06-21-2006, 10:18 PM
Modi's mantra: Gujarat first
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But on some counts you have to give Modi credit. One, based on anecdotal evidence it would seem corruption has come down significantly in the state. The way an industrialist tells it, he paid a minister in the Gujarat government and Modi came to know of it. He asked if bribes had been paid. The industrialist first demurred and then, greed getting the better of him, admitted (possibly in the hope he would get his money back) that he'd paid Rs 10 lakh. Modi telephoned the minister, informed him that the industrialist was sitting with him and asked when the Rs 10 lakh was being deposited with the party. This was the clearest message to investors -- if there was to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Second, Modi is unequivocally, totally, passionately devoted to Gujarat. During the recent Narmada Dam controversy, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz who was appalled at the way rehabilitation was handled by Madhya Pradesh, tried to stall Gujarat from raising the height of the dam so that he could secure some kind of deal for the oustees.
Modi came to Delhi for secret talks with Soz where Soz virtually begged him to postpone the decision. "I will issue a public statement saying you are India's greatest statesman," Soz told Modi, possibly expecting that an endorsement from a Kashmiri Muslim would help Modi wash away some of the Godhra black.
The only statement I want, Modi told Soz, is from the people of Gujarat. He then returned to Ahmedabad, made public the fact that Delhi wanted him to cut a deal that he refused and challenged the Gujarat Congress to tell the state where it stood -- with the UPA at the Centre or with Gujarat? MPs and political leaders from the state cutting across party lines rushed to Delhi to tell the prime minister not to punish Gujarat for it had committed no fault. It was Modi's initiative all the way.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Modi's position is: Gujarat first, everything else later. He is the only mass leader the BJP has. Paradoxically, this owes to the tension between the branches of the Hindutva family. Logically, this will propel Modi to the presidentship of the BJP.</b> What will happen then is anyone's guess.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But on some counts you have to give Modi credit. One, based on anecdotal evidence it would seem corruption has come down significantly in the state. The way an industrialist tells it, he paid a minister in the Gujarat government and Modi came to know of it. He asked if bribes had been paid. The industrialist first demurred and then, greed getting the better of him, admitted (possibly in the hope he would get his money back) that he'd paid Rs 10 lakh. Modi telephoned the minister, informed him that the industrialist was sitting with him and asked when the Rs 10 lakh was being deposited with the party. This was the clearest message to investors -- if there was to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Second, Modi is unequivocally, totally, passionately devoted to Gujarat. During the recent Narmada Dam controversy, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz who was appalled at the way rehabilitation was handled by Madhya Pradesh, tried to stall Gujarat from raising the height of the dam so that he could secure some kind of deal for the oustees.
Modi came to Delhi for secret talks with Soz where Soz virtually begged him to postpone the decision. "I will issue a public statement saying you are India's greatest statesman," Soz told Modi, possibly expecting that an endorsement from a Kashmiri Muslim would help Modi wash away some of the Godhra black.
The only statement I want, Modi told Soz, is from the people of Gujarat. He then returned to Ahmedabad, made public the fact that Delhi wanted him to cut a deal that he refused and challenged the Gujarat Congress to tell the state where it stood -- with the UPA at the Centre or with Gujarat? MPs and political leaders from the state cutting across party lines rushed to Delhi to tell the prime minister not to punish Gujarat for it had committed no fault. It was Modi's initiative all the way.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Modi's position is: Gujarat first, everything else later. He is the only mass leader the BJP has. Paradoxically, this owes to the tension between the branches of the Hindutva family. Logically, this will propel Modi to the presidentship of the BJP.</b> What will happen then is anyone's guess.
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