The writer is a consulting editor with The Statesman and writes widely for several newspapers in India
Wharton’s decision has triggered a debate in the name of ‘democracy’ with Union Minister of State for Human Resource and Development Shashi Tharoor supporting Modi’s right to free speech. In his view, Wharton should have heard Modi as “once they had invited him, they had a duty to hear his point of view”. This echoes the sentiments of the chattering classes in the rich drawing rooms of India, who speak of democracy with great passion but choose to forget that the preamble of the Indian Constitution has linked this to the important concept of ‘secularism’, which is, in turn, linked intricately and irrevocably to Indian democracy. The one cannot exist without the other.
The letter sent by students, academics, lawyers, doctors and concerned citizens to Wharton, protesting against the invite sent to Modi to deliver a keynote address made some important observations that are shared by a large majority in India. One, that he had been refused a visa by the US State Department “on the ground that he, as chief minister, did nothing to prevent a series of orchestrated riots that targeted Muslims in Gujarat”; two, he has been “repeatedly faulted” since by the Supreme Court of India for “failing to prosecute those guilty of the crimes of 2002”; three, that economic development cannot be delinked from “the systematic oppression of minority populations, whether in India or elsewhere”; four, that efforts to “whitewash Modi’s grim record and to grant him international respectability” must be resisted. The same arguments had led to a big protest at Delhi University when Modi came to the campus to deliver a lecture at the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC). The SRCC, however, chose to disregard the protest and continued with the event as part of larger efforts by certain sections to delink oppression from economic reforms.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is currently in the midst of active debate about its ‘star’ chief minister. There is a strong lobby led by stalwart LK Advani that is not particularly supportive of him leading the BJP into the 2014 general elections and is working to thwart the move. It is thus imperative for Modi to convince the party that he is capable of fetching the votes to silence the internal opposition, and this is precisely what he is doing with the help of industry and the media. He is being given a major makeover, a larger than life profile wherein he is projected as being a whiz kid with purpose and direction, who can transform not just Gujarat but India into a booming economy. In the process, no questions are being asked as statistics are reeled out on development, with little being reported about the continuing struggle within the state by India’s largest minority and secularists for justice and rights.
However, there can be no two views that if Modi manages to convince the country of his potential, the BJP will unite behind him as the prime ministerial candidate. The party, with the RSS and the front organisations, will then work towards creating a wave in favour of Modi with the intention of securing at least 200 parliamentary seats, if not more. Modi’s chances of becoming prime minister thus, are linked to the BJP emerging as the single largest party with at least 200 seats to ensure that the shortfall is made up by supporting regional parties. Lesser numbers will rake up ambitions within regional parties that might then not want to support the BJP, Modi or no Modi. For example if the AIADMK leader Jayalalitha, a professed Modi fan, gets sufficient numbers against a low performance of the BJP, she might prefer to stake claim herself, or help bring in another regional party to lead the government where she can then have a bigger say.
Efforts to reinvent Modi in the mould of an Atal Behari Vajpayee by sections of the BJP have not worked, with many seeing these as a joke. It is clear that Modi cannot hope to wear the Vajpayee mantle and will have to find his own slot in the BJP. Interestingly, the Congress Party has moved quickly to prevent the election scenario from becoming a Rahul Gandhi versus Modi face-off, with the former claiming that he is not interested in becoming the prime minister. The election will not be a cakewalk for Modi — that is certain — and he will have to do all that he can to prevent it from becoming uncomfortably bumpy.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2013.
COMMENTS (40)
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@Udaya Bose: Why involve hitler in Indian politics. Try Stalin or churchil or better stillt Roosewelt. They were all involved in ww2 consiparacies and loss of millions of lives. No other country is sorrounded by so many neighbours that Germany is! Germans are also second to none in discipline, creativity, innovation and hard work. Hitler as the leader organised a million strong army fully machanised, and moved across Europe in a Bitzkrieg to regain its lost territory in ww1, reaching stalingrad. O'k, Germany has lost the war. And who is the power motor of Europe today? And can Europe survive economicaly today without Germany?More than 30% of the yanks have german ancestors!!
This scenario does not exist for India, nor has India any higher morals because of its taking the roe of the aggressor after partition and occupying Kasmir with military force. The Congress party fell into the trap of the anglo saxons who go into foreign territories with the help of divide and rule and leave the land by divide the people to maintain hegemony over the natives. Indian congress did not honour the agreement of muslim majority area being administered by Pakistan. Let Modi become the PM and show to the world how he can play tango on his own, sorrounded by two enemies, namely China and Pakistan?
Nothing personal, an academic look at the history.
Rex Minor
@G. Din: Hitler , after coming to power, democratically, followed the same path which Modi has sought to copy from him. First he dazzled the German people with his development agenda and having gained their confidence became an undisputed undemocratic leader the Fuehrer. Having gained full control of the levers of power, he unleashed his diabolical and gruesome agenda. Hitler too was personally incorruptible. It is well-known and widely reported that Modi rides roughshod over his ministerial colleagues and rules directly through the bureaucracy which is undemocratic. Modi too has got elected by constantly talking of Gujarati 'asmita' being humiliated. Hitler had done the same in the case of the Germans referring to their humiliation in the terms imposed at the end of WWI. The parallels are chilling. You may not wish to see them but the mass of the Indian people will.
The people at Whatton will not go to the polls. The people of India will. You are extrapolating Wharton's decision to The Indian populace and drawing conclusions which is wrong. What Modi did in 2002 was wrong. Time heals and people have moved on. Rahul baba is not qualified to be the PM. He knows it and his mother knows it. But the family still keeps pushing since it is their business.
@Udaya Bose: " ... We don’t want a ‘Hitler in the making’ to rule India. ... "
I do not want van Italian Christian ruling India. Heil Modi.
@G.Din, You are not correct in saying that Hitler grabbed power. He came to power through the ballot box. He used his very powerful oratory to convince the Germans that NAZI is the way forward. Modi as yet has not got there. Once there who can tell what he will do. He may suspend the constitution, impose emergency. He cannot impose emergency in Gujrat., "we can at best extrapolate his past behaviour into the future and make a calculated judgement as to whether we should trust him. Gujarat has gone through that exercise and found him to be eminently worthy of their trust" It is precisely what cautious people are doing. They do not want to take any chance. For all we know, he may be an excellent PM. But they would not want to gamble the country's future away.
@Udaya Bose: "We don’t want a ‘Hitler in the making’ to rule India." Could you kindly expand on your assertion? Can you provide the basis on which you consider Mr. Modi as Herr Hitler? It should not be very difficult to do so. Here is a start. Hitler grabbed power on the basis of economic penury and the defeat of Germans in WWI which rancoured an "Aryan Supremacist". Do you find any parallels here? Once Hitler grabbed power, he suspended all democratic activity. Did Mr. Modi do that? Instead, he has subjected himself to scrutiny two more times and earned the approval of electorate both times back-to-back. Did Hitler do that? Now, no one can vouch that he may not become a "Hitler" in future. But, we can at best extrapolate his past behaviour into the future and make a calculated judgement as to whether we should trust him. Gujarat has gone through that exercise and found him to be eminently worthy of their trust. So then, please do explain how you came to the conclusion you did to illuminate this discussion.
@Modineutral: *
This is a discussion about Modi's record. Not that of the Congress. If you are neutral, why this obsession with the Congress record? We don't want a 'Hitler in the making' to rule India.
@Geekay: to Modineutral "...But no body should do it based on unfounded facts. Like any other PM, there were good and not so good decisions that can be attributed to Nehru – like Kashmir imbroglio or 1962 debacle but surely, for Hyderabad and Goa campaigns you should be proud of him. " Your "fact" on Nehru's decision is unfounded. It was Sardar, the Home Minister, who ordered "a police action" on Hyderabad, which lasted a couple of hours. By the next sunrise, Hyderabad had been occupied, setting in motion the civil uprising. It was not a military operation. Nehru came to know about the fall of the Hyderabad from his morning papers at the breakfast table. He was naturally shocked and very incensed that he had not even been consulted although he himself hardly consulted anyone. (Result: Kashmir, China, non-alignment, "socialistic pattern of society", etc., etc., none of which endured.) Sardar was a statesman but probably wary of how Nehru had messed up Kashmir, took the initiative. Then we saw the shallowness of Nehru. To regain some ground, he ordered military invasion of Goa, which also he messed up. Nehru, sir/ madam, was an inept, incompetent politician. Although he wrote the voluminous tome "Glimpses of World History", he had absolutely no idea of the major currents that shaped our world. Result: he was an abysmal failure even in foreign policy. The only thing going for Nehru was that he enjoyed divine grace which gave him a great charisma. And that cannot be chalked to any of his own accomplishments. All "great" men with feet of clay enjoy that for varying periods.
@Gaurav: Spot on. Seems mustafa as the name suggests wants the best of both, the freedom that Hindu India offers and a communal mindset so typical of Muslims. I wish she moved to Pakistan
@Modineutral: Perhaps, you are of that age that your remember vividly of 1947 and that as per you "Mr Nehru helped kill thousands of Muslims in 1947 in Hyderabad. I will give you some excerpts from Wiki on it. "Both the Nizam and many of his Razakars (nobles), being Muslims, wished Hyderabad to join Pakistan.The Nizam was persuaded not to accede to Pakistan by the last British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten. Given the Nizam's determination not to join India, this left Hyderabad as an independent country.At 4 a.m. on 13 September 1948, India's Hyderabad Campaign, code-named "Operation Polo" by the Indian Army, was commenced, with Indian troops invading Hyderabad from all points of the compass. At 5 p.m. on 17 September the Nizam surrendered. Some Muslims migrated to Pakistan, mainly to Karachi which has a sizeable Hyderabadi muhajir community." Now, if they were allowed to leave Hyderabad intact, how could Nehru help them kill. In fact many of those muhajir living in Pakistan can tell about themselves better. Nehru, in fact, was the one who saved lots of Muslims specially in Delhi otherwise Delhi would have become free of Muslims as all the Punjabi Hindus/Sikhs coming from Pakistan were in camps in Delhi. I understand that there is some weird need in BJP circle to besmirch Nehru's contribution. But no body should do it based on unfounded facts. Like any other PM, there were good and not so good decisions that can be attributed to Nehru - like Kashmir imbroglio or 1962 debacle but surely, for Hyderabad and Goa campaigns you should be proud of him. In fact, decisions of all PMs can be presented in good and bad ways. e.g. Why did Lal Bahadur Shastri needed to sign a treaty. Similarly whether the Sikh riots were instigated by Rajiv's boot lickers or Rajiv himself is hard to tell given he was in mourning and meeting all sort of national and international people. And other than insinuations about LTTE's origins which formed in 1976, just before Indira lost the elections of '77. I can not understand why Mrs Gandhi be blamed for it when Morarji Desai was Indian PM and LTTE was taking root.She could be blamed perhaps for supporting Bhindranwale. It is always going to prove difficult to pin the blame on very higher up. The courts need substantial corroboration. So throwing names in mud of people to score points whether of Congress, JP, BJP etc is no good.
whether anyone likes it or not there is a possibility that he may become PM.
@Quantum: " Now wait for the pro-Modi right-wingers to go on a rampage against the author. As Youghurt lover has demonstrated, the Indians will remains what they are, "
Mr. Quantum, Those who have gone against the article / author have put forward the logic / reasoning and confronted the untrue statement with verifiable facts and not based on leanings.. Why not the author replies on the points/ matter where her views have been challenged/ countered ? Abilities and leadership qualities of Modi can not be ignored.
Regarding Wharton Schoo,l while inviting Modi was well aware of him and his so called role ( drum beaten by congress) and if their inability to withstand the pressure of protests, speaks weakness and disgrace.
I wonder if other people in Pakistan will be treated by the same yardstick. Blasts are going off, people being gunned down, so much violence in Pakistan under the Civilian leadership in Pakistan.
In Punjab, the CM comes on stage and 'asks' the Taliban to spare Punjab as they have same ideological goals. His party openly shares stage with Terrorists.
YET, neither people in PPP nor PML-N are treated like Modi. Modi couldn't stop the riots, even was involved with them, you never know; has also tried to shield his people, rather unsuccessfully. The same crimes Pakistani leaders and their military have perpetrated over decades, non-stop. Yet, Modi is treated differently than leaders from Pakistan.
Is this supposed to be a compliment to India, that Pakistan is a no-hope case, but India is subjected to higher standards?
The Supreme Court investigation (SIT- Special Investigation Team) resulted in no charges being filed against him. Yet the US considers him a criminal which indirectly means Indian law, constitution, judiciary is a joke for US ..
@SeemaMustafa
I support Modi. In 2009, I voted for Congress hoping Manmohan Singh would do some good, but now support modi.
Following are my reasons:
You are right, nothing has ever been a 'cakewalk' for modi. That right is preserved for likes of Rahul Gandhi, who were born with silver spoon and a dynastic rights. And they have a vote bank that will keep voting for them even if they have messed up the country for 60+yrs.
India can't afford another 5 yrs of Congress inaction. It is absurd to say Modi should loose even if we have to live without power, water and jobs.
Modi's development achievements are real. I have first hand experience of it.
No one else in BJP (or any other party) is a good enough alternative. Modi provides the best chance of beating Congress.
Modi (and BJP) does owe an apology to the nation for the lapses happened in 2002, just as much the congress & Gandhi family owes an apology to nation for what happened in 1984. But, elections are not fought on a single issue.
Post 2002, Modi's gujarat hasn't had any serious violence which shows Modi has learnt from his mistakes & understood the need for ensuring safety & peace.
Economic agenda should be the only agenda in elections. And I don't like Congress economic agenda of run away expenditure without any real growth. India can manage with a bit of rightist madness, but not the leftist socialism it's been experimenting. We can't continue to have 70% poor folks in this nation.
List item
@Sahil: No Congress party members have not been found guilty of 1984 Sikh massacres.In spite of 7 inquiry commissions,no one has been convicted.Does that mean they were innocent and blameless.If you have the Govt and political party behind you,the chance of being convicted are practically zero.
@C. Nandkishore:
Don't be absurd. Is he a candidate in Karnataka? Did Manmohan singh even win his own seat? Did Rahul Baba manage to win any of the assembly seats in Amethi for his party?
In 1984, RK hegde resigned as CM in Karnataka following a Loksabha elections, where Janata Party lost badly, and he felt morally obligated to seek mandate (inspite of being in power just for 2 yrs)! Just 3 months after a resounding congress win in Loksabha elections, Mr. Hegde won Karnataka Assembly elections.
Goes to show, Karnataka electorate separate General Election from State election.
Modi must not become the PM. If he does, it will be one of India's worst nightmares. India will love to have another A B Vajpayee but Modi is a dangerous man. If the nations lofts him into the top slot (it is just a number game) India will lose a lot of credentials of secularism. If Modi can be PM what is wrong with Raja Bhayyia? ( No apologies here for being feisty).Hidden below this hype of development under Modi, there is a lot of unreported abuse of raw drunken power by Modi and his cotterie. BJP currently, lacks a credible leader and are learning from last election where the UPA had declared their choice of PM well in advance of the election. BJP would be better off with Jaswant Singh as a leader of the nation who has shown his intellectual and ministerial skills in the last NDA government. It is a question of building him up.
@ashok: If he is not corrupt,then why the delay 7 year delay in appointing the Lok Ayukta
In india, many pseudo intellectuals/secularist who criticize Mr. Modi publically do appreciate him in their personal talks. Recently we heard from many e.g. Mr. Maadani, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti etc.
@Happens: Ms. Seema Mustafa is a well respected Indian journalist. You cannot assume she is a Pakistano because she has a Muslim name and her article appears in a pakistani newspaper.
@Indian
If she writes this in an Indian newspaper, she would be abused no end by the bigoted Modi-defence brigade that infests your newspaper comments' sections. Not that you people commenting here are any less but the ET moderation ensures you don't go overboard with your abuses. How people can be blinded by such prejudice is nauseating.
I am no Modi fan but I would like to point out few inconsistencies in the arguments
1) One, that he had been refused a visa by the US State Department “on the ground that he, as chief minister, did nothing to prevent a series of orchestrated riots that targeted Muslims in Gujarat”;------ Many Chief Ministers, in the past, have actually started the riots. Mrs Gandhi trained LTTE. Mr Rajiv Gandhi supported 1984 riots. Mr Nehru helped kill thousands of Muslims in 1947 in Hyderabad.So in the worst case scenario, in which Mr Modi did not or could not do anything is hardly worse than CMs snd PMs actually doing it.
2) two, he has been “repeatedly faulted” since by the Supreme Court of India for “failing to prosecute those guilty of the crimes of 2002”;--------factually incorrect. many of his party people are behind bars. on the other hand none of the congress members responsible for genocides have ever gone to jail.
3) three, that economic development cannot be delinked from “the systematic oppression of minority populations, whether in India or elsewhere”;---- in 60 years of congress rule in India, muslims are on the margins economically. So congress beats Mr Modi hands down on this parameter.
4) four, that efforts to “whitewash Modi’s grim record and to grant him international respectability” must be resisted. ------ why not resist what Congress has done to India. Millions of children dyeing every year due to water borne diseases. Health parameters worse than African countries. List is endless.
Bottom line, Congress leaders have done hundred times more than what Mr Modi is accused of.So these arguments are not very persuasive.
Author you are blind by hatred. Please keep counting comment to say so & if possible write this in Indian News paper.
Seema, American ambassador to India, Mr. Sommers acknowledged that Gujarat has achieved significant growth under Modi's governance. Germany acknowledged that although Indian justice system is slow, but it delivers justice and hasn't found Modi guilty of any allegations made against him. Given this, it is matter of time Modi will have visa for US and all the European countries. This itself will deflate majority of arguments made here.
Please not let your personal biases prevent you from performing your duty as journalist which demands unbiased reporting based on facts and figures.
Now wait for the pro-Modi right-wingers to go on a rampage against the author. As Youghurt lover has demonstrated, the Indians will remains what they are, and there is hardly any need to elaborate.
"Efforts to reinvent Modi in the mould of an Atal Behari Vajpayee by sections of the BJP have not worked, with many seeing these as a joke. " I am not sure if this lady, like the other - Jyoti Malhotra - is in possession of all her marbles, either. Her bias, is understandable, though! Modi could never be "reinvented in the mould of Vajpayee". Vajpayee and Modi are like chalk and cheese, to such an extent that after the Godhra outrage was enacted and the subsequent mayhem ensued, Vajpayee visited him and preached to him his hymn of "Rajya Dharma". Vajpayee was just a mask which BJP reluctantly had to wear for the short period during which the elections took place to garner the Hindu Right vote. As soon as the elections were over, Vajpayee and his cohort, Advani, were ready to sell their honour, in their haste to occupy the seats of power. They dumped the very issues in their platform, Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir and Repeal of article 370 of the Constitution which got them elected and their member-count increased from just two to some 184. The result of this betrayal of the public was the debacle in the next election. Modi is no opportunist like either, or both, of them. He is an honourable man, in contrast and Gujarat liked that. In poll after poll, India has also indicated its approval of him. And now the world is beginning to see through the lies of pseudo-sickularists including their agents like Mustaffa. Not only have the British and German envoys visited with him, even the US Congress has passed a Sense of the Congress resolution applauding him. It will not be long before US government will finally see the light, too, especially when it sees how the people of India see him as their leader! ET should seriously consider the criteria for selecting Indian opinion writers. If its criteria is to inform Pakistani public about Indian politics, it should shun such writers as, Mustaffa, Malhotra and Nayyar. They do not reflect Indian public opinion of more than a minuscule section!
Trust me guys, I only read the name of the author. I knew thereafter what is written below.
” Let us see if the nation forgets the riots. ” well according to recent surveys, country has already forgotten the riots... india, at present needs someone who can put india back on track of becoming a super power,, and considering his performance in gujrat, he is the best option available.. i, being a muslim, support him inspite of riots as he will be beneficial as PM for the country and religion comes after country!!!
Let Modi win Karnataka first. This May.
ET: There are a lot of misleading statements in Ms. Mustafa's OpEd. Please allow pointwise and factual rebuttal. @Author:
What happened in 2002 was communal riots. These were not the first riots that occurred in GUjarat. All prior riots had occurred under Congress. But Modi made sure these were the LAST riots. Gujarat has been riot free for 11 years.
Lot of people were tried for the riots many Hindus including a minister have been sentenced, while Modi has been acquitted, Also the last 11 riot free years have assured Muslims of Gujarat that they are not being targetted. We also see that poverty level of Gujarati Muslims is lowest in the country since Modi's development agenda does not discrmnate against people of any caste, community or religion. Accordingly in the last municipal elections, even in many Muslim majority areas, we elected BJP.
SO while you personally may have concerns about Modi, many of us Gujarati Muslims do not share them and the 2014 elections will determine what the majority of India feels.
As far as Wharton incident is concerned, this does nothing to dim Modi's charisma. He did not angle for the invitation. The student body invited him and he graciously accepted. Then the student body withdrew invitation because of a petition by Modi's Indian opponents. It is not a freedom of speech issue for Modi because he never asked to speak at that forum. The issues are as follows : 1) The decision to invite was not made taking into account the well known fact that Modi is a polarising figure. The riots happened 11 years back - this is by no means new information. So inviting Modi if they wanted to stay free of controversies shows poor decision making skills.
2) The student body did not have the spine to stand up to their decision once they had made it which reflects poorly on their ability to withstand pressure
3) The student body did not keep their word which does not speak very well of their integrity.
Thus they did not display most of the maagerial traits needed for success.
@Ruby, Muslims of Gujarat HAVE realized that they were not targetted by Modi and have benefitted by the peace and good governance he has provided. So we are ready to move on instead of being trapped in baseless lies that were spread by Congress. 790 Muslims died in a riot 11 years back (where 254 Hindus also died) and there have been no riots since then in Gujarat. Compare that to how many Muslims get killed in Karachi in target and sectarian kilings year in and year out - or Balochistan. We Indian Muslims are safer in India than you all appear to be in Pakistan.
Balderdash! Firstly Modi does not need to become PM, there are other contenders in BJP such as Sushma Swaraj. He can very well run the whole thing by remote control. Secondly, even though I am no fan of Modi, I have to reluctantly admit based on my experiences over the past month that the majority of Indians seem to be supporting him. . @Seema: I have said it before and I want to repeat -- Please do not let your personal desires cloud your judgement. I say this as a minority in India. I also happen to live in a BJP-ruled state. If you really think that BJP/RSS seeks to annihilate minorities, then you are dead wrong and I have personal experience on this. As an Indian journalist, you really should know this better than me. . @Arijit Sharma: Heil Modi. . Really? Please do not use WW2 analogies. You are not helping your case. I wonder what Modi thinks of that.
i know when people like you write,you are so blind towards hatred towards modi that you write an article full of lies.starting with your first lie,wharton school has nothing to do with it.it is the wharton india economic forum which is primarily india centric.the next thing is not a single,i repeat not a single professor of wharton has opposed it.it is the left liberal pseudo intellectual trio of ania loomba,suvir kaul,and torojo ghosh who started the online petition.and how do you know that the people who signed this petition are all lawyers,doctors,intellectuals.do u fact checked each and everyones profile.and lastly the eminent journalist sadanand dhume has boycotted the event and wrote article in WSJ as to why he oppose such movie.can you give me proof how many times supreme court has convicted modi?
This article just shows how little you understands India/Indians.
"The election will not be a cakewalk for Modi." Nothing has been a cakewalk for him. He worked his way to the top. period.
Interestingly, the Congress Party has moved quickly to prevent the election scenario from becoming a Rahul Gandhi versus Modi face-off, with the former claiming that he is not interested in becoming the prime minister.
That is because Rahul Baba knows, he does not stand a chance.
Heil Modi.
@ruby:
"He expects Indians to somehow delink Godhra from his development platform."
You are so wrong ruby. He would very much like Godhra to be linked to his development platform [sic]. Because Godhra is where a Muslims mob (please take note Seema Mosthafa) burned down a train full of Hindu pilgrims.
Do u understand Ruby?
The article nicely calls out Modi's gameplan. He expects Indians to somehow delink Godhra from his development platform. He throws some biscuits announcing his 'regret' about the killings and the fanboys eagerly crowd around them. Let us see if the nation forgets the riots.