The Rise And Rise Of Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi. A name that is considered synonymous to win. A name that the 'neo-middle class' can relate to. A name that has created a cataclysm beneath 10, Janpath. He is not 'just' a politician, he is a phenomenon.

Gujarat elections were always in the limelight. Prime time news shows were all dedicated to Gujarat elections 2012. The reason was obviously the presence of Narendra Modi. But amusingly there were no debates if Modi would win it or not, it was just about the margin. That lays down for you, the stature that Narendra Modi has.

Modi became Gujarat's Chief Minister in 2001 for the first time owing to Keshubhai Patel's resignation for the party's loss in Gujarat by-elections. Gujarat didn't know what was coming its way. Seemed like Gujarat had hit its jackpot. The no nonsense raj had just begun.

A mob of people didn't know they were setting Gujarat on fire when they actually set ablaze Coach no. S-6 of the Ayodhya express carrying 58 pilgrims including 25 women and 15 children returning from Ayodhya on the 27th of February 2002. This incident enraged the people of the majority community and the retaliations led to riots. More than a 1,000 people belonging to both the clashing communities were killed, more than 70,000 fled their homes and almost everyone was in pains. There were pains of missing or losing someone they loved or knew, or at least the pain of seeing one's own State in such an ugly form.

It was not even one year of Modi's rule and the riots occurred. Modi's detractors portrayed him as the face behind riots for the reasons best known to them. Such portrayal raised serious doubts about the prospects of Gujarat post- 2002 elections. Modi had to prove his mettle this time and he did it all right. He won 127 seats in the 182 seat assembly; i.e. 10 more seats more than what Keshubhai had left for him. That should be suffice to show what people had understood of Modi, and the accusations on him.

Since 2002, Modi hasn't looked back. The people of Gujarat again voted for him in 2007. This time again he won a 122 seats. Sonia Gandhi came to Gujarat and dared to demean Modi as 'Maut Ke Saudagar'. Modi used it as his trump card, and how. Although, the chief agenda was of Gujarat development, but 'maut ke saudagar' and the Modi special responses to the Sonia comment caught more attention. He ensured an emphatic win for himself. Congress tried wooing voters by perennial attempts to malign Modi for 2002, but it all failed. 'Jeetega Gujarat' was ratified by the voters.

Post 2007, Modi became the face of development where Gujarat saw multi-nationals coming to Gujarat to invest, where the realty sector has been booming, the service sector doing the best it ever has. As they say, 'Self- proclamation is an art.' One person I know who is a master at this art is, undoubtedly Narendra Modi. He has proclaimed himself to be the man behind development, and has done it convincingly. Its not just about saying it, its about making others believe in it. People have believed in him. But alongside this self-proclamation, people have seen the success story of Gujarat being unveiled. In the able hands of Modi, Gujarat has become 'Vibrant'.

The 2012 elections were all about Modi and his political prospects. He was considered as a master strategist for BJP even before he became Gujarat's CM. His strategies were bound to be profitable. One year before Gujarat elections Modi initiated his 'Sadbhavna Yatra', to openly tell every person belonging to a nminority in any sense that Modi cares for them all. This was just to clear the air and rubbish the allegations on Modi having a sense of prejudice, specially for Muslims. For this yatra, he travelled to various districts of Gujarat. This was to ensure that the people of each district in Gujarat could relate to him and consider him one amongst them all and not as a CM who remains within the CM residence, deals with business tycoons and talks only to media.

The sadbhavna yatra laid the path for 2012 elections. The campaigning began, and so did the speculations. The mood was quite obvious. He had done pretty well in Gujarat in the last decade. Modi was seen as one of India's best CMs and prospective BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 general elections. There was nothing against him. Some said that there was no Muslim candidate from BJP to which Modi assertively responded saying that 'I am your leader. You don't have to vote for the candidate. You have to vote for me. If you face any problems, directly come to me.' This underlines the prominence he has.

As against this, the Congress had gone from bad to worse since 2009 in the centre. In the state, they had no face to lead the election campaign. Shankarsinh Vaghela was borrowed from BJP. As most people said, Congress had a 'faceless and issueless' campaign. Nothing in their speeches would appeal to people. A congress leader called Modi a monkey and Manmohan Singh, a tiger and he knew he didn't have to wait for election results to tell his conscience who was who. National Congress leaders also came to Gujarat for campaigning. But it all seemed to be a formality that they were performing. Rahul Gandhi didn't dare to go to make one single speech at a BJP led constituency. They thought it was a smart move, as the statistics had not been in Rahul's favour. His success ratio in 2012 UP elections was hardly 11% in the constituencies where he campaigned. Seems he knew his presence is not going to affect the people and votes, at least the statistics would look better this way.

The voters turnout was immense. More than 70% voting in all over Gujarat. Keshubhai and his Parivartan Party were over optimist about the results. On the other side, Congress was hoping against hope that it does not lose in a worse way than the earlier losses.

20th December arrived and marked a phenomenal win for Narendra Modi. A 3rd consecutive election win. It was not just a win but a significant one. The people of Gujarat accentuated the Modi rule and ruled out the Congress even as an option. Winning a 115 seats out of 182 is no child's play. Alongwith Congress, Keshubhai and  hisparty were also whitewashed. Keshubhai was a CM in his own dreams that he saw, considering the patel community support. His dreams were shattered as his party won merely 2 seats. Modi also won for himself 12 out of 19 seats in Muslim dominated areas which clearly goes on to show Modi magic.

Modi has always been a prominent leader in BJP. With the 3rd consecutive win, he is seen as a Prime Ministerial candidate for BJP, not just by the media but even by the party faces. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi is also speculated to be Congress face to counter Modi at centre. Thus far it's Modi 1- Rahul 0. 

The single party rule is not possible in current political scenario where the regional parties have command over general elections in their states. Modi is seen as a ruler and not a consensus builder and hence is undermined to be the Prime Minister. But this is a wrong perception that people have for him. Had he not been a consensus builder, the business lobby would not have considered Gujarat to be the best place for their investments. Modi is definitely a consensus builder, who can efficiently keep all the allies with him and run the nation, the way he has run Gujarat for over a decade. The nation awaits a change that Modi is.

Jai Hind