07-18-2006, 02:45 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Modi in Mumbai: Between the lines</b>
July 18, 2006
link
<b>Dekho dekho kaun aaya, Gujarat ka sher aaya (Look who's here: The lion of Gujarat)."
Desh ka neta kaisa ho? Narendra Modi jaisa ho (What should the leaders of the country be like? They should be like Narendra Modi)."
"Narendra Modi aage baddo, hum tumhaare saath hain (Narendra Modi march forth, we are with you)." </b>
The slogans set the tone for Monday evening's anti-terrorism public meeting at the Shanmukhananda Hall in Sion, northcentral Mumbai.
The shouts were accompanied with photographs of the Chhote Sardar -- the Gujarat chief minister, who is called that by Bharatiya Janata Party workers who equate him with one of the fathers of the modern Indian nation, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel -- being held aloft and "Bharat mata ki jai (Hail the Motherland)" reverberating louder with every television camera focus.
The first speaker at the auditorium that can seat roughly 3,000 people was Narendra Banjara, who said he was a patriotic poet.
"When Atalji (Bihari Vajpayee, then Indian prime minister) called (Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf to Agra, we gave him a 21-gun salute. Pity none of the guns found their target," Banjara said, launching into singsong verse about obliterating Pakistan from the map. That was the most complimentary thing he said about India's nuclear neighbour.
Other highlights of Banjara's performance were calls for bans on missionaries and religious conversions and threats of hoisting the tricolour in Islamabad if Pakistan didn't stop dreaming about Kashmir.
When Modi almost quoted Nehru
Narendra Modi walked in at 7:28 pm and took the speaker's stand at 8:08 pm, both to standing ovations. His speech was a far cry from the vitriol he is reportedly infamous for. Instead there were padded jibes, un-named references and poignant silences.
<b>On terrorism </b>
Terrorism, Modi said, was worse than war. Because in war you have rules, you know who your enemy is, you take him on at a designated battleground, there are international laws to stop wars.
"The battle against terrorism is a battle for humanity," the Gujarat chief minister emphasised.
"Terrorism has crippled this country," he said, pointing at the northeast, at the corridor the Naxalites were building from "Pashupati (in Nepal) to Tirupati (in south India)" and there was "a concentrated effort from the time of Zia-ul Haq" to terrorise western India.
<b>"Till the day I am alive, I will hunt down the merchants of death one by one," </b>Modi declared to rock-star applause.<b> "My ideals are very clear," he added "Many leaders pat my back privately. They don't have the courage in public life." </b>
<b>On the Mumbai blasts </b>
<b>"The families who have lost their kin, I have come to give them faith," Modi, under whose reign the 2002 Gujarat riots happened, said. "To assure them that the blood of your son will not go in vain. How can the country forget innocent people's tears and screams?" </b>
Then came an almost Nehru-esque line about how those countries that forget their history cannot secure their future.
<b>Modi versus Manmohan </b>
<b>The country remembers Sardar (Patel). Now, we have another Sardar, Manmohan Singh, who declares in Mumbai that there was a Pakistani hand in the Mumbai blasts and when he reaches Delhi, says such small incidents should not come in the way of dialogue with Pakistan,"</b> Modi said, launching into a scathing attack on the Union government's act of repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
At the prime minister's contention that POTA had not prevented the September 2002 terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple in Gujarat, Modi quipped: "Then tomorrow Lalu (Prasad Yadav, Union railway minister) will come and say people are travelling without tickets despite a law against it. Scrap that law."
POTA had helped hang the Akshardham terrorists, he reminded the audience that was in raptures, but the accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts were still unharmed.
<b>"Personally, I respect you (Dr Singh)," Modi added. "but are you serious about the serious issue of terrorism?" </b>
<b>Modi, the peacenik</b>
<b>Peace is nothing new. Maybe these electronic mediawallahs have just found out, but we (the BJP) have always been peaceful," Modi said, pointing out that there had been numerous attacks on religious processions like the Amarnath Yatra and places like the Akshardham temple, without any retaliation.
"You must have a fire inside to fight for the truth," </b>he added.
<b>"Some five-star activists and people brought up with foreign values paint as communal whoever speaks up against terrorism."</b>
When Ishrat Jahan, a resident of Mumbra near Mumbai, was killed by the Gujarat police, human rights actvists had painted her as a martyr and one politician had given Rs 100,000 to her family, Modi said. Three days later, he said, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba mouthpiece publication had hailed Jahan as a martyr.
<b>"Where were your secret cameras then?" Modi demanded, an apparent reference to sting operations on Indian news television channels. "I don't talk much," he added, after the applause died down. "I don't believe in wasting headline space." </b>
<b>On the Manmohan Singh government </b>
Modi pointed fingers at a <b>Congress ally in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, alleging that the organisation was mentioned in a chargesheet against the Students Islamic Movement of India</b>.
He alleged that the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom had campaigned for the Congress party in Assam.
<b>He charged that in the Bihar election, an Osama bin Laden lookalike had been paraded to garner votes. He said a Coimbatore blast accused had been freed to contest elections.
"What is your strategy against terrorism?" he demanded from the Union government. "If you don't want to tell the public, tell me, a chief minister." </b>
<b>Modi the idol </b>
The provocative words were there, though it was not Modi dishing it out. The leaders who spoke before Modi harped in harmony: <b>slamming Mulayam Singh Yadav for his reported pro-SIMI stand; slamming actors Aamir Khan, Shabana Azmi and Company for being "so-called secular" and "five-star activists"; </b>slamming the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party Maharashtra government for not fighting terrorism, slamming Minorities Minister A R Antulay and Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh for their reported statements that Hindus could be involved in the Mumbai blasts; slamming the Union government for vote-bank politics.
And brandishing the might of 80 crore people at Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, who reportedly said 20 crore people of the minority community could take to the streets.
All the speakers praised Modi. As the only leader who had fought terrorism.
The Gujarat chief minister acknowledged the praise, saying that in Assam, every village he went to had urged him to speak about the Bangladeshi immigrant problem.
<b>"I told them you are surrounded by Bangladeshis and I am surrounded by Pakistanis. But the difference is, you are flustered with them; they are flustered with me." </b>
Meanwhile outside, the security cover was fit for a man who was at the helm when over 1,000 people -- according to official figures -- were killed in riots in Gujarat four years ago.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
July 18, 2006
link
<b>Dekho dekho kaun aaya, Gujarat ka sher aaya (Look who's here: The lion of Gujarat)."
Desh ka neta kaisa ho? Narendra Modi jaisa ho (What should the leaders of the country be like? They should be like Narendra Modi)."
"Narendra Modi aage baddo, hum tumhaare saath hain (Narendra Modi march forth, we are with you)." </b>
The slogans set the tone for Monday evening's anti-terrorism public meeting at the Shanmukhananda Hall in Sion, northcentral Mumbai.
The shouts were accompanied with photographs of the Chhote Sardar -- the Gujarat chief minister, who is called that by Bharatiya Janata Party workers who equate him with one of the fathers of the modern Indian nation, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel -- being held aloft and "Bharat mata ki jai (Hail the Motherland)" reverberating louder with every television camera focus.
The first speaker at the auditorium that can seat roughly 3,000 people was Narendra Banjara, who said he was a patriotic poet.
"When Atalji (Bihari Vajpayee, then Indian prime minister) called (Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf to Agra, we gave him a 21-gun salute. Pity none of the guns found their target," Banjara said, launching into singsong verse about obliterating Pakistan from the map. That was the most complimentary thing he said about India's nuclear neighbour.
Other highlights of Banjara's performance were calls for bans on missionaries and religious conversions and threats of hoisting the tricolour in Islamabad if Pakistan didn't stop dreaming about Kashmir.
When Modi almost quoted Nehru
Narendra Modi walked in at 7:28 pm and took the speaker's stand at 8:08 pm, both to standing ovations. His speech was a far cry from the vitriol he is reportedly infamous for. Instead there were padded jibes, un-named references and poignant silences.
<b>On terrorism </b>
Terrorism, Modi said, was worse than war. Because in war you have rules, you know who your enemy is, you take him on at a designated battleground, there are international laws to stop wars.
"The battle against terrorism is a battle for humanity," the Gujarat chief minister emphasised.
"Terrorism has crippled this country," he said, pointing at the northeast, at the corridor the Naxalites were building from "Pashupati (in Nepal) to Tirupati (in south India)" and there was "a concentrated effort from the time of Zia-ul Haq" to terrorise western India.
<b>"Till the day I am alive, I will hunt down the merchants of death one by one," </b>Modi declared to rock-star applause.<b> "My ideals are very clear," he added "Many leaders pat my back privately. They don't have the courage in public life." </b>
<b>On the Mumbai blasts </b>
<b>"The families who have lost their kin, I have come to give them faith," Modi, under whose reign the 2002 Gujarat riots happened, said. "To assure them that the blood of your son will not go in vain. How can the country forget innocent people's tears and screams?" </b>
Then came an almost Nehru-esque line about how those countries that forget their history cannot secure their future.
<b>Modi versus Manmohan </b>
<b>The country remembers Sardar (Patel). Now, we have another Sardar, Manmohan Singh, who declares in Mumbai that there was a Pakistani hand in the Mumbai blasts and when he reaches Delhi, says such small incidents should not come in the way of dialogue with Pakistan,"</b> Modi said, launching into a scathing attack on the Union government's act of repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
At the prime minister's contention that POTA had not prevented the September 2002 terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple in Gujarat, Modi quipped: "Then tomorrow Lalu (Prasad Yadav, Union railway minister) will come and say people are travelling without tickets despite a law against it. Scrap that law."
POTA had helped hang the Akshardham terrorists, he reminded the audience that was in raptures, but the accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts were still unharmed.
<b>"Personally, I respect you (Dr Singh)," Modi added. "but are you serious about the serious issue of terrorism?" </b>
<b>Modi, the peacenik</b>
<b>Peace is nothing new. Maybe these electronic mediawallahs have just found out, but we (the BJP) have always been peaceful," Modi said, pointing out that there had been numerous attacks on religious processions like the Amarnath Yatra and places like the Akshardham temple, without any retaliation.
"You must have a fire inside to fight for the truth," </b>he added.
<b>"Some five-star activists and people brought up with foreign values paint as communal whoever speaks up against terrorism."</b>
When Ishrat Jahan, a resident of Mumbra near Mumbai, was killed by the Gujarat police, human rights actvists had painted her as a martyr and one politician had given Rs 100,000 to her family, Modi said. Three days later, he said, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba mouthpiece publication had hailed Jahan as a martyr.
<b>"Where were your secret cameras then?" Modi demanded, an apparent reference to sting operations on Indian news television channels. "I don't talk much," he added, after the applause died down. "I don't believe in wasting headline space." </b>
<b>On the Manmohan Singh government </b>
Modi pointed fingers at a <b>Congress ally in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, alleging that the organisation was mentioned in a chargesheet against the Students Islamic Movement of India</b>.
He alleged that the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom had campaigned for the Congress party in Assam.
<b>He charged that in the Bihar election, an Osama bin Laden lookalike had been paraded to garner votes. He said a Coimbatore blast accused had been freed to contest elections.
"What is your strategy against terrorism?" he demanded from the Union government. "If you don't want to tell the public, tell me, a chief minister." </b>
<b>Modi the idol </b>
The provocative words were there, though it was not Modi dishing it out. The leaders who spoke before Modi harped in harmony: <b>slamming Mulayam Singh Yadav for his reported pro-SIMI stand; slamming actors Aamir Khan, Shabana Azmi and Company for being "so-called secular" and "five-star activists"; </b>slamming the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party Maharashtra government for not fighting terrorism, slamming Minorities Minister A R Antulay and Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh for their reported statements that Hindus could be involved in the Mumbai blasts; slamming the Union government for vote-bank politics.
And brandishing the might of 80 crore people at Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, who reportedly said 20 crore people of the minority community could take to the streets.
All the speakers praised Modi. As the only leader who had fought terrorism.
The Gujarat chief minister acknowledged the praise, saying that in Assam, every village he went to had urged him to speak about the Bangladeshi immigrant problem.
<b>"I told them you are surrounded by Bangladeshis and I am surrounded by Pakistanis. But the difference is, you are flustered with them; they are flustered with me." </b>
Meanwhile outside, the security cover was fit for a man who was at the helm when over 1,000 people -- according to official figures -- were killed in riots in Gujarat four years ago.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->