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Narendra Modi acknowledging his jubilant supporters in Ahmedabad soon after winning the 2007 Gujarat assembly polls.

It was an unprecedented electoral win for Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat in India, in the just concluded 2007 assembly polls. He was facing the toughest challenge from within and outside of his organization, the BJP and its wings, since assuming power in the late 2001. Narendra Modi, also called Namo by his admirers, is the most hyped and undermined, hailed and abused, loved and hated and spoken of and protested about public figure in today’s India. His alleged administrative inaction during the 2002 post-Godhra riots got heavily denounced by various civil rights bodies and is still being investigated by the Indian courts at different levels. However, much water has flow down the river Sabarmati since the infamous Godhra train burning and the subsequent riots that followed in 2002. The latest franchise victory by Narendra Modi in Gujarat, therefore, assumes a very significant outlook in that context.

The War Of Two Ideologies!

The Indian politics has been slowly getting divided into two separate domains since the arrival of the Hindu nationalist party the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) on its canvas in the late 80s. The first one is the so-called (or self-acclaimed) secularists, led by the 120 plus years old Indian National Congress, the communists and some other regional outfits. Many from the left-minded intellectual fraternity, NGOs, social activists and a sizable section of the English speaking print and electronic media do also contribute to this segment. They call the other stratum communal, the second of the two political domains I have spoken of, which is being led by the BJP and some of its like-minded regional allies.

Hindutva, as per the BJP and its parent body the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), is a way of proclaiming one’s Indian roots and not any attempt of dividing the nation on religious lines. If the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs in India could feel proud of being what they are and also profoundly choose to display it, then why should the majority, the Hindus, feel hesitant in doing so - proclaims the Hindutva ideologue! The secularists, in the BJP’s opinion, are pseudo-seculars, who are hellbent on dividing the nation into various vote banks. The BJP accuses the Congress and its allies of Muslim appeasement throughout since India’s independence. According to them the secularists are not interested in any kind of betterment for the minorities whatsoever.

There is some weight in the concerns shown by both the sides against each other. The secularists do indeed prove out inept in answering the accusations of vote bank politics. With the BJP’s rise at the national level, they are forced even more now to go soft towards their Muslim vote bank. The BJP, on the other hand, carries a couple of hard-line siblings like the VHP and Bajarang Dal, which are not much appreciated even among many BJP sympathizers.

The Hindutva outfits, however, do prove out much straightforward, predictable and transparent in kind as compared to what the so-called secularists may have to offer you. The latter comes to the fore with a very complex and a “greater than thou” attitude, something, which has forced many Hindu voters towards the BJP in the recent years.

Modi Enjoys A Cult Following Among Gujaratis!

Modi mobbed by his frenzied supporters outside the booth he cast his vote in Ahmedabad.

Modi has proved out to be a great success for the BJP, in the ongoing scenario. He has taken tough decisions and ensured the government in Gujarat was run smoothly. The results have been showing up and even many neutral observers have acknowledged it. At a time, when his detractors were busy asking for his ouster and a fresh trial in association with the 2002 riots, he was busy organizing development savvy meets, taking harsh administrative measures and trying to woo fresh investment into his state.

His governments dodgy role in the 2002 Gujarat riots which claimed a thousand lives, upto 700 of which were Muslims and which got sparked off due to the burning down of 59 hardline VHP sympathizers in Godhra, has kept him hounding at various national and international fora outside Gujarat. However, the masses in Gujarat confer and adore him for providing them with one of the most peaceful and prosperous five years of the state’s history. As a result, he has gained tremendously in popularity among the development oriented segments in Gujarat and elsewhere. His well-admired oratorical skills and an exceptional PR management have given him a cult following among Gujaratis.

Crowds go berserk as Modi arrives at the BJP’s Ahmedabad headquarters soon after scoring a landslide win.

What A Contradiction Of The Present-Day India To Live On With!

Modi is perhaps India’s most controversial public figure in today’s times. He is heavily hated and adored, both at the same time, by different schools of thoughts. Many call him a “mass murderer”, citing his government’s alleged failure in curbing down the post Godhra train burning backlash. His supporters across Gujarat call him Gujarat Ka Sher (The Lion of Gujarat) on the other hand. He is hounded by the secularist media wherever he goes. However, the performance of the secularists on the merits of secularism, adherence to the constitutional and democratic norms and ethics driven polity is so poor, that even many neutral minded Indians (this author included) are now siding with Modi, the BJP and Hindutva. This is more so the case in Gujarat compared to elsewhere, as this recent victory by Modi might suggest.

Modi may have got a major blot on his career graph in 2002, but he has also proved out to be an outstanding administrator since then. He may have failed to silence the accusations of secularists, but he has surely succeeded in curbing down the rebellions from within his own organization and hence given the people of Gujarat a very stable government for the last six years, thus allowing the state’s economy to grow with a two digit mark. Various independent bodies have upheld Gujarat as the best administered state and Modi as the best Chief Minister on several occasions. He may have to face a political extinction, if indicted in the 2002 Gujarat riots in any manner, in the ongoing probes. On the other hand, he may soon go on to become India’s Prime Minister, if he kept winning laurels the way he was these days. An accused in the eyes of many, yet the most successful and proven administrator of the contemporary times - what a contradiction of the present-day India to live on with!

Modi, along with the BJP chief Rajnath Singh and the Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani, takes a victory lap of the Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad, where a massive crowd of roughly 2,50,000 BJP sympathizers gathered to watch his swearing in ceremony.