<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>"The truth has to be told. We have to fight it up front. Democracy is not about winning or losing a state election. Modi is something that the Congress abhors," </b>senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said.
"<b>We have set the agenda and we want that kind of polity which Narendra Modi does not represent. We will continue to fight,"</b> Sibal said.
Accusing the Modi regime of instilling fear in the minds of the people of the state, he said,<b> "Fascists do win and repeat their victory".</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But citizen of Gujarat gave nice kick to Italian Sonia and her fascist party, same happened with Benito Musolini of Italy.
<b>Modi - 124
Sonia - 53
other - 5 </b>
<b>12:17 64 - Sarkhej, Gujarat AMIT SHAH (BJP) Leading By 161308 Votes </b>
12:17 64 - Sarkhej, Gujarat PATEL SHASHIKANT V. (BHURABHAI) (INC) Trailing
<b>12:17 158 - Jhagadia, Gujarat VASAVA CHHOTUBHAI AMARASINHBHAI (JD(U)) Won
12:16 180 - Mota Pondha, Gujarat CHAUDHARY JITUBHAI HIRJIBHAI (INC) Leading By 17221 Votes
12:16 30 - Khambhalia, Gujarat KANZARIYA MEGHJI DAYA (BJP) Leading By 793 Votes
12:16 171 - Surat City West, Gujarat KISHOR VANKAWALA (BJP) Leading By 62561 Votes
12:16 142 - Jetpur, Gujarat MOHANSINH CHHOTUBHAI RATHAVA (INC) Leading By 9475 Votes
12:16 100 - Palanpur, Gujarat PRAJAPATI GOVINDBHAI MADHAVLAL (BJP) Leading By 9548 Votes </b>
<b>12:15 11 - Halvad, Gujarat DEVJIBHAI GOVINDBHAI FATEPARA (INC) Leading By 4155 Votes
12:15 62 - Mandal, Gujarat DR. PATEL TEJASHRIBEN DILIPKUMAR (INC) Leading By 1046 Votes
12:15 168 - Olpad, Gujarat PATEL KIRITBHAI GANGARAMBHAI (BJP) Leading By 54009 Votes
12:15 181 - Pardi, Gujarat PATEL USHABEN GIRISHKUMAR (BJP) Leading By 10664 Votes
12:15 167 - Kamrej, Gujarat RATHOD BHARTIBEN AMRUTBHAI (BJP) Leading By 7280 Votes </b>
12:14 13 - Morvi, Gujarat AMRUTIYA KANTILAL SHIVLAL (BJP) Leading By 15875 Votes
12:14 153 - Karjan, Gujarat DABHI CHANDUBHAI MOTIBHAI (INC) Leading By 434 Votes
12:14 153 - Karjan, Gujarat KANODIYA NARESHKUMAR MITHALAL (BJP) Trailing
12:14 53 - Kundla, Gujarat MALANI DIPAKBHAI KURAJIBHAI (INC) Lost
12:14 53 - Kundla, Gujarat KALUBHAI VIRANI (BJP) Won By 17334 Votes
12:13 57 - Bhavnagar North, Gujarat DAVE VIBHAVARIBEN VIJAYBHAI (VIBHABEN DAVE) (BJP) Leading By 25170 Votes
12:13 26 - Jamnagar Rural, Gujarat LALJIBHAI PREMJIBHAI SOLANKI (BJP) Leading By 5181 Votes
12:13 59 - Dhandhuka, Gujarat MER RANCHHODBHAI KARSHANBHAI (IND) Leading By 6710 Votes
12:13 56 - Ghogho, Gujarat PARSHOTTAMBHAI ODHAVJIBHAI SOLANKI (BJP) Leading By 24583 Votes
12:13 60 - Dholka, Gujarat TALPADA KANJIBHAI RAYABHAI (INC) Leading By 677 Votes
12:13 110 - Meghraj, Gujarat VAGHELA MAHENDRASINH SHANKARSINH (INC) Leading By 8992 Votes
12:13 57 - Bhavnagar North, Gujarat ARUN MEHTA (CPM) Trailing
12:13 60 - Dholka, Gujarat CHUDASMA BHUPENDRASINH MANUBHA (BJP) Trailing
12:13 26 - Jamnagar Rural, Gujarat DR.DINESH PARMAR (INC) Trailing
12:13 59 - Dhandhuka, Gujarat PANDYA BHARATBHAI BALDEVDAS (BJP) Trailing
12:13 110 - Meghraj, Gujarat PARMAR BHIKHIBEN GIRVATSINH (BJP) Trailing
12:13 56 - Ghogho, Gujarat VEGAD KARSHANBHAI BHIKHABHAI (INC) Trailing
12:12 143 - Nasvadi, Gujarat BHIL DHIRUBHAI CHUNILAL (INC) Leading By 3115 Votes
12:12 178 - Bulsar, Gujarat DESAI DOLATRAI NATHUBHAI (BJP) Leading By 14351 Votes
12:12 154 - Jambusar, Gujarat MORI CHHATRASINHJI PUJABHAI (BJP) Leading By 750 Votes
12:12 118 - Halol, Gujarat PARMAR JAYDRATHSINHJI CHANDRASINHJI (BJP) Leading By 16673 Votes
12:12 111 - Santrampur, Gujarat PARMAR PARANJAYADITYASINHJI KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI (INC) Leading By 6856 Votes
12:12 157 - Ankleshwar, Gujarat PATEL ISHWARSINH THAKORBHAI (BJP) Leading By 26990 Votes
12:12 145 - Dabhoi, Gujarat SIDDHARTH CHIMANBHAI PATEL (INC) Leading By 9858 Votes
12:12 7 - Dasada, Gujarat TUNDIYA SHAMBHUPRASAD BALDEVDASJI (BJP) Leading By 3043 Votes
12:12 101 - Vadgam, Gujarat VAGHELA FAKIRBHAI RAGHABHAI (BJP) Leading By 5760 Votes
12:11 5 - Anjar, Gujarat ACHARYA NEEMABEN BHAVESHBHAI (BJP) Leading By 16779 Votes
12:11 3 - Bhuj, Gujarat AHIR VASANBHAI GOPALBHAI (BJP) Leading By 14740 Votes
12:11 103 - Khedbrahma, Gujarat ASHWIN KOTVAL (INC) Leading By 20726 Votes
12:11 119 - Kalol, Gujarat CHAUHAN PRAVINSINH PRABHATSINH (IND) Leading By 8386 Votes
12:11 128 - Kathlal, Gujarat DABHI KANUBHAI BHULABHAI (BJP) Leading By 680 Votes
12:11 17 - Rajkot-I, Gujarat GOVINDBHAI UKABHAI PATEL (BJP) Leading By 31067 Votes
12:11 166 - Bardoli, Gujarat HALPATI KUVARJIBHAI NARSINHBHAI (INC) Leading By 4613 Votes
12:11 123 - Randhikpur, Gujarat JASVANTSINH SUMANBHAI BHABHOR (BJP) Leading By 5180 Votes
12:11 61 - Bavla, Gujarat LAKUM KANTILAL RAMABHAI (BJP) Leading By 7597 Votes
12:11 177 - Dangs-Bansda, Gujarat PATEL VIJAYBHAI RAMESHBHAI (BJP) Leading By 8505 Votes
12:11 128 - Kathlal, Gujarat ZALA GAUTAMBHAI JESANGBHAI (INC) Trailing
12:10 29 - Bhanvad, Gujarat AYAR BERA MULUBHAI HARDASBHAI (BJP) Leading By 8694 Votes
12:10 120 - <b>Godhra, Gujarat </b>C.K. RAULJI (INC) Leading By 1274 Votes
12:10 114 - Dohad, Gujarat PANADA VAJESINGBHAI PARSINGBHAI (INC) Leading By 7838 Votes
12:10 169 - Surat City North, Gujarat VANANI NANUBHAI BHAGVANBHAI (BJP) Leading By 20915 Votes
12:10 162 - Mangrol, Gujarat VASAVA GANPATSINH VESTABHAI (BJP) Leading By 6917 Votes
12:10 149 - Raopura, Gujarat YOGESH PATEL (BJP) Leading By 52978 Votes
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->TRIBALS REMAIN SAFFRONISED
The tribals of Gujarat took up the Ram Mandir issue after 10 years of hard work by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It seems the tribals want to remain connected with the Sangh Parivar. The Congress seems to have decisively lost the tribals of Gujarat to the BJP.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Most enjoyable was when Rajdeep Sardesai was grilling Singhvi and Setalvad. Setalvad accused Singhvi of soft-hindutva. Singhvi said -> what are you saying ? Everytime a kangress leader visits a temple we are communal ? what do you want us to do ? just keep doiong your bidding ? we have 100 other issues. Then Sardesai told Setalvad -> yes yes political parties might not neccesarily share your agenda. Too much hulla-gulla after that. I had to go, so missed out on other fun.
I heard somewhere Modi has won from his constituency by 90K votes or something.
Mudy I think urban seats it was about 80% last time i checked.
Anyhow kangressi strategy will now be simple. They will keep congratulating Modi and make him the "face of BJP" and consolidate the muslim vote outside Gujarat. In their mind perhaps thats getting something out of the hopeless situation. Lets see how succesful that strategy is...
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Media strategy would also be similar methinks. There will be some who atleast for the short term go nuts over Modi. Some will even be willing to carry his baby.
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Modi's strategy will be tricky. He will have to somehow expand his influence outside Gujarat. INC will help him by pitching him against Soniaben. If he plays it well then he might be able to really go places. It will be interesting to see.
Media is in shock. Arun Jaitely said even media was quoting wrong quotes from Satta bazar and they were trying to run democracy through Satta bazar.
Rajesh, I agree with your analysis. Congress may be trying to gather or scare commies, indirectly asking them to stick with Congress.
<!--QuoteBegin-rajesh_g+Dec 23 2007, 03:45 PM-->QUOTE(rajesh_g @ Dec 23 2007, 03:45 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Anyhow kangressi strategy will now be simple. They will keep congratulating Modi and make him the "face of BJP" and consolidate the muslim vote outside Gujarat. In their mind perhaps thats getting something out of the hopeless situation. Lets see how succesful that strategy is...
---
<b>The muslim vote does not matter
BJP wins most of its seats in constituencies more than 20% muslim</b>---
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Media strategy would also be similar methinks. There will be some who atleast for the short term go nuts over Modi. Some will even be willing to carry his baby.
-----------
Modi's strategy will be tricky. He will have to somehow expand his influence outside Gujarat. INC will help him by pitching him against Soniaben. If he plays it well then he might be able to really go places. It will be interesting to see.
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Good show. Modi won despite a visceral campaign by Sonia. I think we should call INC Sonia party. It is not a Congress except of sycophants.
Sibbal is signaling the leftists by calling Modi 'fascist' etc. Kind of scaring them to draw closer to Sonia party.
GS, I need your skills. Can we go back the Phase I polls predictions and dissect them against poll results.
I have this hunch that Muslims voted for BJP in its strongholds. Is this correct? they did not waste it on Sonia party.
Modi has to spread the message at least in Western India and the South.
Reading Gujarat's message right
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The expected has happened and the Bharatiya Janata Party has romped home to an impressive victory for a third time in succession in Gujarat, smashing the biggest bogey of Indian politics -- the anti-incumbency factor. Only time will tell whether Gujarat too will see a pattern similar to the one in West Bengal, where the same dispensation (the Left parties) has had an uninterrupted spell.
For the present, there is no denying the decisive nature of the BJP's landslide win. It has been uniform in its scope and sweep. <b>It has not just that prevailed in rural, urban and tribal constituencies, but also it has been able to override the revolt of some heavyweights within the party in their strongholds. Indications are that it may even improve its popular share of votes from what it was in 2002.</b>
<b>There can be no question that the party owes its laurels to its star performer: Narendra Modi [Images].</b> The electoral battle was, from start to finish, dominated by him. He spared no effort, in fact, he went all out and laid his leadership on the line to get the succulent electoral plums to drop into the party's basket. <b>There is no getting away from the fact that the triumph in Gujarat was almost entirely his handiwork. And not without reason.</b>
On all accounts, he is a brisk, tough, no-nonsense political leader who is also an effective administrator and a man of vision. He is widely credited with giving Gujarat five years of purposeful governance marked by increased flow of investments, efficient implementation of welfare schemes and development projects and people-friendly service delivery. More than all, there has been not a whiff of corruption or scandal associated with him. His charisma, therefore, was derived, not from superficial PR build-up, but from the solid stuff of integrity, leadership from up front and ability to relate to the people at large.
Hinge of fate
The inability of other parties contesting the election to project anyone matching him in calibre and competence made it a cakewalk for the party. <b>Also, Congress President Sonia Gandhi [Images] made the blunder of playing into his hands by the use of intemperate phraseology in attacking the state government including 'jhoote (mendacious), beiman (shameless) and maut ka saudagar (merchants of death)'. Another luminary of the same party, Digvijay Singh, made things worse by his mention of 'Hindu terrorism'.</b>
This was the hinge of fate of the whole campaign. It gave an immediate and powerful emotional handle to Modi to turn the tables on the Congress and paint it as a party going soft on terrorism and compromising national security for the sake of capitalising on Muslim vote banks.
He was also able to invoke Gujarati pride, as N T Rama Rao did in Andhra Pradesh in 1983 to send the Congress into the wilderness within nine months of forming his Telugu Desam Party.
<b>From that point on, Modi never allowed the initiative to slip out of his hands.</b> Never since India's Independence has an election for a state assembly been watched not only by India but all over the world so intensely. The reason is the prevalence of the feeling commonly held among the public and perceptive analysts alike that the significance of the result extends far beyond the success of a party or an individual.
<b>The smug, self-serving and corrupt political formations in the rest of the polity, ineffectually running a soft State and feathering their own nests, will be in for trouble if they do not read the message of the electorate of Gujarat right. They will miss its purport altogether unless they purge themselves of their hang-ups and fixations of the past.</b>
<b>It will be simplistic as well as unwise to portray it as a case of secularism versus Hindutva.</b>
The message from Gujarat is that people want to see in their leaders the time-honoured values of intellectual honesty, personal integrity, performance-oriented governance and straight dealing. They do not any longer want to put up with politicians who speak differently from different corners of the mouth and soft-pedal the looming dangers to the nation from hostile forces and traitorous groups.
So long as those they elect as their servants are sensitive to their concerns and meet their expectations, they do not care whether they are votaries of whatever labels are affixed on them. For, regardless of what the political and media pundits may say, from the people's perspective nothing can be more excruciatingly oppressive than a government that does not govern or a government of the crooks, by the crooks and for the crooks.
B S Raghavan is a former civil servant. He now lives in Chennai. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Congress wasn't in the picture!
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Bharatiya Janata Party's election victory in Gujarat may have been on the plank of Narendra Modi's [Images] charisma, the promise of development and a curfew-free Gujarat, but the Hindutva issue has not entirely disappeared from the Gujarati mind.
The Sarkhej constituency, which is virtually divided on communal grounds, has once again elected Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah by a huge margin of more than 235,000 votes. The constituency has communally charged areas like the Hindu-dominated Vejalpur and the Muslim-dominated Juhapura.
In a telephone conversation with Rediff.com Managing Editor (National Affairs) Sheela Bhatt, Shah, above, spelled out the meaning of the BJP's victory.
How do you analyse the BJP's victory today?
The popularity of Narendra Modi, our stance on the issue of terrorism and the development work that we have heralded all over the state helped us win this election.
Why is Modi so popular?
He is honest. He is providing an efficient administration.
Did you expect to win as many seats?
<b>We expected 12 to 15 seats more. We lost 12 seats only by around 500 votes. If the media had not written such lies about us, we would have won those seats too.</b>
What message does the BJP victory send outside Gujarat?
We are sending one clear message: Political leaders and the government will have to provide security to people. Governments can't escape from taking tough steps. One can't be populist about it. You can't flirt with such serious issues like security.
Where did the Congress make mistakes?
The Congress wasn't in the picture! <b>A national party cannot win an election riding piggyback on the rebels of the rival party.</b> In BJP rebel areas like Surat, we have won four seats. In Amreli we have won six and in Kutch we have won four out of six seats.
<b>Keshubhai Patel's influence has been completely wiped out.</b> Remember, the Congress contest only 165 out of 182 seats. <b>We would have won Central Gujarat too, but I think the lies of the Congress through the media hurt our candidates.</b>
In the 2002 election, we had won seats in the Congress stronghold of Central Gujarat; maybe it has slipped back a little. <b>However, we have lost by a very thin margin there.</b>
Where does Modi go from here?
What remains to be done. He will rule the state.
How about a role in national politics for him?
I will have to ask Modi about it.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Next step for Modi -- the national stage
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>No other leader in the history of Gujarat state has captured the public imagination as Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images] has.</b>
Dr Jivraj Mehta, the state's first chief minister, was a man of immense intellect and vision. Yet he vanished into obscurity. The Late Chimanbhai Patel, the man Modi should thank for the Narmada waters in the taps and canals and the vibrant state of the present Gujarat economy, is only remembered for corruption during his tenure.
Modi's public face is a larger than life projection of an image, that public loves to accept as the real thing.
In build up of this image, the <b>mainstream secular media formed a mutually symbiotic relationship, in which Modi represented parasitic Hindutva while the media represented parasitic secularism.</b> Godhra and the violence that followed wedded them together.
It had always been Modi's forte to plan electoral strategies and he was a brilliant backroom boy. But no backroom boy ever rides the waves. However, Godhra put him right in the national limelight and he lost no time in projecting himself as a Hindutva hero. The secular media held him responsible for everything the Muslim society suffered from.
Attacking Modi was the best form of establishing secular credentials for the mainstream media. Conversely, Modi too drew strength from the attacks from the mainstream media -- the more severe the attack, greater the virility enhancer it became for Modi.
While it is apparent that Modi has gone ahead, it is far from clear if the Hindu cause too has advanced in the same way. Similarly it is clear that the secular flag has raised the stature of some activists/NGOs while the Muslim masses continue to suffer the same disabilities as before.
Modi also has the foresight to mobilise the Hindu sense of victimisation from the time he was inducted into the BJP in 1987 as its state general secretary. Before 1987, the BJP never bothered to photograph Hindu victims of communal riots. <b>Modi always ensured that pictures of Hindu victims were distributed to the media. While other leaders worked on caste combinations, Modi saw the formidable power of the Hindu vote-bank.</b>
Making Keshubhai Patel chief minister was his first shot at exercising political power through a proxy, a hyperactive remote firmly in hand. In the process, he initiated the first full-scale fratricidal civil war within the BJP with Sankersinh Vaghela leading the other side. Vaghela turned the tables on Modi. And in an A B Vajpayee-brokered compromise Suresh Mehta became the chief minister while Modi was banished to New Delhi.
This punishment proved to be a blessing in disguise. It enabled Modi to grasp the power of the media, a rarity among Rashtriya Swayawsevak Sangh pracharaks. It was around this time that he developed a telegenic personality and made frequent appearances on TV channels on behalf of the BJP.
It was this transformed Modi who replaced Keshubhai as chief minister in 2001. The local media had no interest in giving him publicity whether it was his navratri fasts or major policy declarations. Also there was no way he looked like bucking the trend and bringing BJP back to power in 2002. He looked like no improvement on Keshubhai.
Then Godhra and the Gujarat riots happened. The violence created so many political whirlpools that the opposition Congress got sucked in never to fully recover; even Modi's enemies inside the party were rendered defenceless.
Since then Modi has never looked back. <b>He is so sure of the force harnessed by him that he has already developed prime-ministerial airs, setting off panic buttons in the BJP high command.</b> Such is the antipathy towards him that they will do anything to stop Modi.
<b>But can they?</b> <b>He has proved to be a formidable vote-catcher</b> at a time when the BJP leadership is full of political bureaucrats without mass following. <b>The survival of the party demands that these bureaucrats make way for Modi or else they and the party will perish. Surrendering to Modi is their last chance for long term survival.</b>
Arvind Bosmia is an Ahmedabad based freelance journalist.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I have this hunch that Muslims voted for BJP in its strongholds. Is this correct? they did not waste it on Sonia party.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Where ever Muslims are more than 15%, Hindu votes consolidates.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> link
At the end of the day, the sweetest revenge for Modi came from several predominantly Muslim areas where the BJP won. Gujaratâs 45 lakh Muslims form over 9 per cent of the stateâs population.
In criticising Modi, his critics have long painted Gujaratâs Muslims as little more than second-class citizens, although the community has a literacy rate of 73 per cent â higher than the national average for all communities, and fares better than the national average for all religions on several counts including sex ratio and work participation.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>In South Gujaratâs 28 seats, the Congress expected to do better than in 2002. The Congress partyâs hopes were raised after Sonia Gandhiâs rally in the tribal district of Dangs attracted a huge crowd and Rahul Gandhiâs roadshow in Surat brought out thousands of people. But the BJP not only retained its hold over its 17 seats from last time, but gained two. The Congress won 10, losing two since 2002.</b>
The Congress was heavily banking on BJPâs rebel candidate and top diamond merchant Dhirubhai Gajera to guide them to a victory in urban Surat. Gajera, BJPâs sitting MLA, had won the seat thrice and was expected to retain it. He lost, in spite of allegations that the Surat-based diamond business was funding the anti-Modi campaign.
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Any news from ER (emergency room) in different cities and state in USA. 56 known commies, anti-hindu brigade must be having heart attack or stroke.
<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+Dec 23 2007, 11:05 PM-->QUOTE(ramana @ Dec 23 2007, 11:05 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Good show. Modi won despite a visceral campaign by Sonia. I think we should call INC Sonia party. It is not a Congress except of sycophants.
Sibbal is signaling the leftists by calling Modi 'fascist' etc. Kind of scaring them to draw closer to Sonia party.
GS, I need your skills. Can we go back the Phase I polls predictions and dissect them against poll results.
I have this hunch that Muslims voted for BJP in its strongholds. Is this correct? they did not waste it on Sonia party.
Modi has to spread the message at least in Western India and the South.
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Ramana, the muslim vote is irrelevant
Let me explain
Vote banking works on the formula
My Caste + Muslim > 35% of constituency
If the muslim % is over 35% , the muslims tend to win the seat thanks to higher turnout, more goodagiri etc and the muslims have no need for seculars
Example being MIM in Hyderabad
When muslims are below 15% of a seat, they are below critical mass and
MyCaste will be willing to vote bank with muslims
When muslims are above 15%, they show their true islamist nature
rape, stabbings, cow slaughteer etc and MyCaste will consolidate into the general hindu mass
Even in the 2004 elections, in Hyderabad, BJP got 30% of the total vote or 65% of the hindu vote
In rest of Andhra, BJP got 5% of the hindu vote
By spreading the true nature of muslims to the rest of the Andhra hindus, BJP could rule Andhra
That is what has happened in Gujurat
In Gujarat, muslims are over 35% in about 10 seats and they won 6 of those seats
and thanks to hindu consolidation BJP won the other 4 seats
In the rest of Gujarat, the sangh parivar has spread the message of the true nature of islam and even in areas where muslims are next to nothing, they cant vote bank with hindu castes
In Andhra the sangh parivar has been less successful in spreading the mesage
in non-muslim areas
Gujarat, in fact is a model for the future of India as economic growth and hindu consciousness picks up, this should repeat all over India
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.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>Gujarat people have voted for development: Advani</b>
The BJP leader said, "The BJP's victory in Gujarat has highlighted six important lessons for the polity as a whole:
"1. Shri Modi has disproved the conventional 'wisdom' that good governance does not make good politics. Many practitioners and observers of politics believe that the voters are not swayed by the probity and integrity of leadership, clean and transparent administration, and a sincere attempt to break away from old ways of thinking and acting in government. Modi has proved that the people enthusiastically support a leader who delivers with this refreshingly new approach to politics. Thus, it was not the anti-incumbency factor that was at play in Gujarat; it was the pro-incumbency wave.
"2: Modi has disproved that elections cannot be won on a development plank. Even critics of the BJP have had to admit that Gujarat made impressive strides in the past five years in both economic and social development, even emerging as No. 1 on many counts.
"If massive investments in infrastructure development, mega-industrial projects, urban and rural development, trebling of agricultural income (from R. 9,000 crore to Rs 34,000 crore) in five years, and focus on e-governance (Gujarat is one of the best e-governed States in the country) told one part of the Gujarat story, the other part was told by the trend-setting Jyotigram Yojana (which brought 24x7 three-phase power to all the 18,000 villages in the State), Sujalam Suphalam scheme (drinking water provided to 5,000 villages and making the water-scarce state tanker-free), Chiranjeevi Yojana (which brought infant and maternal mortality rates down), Beti Bachao Andolan (which improved Gujarat's sex ratio from 802: 1000 to 870:1000 in just six years), Vanabandhu Kalyan Yojana (which benefited 6,000 tribal villages) and Sagarkhedu Yojana (a welfare scheme for fishermen in 3,000 villages along what is the longest coastline in the country).
"3: The BJP in Gujarat has disproved that elections can be won only by appealing to people's caste and community sentiments. We have demonstrated that divisive and cynical formulas of yesteryears such as KHAM, M-Y, etc can be defeated on the basis of a positive and socially unifying agenda.
"4: Fourthly, unlike in CPI(M)-ruled West Bengal, the BJP in Gujarat has proved that a renewed mandate can be won without terrorising and obstructing voters sympathetic to opposition parties, without 'scientific rigging' and without all the other electoral malpractices. In this context, I congratulate the Election Commission for their good job.
"5: The BJP's victory in Gujarat has shown that the people in the State have disapproved of political defections and also inner-party dissent amounting to indiscipline and defection.
"6: Sixthly, and this is most important, the BJP's victory is a victory against politics of vilification, negativism and arrogance. I cannot think of any other leader in Indian politics in the past sixty years who was as viciously, consistently and persistently maligned as Modi has been since 2002. The 'maut ke saudagar' slur is only the most recent addition to the ammunition of lies used by our opponents to slander the BJP and Modi, both nationally and internationally. The people of Gujarat have given a fitting reply to the practitioners of this kind of toxic politics. I appeal to the leadership of the Congress and other parties to abjure, at least from now onwards, this brand of politics. I hope they will introspect and learn the right lessons from their defeat in Gujarat," Advani said in his statement.
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GS,
What went wrong in Godhara?
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