Modi - the Ironical choice !! Gujarat - the Irony !!

I quite shocked Shiva when I observed that if I were in Baroda for the elections, then I would surely have voted for Narendra Modi. Not for the fact that he shares his name with my father, but for the belief that what he brings to the table as a chief minister is far more valuable than what he spills off from his table as the face of BJP in Gujarat.
First let me give you an idea of what the picture of Gujarat is, in my mind. I have lived in Gujarat for 22 years and have seen the face of Gujarat and also its ass. (pardon the language!) . Saying that Gujarat has changed would be a very obvious statement to make. Its like saying “India has progressed in the past decade”. Of course yes. Gujarat has played a major role in the splendid growth of Indian Economy.
Let us not talk here about economic growth first up. What I want to share with you is the everyday experiences that I had during my time living in the state. The perception that most who are not from the state, is that of a violent state with deep communalism and hatred for minorities. True. Very true. But I just have a request that please take the media portrayal of the state with a pinch of salt as well.
One of the most painful memories for me about my state is that of communal violence and the deep rooted aftermaths. What I can notice now is the open hatred that hindu gujaratis have for muslims. When they speak, they spit venom. I do not know how and when the singe turned into such a full fledged fire. I had a tough time defending secularist principles against them. I remember the time during riots when I was living in Anand and my exams were on. As soon as the riots broke out, exams were cancelled. But how can we go home? All the highways were burning with angry mobs assaulting anyone who dared to venture out on the roads. Trains stood cancelled and the only people out on the roads were the hate-mongers. I would have had to go hungry for three days,had it not been for my tiffin-wala who was brave enough to bring me food through some secrets streets that he only knew. I lived alone, till the time the situation was relatively better enough to return home and I only shudder with fear at the thought of my parents’ feelings during those three days when I was away from them.
I cried myself to sleep each day at the atrocities being done by the mobs on the hapless children and women who were raped and murdered. I hated being called a human being let alone a Hindu. I had never seen such ruthlessness . Even worse I had never seen people derive such pleasure out of ruthlessness.
It was a painful realization for me that anti-muslim feelings had seeped deep down into the psyche of the common Gujarati. They said, “If Muslims of India, support Pakistan so much, then why are they staying back here. Why don’t they just go to Pakistan instead of living here and taking sides with Pakistan.?” Angry words, unreasonable words but are they without any meaning? NO! It stems out of the fact that there are many among the Indian muslim community who do see Pakistan in a favourable light. There are many instances that I have personally witnessed wherein they have celebrated a Pakistan win and an Indian loss in cricket. But then again when we put on the thinking hats, the we will realize that these are just due to the Muslims giving vent to the injustice meted out to them for years together now from various quarters for being a minority and for being the living testament to the painful tragedy of human suffering called the ‘Partition’.
The Gujaratis believe that this country is not India and definitely not Hindustan. But this country is Bharat. And any citizen of Bharat is supposed to favour this country and not some other rogue neighbor, no matter what be the religion of the people in question in either of the countries. Its hard to argue with the latter statement, at least in my eyes. But the larger fact of the matter is that it’s a vicious circle where in the angst of the minority community for having been treated in a derogatory manner and falsely implicated for an offence ( partition and resultant minority of Muslims) they never were responsible for, crossing swords with the angst of the majority community that sees itself as being taken advantage of inspite of having provided shelter to the supposedly ‘outsiders’. The irony of the whole statement never ceases to amaze me – it’s ANGST vs ANGST !!! How confusing and more away from a resolution can one get? !!!!!!
I have always wondered whether it was anti-muslim factor or the Hindutva factor that won BJP the elections for the past two terms. I for one can say that, on all the occasions that I got a chance to vote, I voted for BJP and it was not for these two reasons at all. The main reason was the strong leadership of Vajpayee . I have voted for BJP because of the development work that they have done for the country and the state of Gujarat.
I for one am very secular in my thoughts. I have nothing against any community and do not even mind if I am a minority or a majority community. I have always believed that India’s two biggest vices, drawbacks and ‘worth to be hated’ and repulsive aspects/characteristics are 1) The suppression of women as an inferior entity compared to men and 2) the caste/religion based demarcation and differentiation among simple human being.
In this scenario, when the frenzy of Hindutva is being whipped up by a zealgot leader like Modi, then why do I feel like voting for him and his party? The reason for this is simple enough. I am voting for him because there is nobody as efficient and dedicated like him in the whole state. He eats,breathes and sleeps work and progress of the state. I vote for Modi, the administrator and not the political leader. I support him for being the one of the very chief ministers who have brought about a pleasant change in the economic, cultural, social and psychiological outlook of the state. There are so many beneficial projects that have been completed under his leadership. He has a vision for Gujarat and he is aggressively working towards achieving it. Would you not admire a Chief Minister who holds Kaizen classes for his administrator for learning management techniques to be implemented in the daily workings of his government. Would you not admire a CM who does not encourage any flattery and sychopancy from his party-mates and cabinet-mates. There is a feel good factor among the people of Gujarat that their state is in the right hands and that if they support this guy then he will do things for their own benefit. Talk to any common man and he/she will tell you that they are better off now and are feeling secure about their future for the past couple of years. MY father himself a communist, support Modi and BJP since they have done what all the other did not do. WORK !!!

Being a business man in a state where the majority are involved in some business or the other, my father feels that Modi alone will ensure that the trader, business community of Gujarat can compete against the world in the near future. Modi is a great marketing person as well since he is driving the branding etc for the various festivals of Gujarat like the Navratris ( Garbas ) and the Uttarayan ( Makar Sankranti). He is a workaholic and does not hesitate in taking quick action. Also if he thinks a person is good for some specific job, then,he will not let any other issues like caste, religion, status and pedigree etc stand in the way. The face of Ahmedabad has changed but still in spite of brimming with people, it still takes only half an hour to cross from one end of the city to the other… such is the road and connectivity infrastructure. There is a financial tech city coming up on the outside of Ahmedabad. Which other state can boast of so many big cities like Ahmd, Baroda, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh etc. One visit to Gujarat and you will realize the confidence amongst the people and this precisely is the reason why I also will vote for him.
I agree that he did a lot of crimes and he should be punished suitably for that. But when I am going to vote , then I have to consider the fact that who is best suited to lead the state to prosperity and holistic development? Who is it that will not misuse my hard-earned money to pay for his daughter’s wedding bash.? Who is it that will take the competition from foreign companies head on? Who is it that will position Gujarat as an investment destination against competiton from states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu? Who is it that will build a unique positioning for Gujarat and not blindly following in Karnataka and Andhra’s footsteps of taking the help of IT? Who is it that will realistically think, plan and execute a winning strategy for progress of Gujarat without taking the easy route of attracting IT and ITeS companies? Who will prove that the investments made into developing SEZs can be double by efficient and intelligent handling of the state administrative machinery and the common resources from nature? Most of all who is it that will have a true love for the soil of Gujarat and not for the chair, who is it that will dedicate his mind, body and soul to the toughest leadership jobs of all? And in the end, who is it that has a vision to make this land of enterprising and dynamic people into a leader in its own sense, contributing to - the overall the 50 states of the USA, 9 regions of UK, and a host of other countries’ states - and say that the Republic of India has the best-run, model state in the whole wide world !

And there comes only one answer on my lips – Mr. Narendra Modi.

P.S. - Followed by a silent observation – "In the land of the blind, the half-eyed is the king !" Imperfect he may be, but Modi is the best we have. He is the best chance for us to survive in this age of cut-throat progress and economic liberalization. This brings me to ask all the detractors of Modi – “Why is it that only in Gujarat , have the concept of SEZs been successful?”