive agenda that his administrative efficiency will never redeem. This is a Modi who has yet to apologize for the riots and proceed against the people guilty of the Muslim massacres. His government has stymied the legal action against an array of the activists who have publicly admitted their role in the killings forcing Supreme Court to move some of the more high-profile cases outside the state.
And this is a Modi who even seven years after the carnage which claimed around 2000 Muslim lives has yet to visit the Muslim refugee camps, and who some prominent national politicians have repeatedly said is a fit case to be tried in an international human rights court. This is also a Modi whom United States will not issue the visa to visit the country. This is what, more than anything else makes Maulana Vastanvi's Modi - Deoband VC, no less - remarks not only uncalled for but also unilateral and hence more hurtful to Muslims.

Modi blows own trumpet, heaps sarcasm on state

NAGPUR: Hindutva poster boy Narendra Modi on Friday portrayed Gujarat to be a virtually a state within the state as he trumpeted the achievements of his reign while taking swipes at Maharashtra and the Centre.


"Have you heard of a treaty between a country and a province of another country. Certainly not, but it happened in Gujarat. Powerful economies like Canada and Japan have partnered with Gujarat in its economic ventures. This has led to an investment commitment of almost Rs 21,00,000 crore through the Vibrant Gujarat summit. Heads of states and ministers from 109 countries gathered at Gujarat for it. Does it happen in Delhi," he asked. Modi was addressing a function in city to mark the golden jubilee year of formation of Gujarat organised by the local Gujarati community.


Attempting to project Gujarat as larger than country, he said even India had reached 50 years of its independence but the event went unnoticed while celebrations of Gujarat's 50th year seem to be surpassing all records. Speaking in Gujarati, Modi used the typical Amdvadadi jargon to take swipes at the Centre and other Congress-ruled states.


He said "mey badha booch band karee karee deedha che, chowkidar banee ne baitho choo ke koi Panjo nahin mari sake," (I have corked all the holes, so that no 'hand' can dare to grab the treasure), a clear reference to keeping Congress at bay from his state. He did not spare even Mahatma Gandhi. "Giving is in Gujarati culture, we have learnt from Gandhiji to give away everything, (indirect reference to conceding to the demand of Pakistan)," he said.


He quickly added that even Sardar Patel, the Gujarati ideal appropriated by BJP, had the same quality of being generous. The comment came as he said that Gujarat had now become a power surplus state and was supplying electricity to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.


Taking at a dig at Maharashtra from which Gujarat was carved out, he asserted his state had left the big brother far behind. "Does anyone have a health card in your state? In my state every farmer has a health card for his soil. We have cataract and dental treatment camps for cattle, you must be having it for humans in your state," he said condescendingly.


"When it was formed, all Gujarat had was a registan (desert) and Pakistan beyond that. Look now the very dry state has clocked a 9.6% agriculture growth while the country is still half way to the 4% target set a couple decades ago," said Modi to an applause. He said after the green revolution in the farms and white revolution with Amul, now its time to colour Gujarat with saffron and complete the tricolour. Saffron stands for energy, Modi pointed out even as the audience chanted BJP!


"Every village in Gujarat has uninterrupted power supply and a few minutes of power cuts make headlines saying darkness in Modi's land. I am sure here it makes news when there is a short period of power supply after days of darkness," he said ridiculing the load-shedding that persists in Maharashtra.


Modi exhorted the local Gujaratis to donate generously for his dream project of erecting a statue of Sardar Patel that would be double the size of Statue of Liberty. It would be called the Statue of Unity. "Eh to janta na Sardar hata nake koi sarkari sardar (Patel was a Sardar of masses and not a government-anointed Sardar)," Modi said in one last sarcastic comment about Centre.