Source: Tehelka

CAMPAIGNING IS on in full swing for the Gujarat assembly elections this month. Both the BJP and chief minister Narendra Modi are predicting a third term for him. Modi’s media managers are selling him as the man of ‘development in the state’, and big industrial houses are pitching for his victory.

There may be some truth to the chief minister’s PR machinery, which is why big industrialists are having a great time in Gujarat. But in complete contrast to this is the condition of the common man in the state. At least if one goes by the different indices of development such as nutritional levels of women and haemoglobin levels of pregnant women etc. Still the popular perception in large sections is that Modi will romp home and thereby stake his claim to become BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

But that may need more than just corporate muscle. To that end, Modi has been trying to win over sections of Muslims to his side, business and affluent class in particular. He has even convinced a few such as London-based Gujarati businessmen Zafar Sareshwala, who had filed many human rights cases against him in the International Court of Justice. Modi’s Sadbhavna meetings — where he fasted and put up a liberal face — got him many an admirers in beards and caps. However, his lie got exposed when he refused to wear a skull cap offered by a Muslim cleric, even as he put on designer caps and pagdis (head gears) by the Hindus and Jains. Read more