12-24-2007, 01:55 AM
Turning point
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Turning point
Chandan Mitra
Emerging from the polling booth in his constituency last Sunday, Narendra Modi had simply said: "It will be a historic victory". The people of Gujarat have proved him right. His victory in 2007 surpasses every other milestone that he and his party had hitherto established; it is significantly more creditable than the landslide win of 2002 because this was a "normal" election devoid of surcharged emotions, fought by cold tactical calculations rather than the logic of polarisation.  Â
Parties have secured renewed mandates before, although nowadays that is increasingly uncommon. But never has a Chief Minister won such a resounding mandate on the plank of delivery; it is usually the promise of delivery, the lure of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that drives voters to give an unambiguous verdict. But Gujarat 2007 is different. Here the voters came out in numbers larger than ever before to emphatically endorse Narendra Modi's record in Government. By virtually repeating their 2002 verdict of handing two-thirds of Assembly seats to the BJP, Gujarat's electorate crafted a pro-incumbency wave.
It proves that elections can be won without pandering to the basest sentiments of caste, that good governance is not necessarily irrelevant to people's electoral choice, that populism is not the only mantra for coming to power. It also demonstrates that determined, decisive, delivery-oriented leadership can smash through the cobwebs of established political wisdom, that personal probity works magic when combined with a leader's credibility.
Every effort was made by Modi's detractors to divert attention from his colossal achievements and push Gujarat into a ghetto of self-pity. Even more than his political opponents, biased sections of the media pulled out all stops to paint Gujarat and its people in fearsome shades of blood and gore. Gujarat's stupendous achievements on the B-S-P (bijli, sadak, pani) front were ridiculed. <b>So much so, the Prime Minister blithely asserted that the State had seen no development under the BJP's almost uninterrupted 12-year rule.</b>
<i>this from someone who has never won any election and has no public mandate and has no organizational or party support either</i>
As a popular 70s song put it, "Yeh public hai sab jaanti hai". Indeed, people always know the truth. They know how their living conditions have dramatically improved under Modi's no-nonsense governance. By harping back on the post-Godhra violence (calculatedly leaving Godhra out of their breast-beating), the Chief Minister's critics were seen not only as churlish but also to mock Gujarati pride, which has come to be symbolised in Modi's persona. And when all that failed to have an impact on the people, a shameful attempt was made to communalise the election. It speaks volumes for the Gujarati voter that they did not rise to the bait but gave a fitting response to the merchants of hate and appeasement in the polling booths.
Indeed, Modi has succeeded in establishing a model State by development parameters as BJP President Rajnath Singh aptly pointed out. The Gujarat model is a showcase of India Tomorrow. Over the next five years, Narendra Modi can be expected to lead his State to higher pinnacles of achievement. It is in that sense that the Gujarat verdict will be the turning point in Indian politics as LK Advani has predicted.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Turning point
Chandan Mitra
Emerging from the polling booth in his constituency last Sunday, Narendra Modi had simply said: "It will be a historic victory". The people of Gujarat have proved him right. His victory in 2007 surpasses every other milestone that he and his party had hitherto established; it is significantly more creditable than the landslide win of 2002 because this was a "normal" election devoid of surcharged emotions, fought by cold tactical calculations rather than the logic of polarisation.  Â
Parties have secured renewed mandates before, although nowadays that is increasingly uncommon. But never has a Chief Minister won such a resounding mandate on the plank of delivery; it is usually the promise of delivery, the lure of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that drives voters to give an unambiguous verdict. But Gujarat 2007 is different. Here the voters came out in numbers larger than ever before to emphatically endorse Narendra Modi's record in Government. By virtually repeating their 2002 verdict of handing two-thirds of Assembly seats to the BJP, Gujarat's electorate crafted a pro-incumbency wave.
It proves that elections can be won without pandering to the basest sentiments of caste, that good governance is not necessarily irrelevant to people's electoral choice, that populism is not the only mantra for coming to power. It also demonstrates that determined, decisive, delivery-oriented leadership can smash through the cobwebs of established political wisdom, that personal probity works magic when combined with a leader's credibility.
Every effort was made by Modi's detractors to divert attention from his colossal achievements and push Gujarat into a ghetto of self-pity. Even more than his political opponents, biased sections of the media pulled out all stops to paint Gujarat and its people in fearsome shades of blood and gore. Gujarat's stupendous achievements on the B-S-P (bijli, sadak, pani) front were ridiculed. <b>So much so, the Prime Minister blithely asserted that the State had seen no development under the BJP's almost uninterrupted 12-year rule.</b>
<i>this from someone who has never won any election and has no public mandate and has no organizational or party support either</i>
As a popular 70s song put it, "Yeh public hai sab jaanti hai". Indeed, people always know the truth. They know how their living conditions have dramatically improved under Modi's no-nonsense governance. By harping back on the post-Godhra violence (calculatedly leaving Godhra out of their breast-beating), the Chief Minister's critics were seen not only as churlish but also to mock Gujarati pride, which has come to be symbolised in Modi's persona. And when all that failed to have an impact on the people, a shameful attempt was made to communalise the election. It speaks volumes for the Gujarati voter that they did not rise to the bait but gave a fitting response to the merchants of hate and appeasement in the polling booths.
Indeed, Modi has succeeded in establishing a model State by development parameters as BJP President Rajnath Singh aptly pointed out. The Gujarat model is a showcase of India Tomorrow. Over the next five years, Narendra Modi can be expected to lead his State to higher pinnacles of achievement. It is in that sense that the Gujarat verdict will be the turning point in Indian politics as LK Advani has predicted.
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