Narendra Modi to arrive on Saturday

PANAJI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Goa on Saturday.

Modi, who has been appointed as the in-charge of Goa for the Lok Sabha elections, will address a meeting of BJP office bearers, MLAs and election committee members on Sunday morning. He will then address the 'Booth Karyakarta Sammelan' in Margao. In the evening, Modi will meet the BJP workers of North Goa at a meeting to be held opposite the Bodgeshwar temple in Mapusa.

"The BJP cadre is very happy and charged for the forthcoming Loksabha elections with Modi's visit to Goa," said BJP state general secretary and spokesperson Govind Parvatkar.

Modi is also in-charge of Maharashtra and Gujarat for the Lok Sabha elections.

Narendra Modi, future PM

Too many journalists have proved guilty of projecting wishful thinking as analysis. Despite widespread media criticism, Narendra Modi won a landslide victory in Gujarat. Many journalists are now trying to explain lamely why they were wrong, and some hope he will be tamed or diminished in his second term.

I see things differently. I see Narendra Modi as a future Prime Minister of India, possibly even the next one. The prospect does not fill me with joy, but analysis is not about joyfulness. Just look around for young politicians who can move the masses, who can be more than regional leaders and make a national impact. I see no new faces, in or outside the BJP, to match Modi.Atal Behari Vajpayee is in poor health, and some believe LK Advani will soon take over from him, maybe in the next general elections in 2004. But Vajpayee might not step down. He might outlive Advani: there is little difference in their ages. Nobody can say who will pass away first.

By contrast, at 52 Narendra Modi is has many decades ahead of him. After his Gujarat victory he is obviously the star vote-getter of the party, leaving far behind older aspirants like Murali Manohar Joshi. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat may have some rival claims, but is an aged gentleman that has been kicked upstairs already. Besides, Shekhawat constantly needed help from others to form coalition governments. By contrast Modi won with a crushing two-thirds majority in Gujarat. You may hate him, but you cannot deny his vote-getting power.

Expect Modi to be a leading campaigner for the BJP in coming elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and expect the BJP to win. Drought and fiscal bankruptcy caused by the Pay Commission award have made Congress governments in these two states very vulnerable anyway. Expect this weakness to be exacerbated by communalism, spearheaded by Modi.

The BJP no longer has to incite communal riots to inflame passions. Jehadi elements are doing it anyway, and handing over public sentiment on a platter to the BJP. Witnesse temple attacks in Jammu and Akshadharm. Expect more such attacks, and not on temples alone. Expect each attack to strengthen the BJP and weaken its rivals.A paradigm shift has taken place in Indian elections. The old aphorism, that all politics is local, now rings hollow.

Even US knows I'm incorruptible: Narendra Modi on WikiLeaks

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday used the latest WikiLeaks disclosures to pat himself on the back, saying "Now even the US knows that I am incorruptible".

Reacting to the recent WikiLeaks disclosures in which a top US consular official described him as a "non-corrupt and efficient administrator", Modi told reporters on the sidelines of an event this proved his credentials.

"WikiLeaks shows two faces - one that of the government of and the other of progressive Gujarat," the chief minister said.

In the latest leaked diplomatic cables accessed by The Hindu newspaper, Michael S. Owen, the US consul general in 2006, wrote to the they might have to reassess the Gujarat chief minister, whose visa they revoked due to his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Owen also said that Modi could emerge as the Bharatiya Janata Party's next national leader.

"Modi has successfully branded himself as a non-corrupt, effective administrator, as a facilitator of business in a state with a deep commercial culture, and as a no-nonsense, law-and-order politician who looks after the interests of the Hindu majority.

"Modi's backers in the BJP now hope to convince the party leadership that he can use these positive traits to attract voters throughout India. Some BJP leaders believe, or hope, that voters will forget or forgive Modi's role in the 2002 bloodshed, once they learn to appreciate his other qualities," Owen wrote in his assessment.

Modi said he met Owen in where they discussed Gujarat.

Recalling his meeting with Owen, Modi said: "I looked into his eyes and said, 'do not preach... I am a son of India, I know what human rights violations you have done'. Good that the dialogue has been faithfully reproduced."

The Gujarat chief minister also said he that "government of India should address the issue of American interference" in Indian affairs.