Race to PM 2014 :Modi V/s Rahul

Narendra Modi calls UPA as most hated government

2013-04-09T15:02:00.002-07:00

Narendra Modi a big issue for media, not for Congress

2013-04-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

Narendra Modi's prescription for West Bengal Inc

2013-04-09T14:54:00.001-07:00

Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi: Battle for India Inc

2013-04-08T18:10:00.004-07:00

Rahul presented his views in a superb manner: Adi Godrej to NDTV

2013-04-08T18:10:00.002-07:00

Modi model of governance: Favours to corporates?

2013-04-08T18:09:00.001-07:00

Speak out India: Has Modi managed to impress with his 'mother card'?

2013-04-08T18:06:00.001-07:00

Rahul Gandhi Speech at CII Summit

2013-04-08T18:04:00.001-07:00

Modi's "women empowerment" mantra impresses women entrepreneur

2013-04-08T18:03:00.001-07:00

Women's Reaction to Modi's FICCI's talk

2013-04-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

Narendra Modi pitches for more governance and less government

2013-04-08T17:56:00.001-07:00

Cyrus Broacha takes on Rahul Gandhi's speech at CII

2013-04-08T17:40:00.001-07:00

Modi's critic Madhu Kishwar praises him in Modinama

2013-04-07T18:40:00.001-07:00

Power grid failure: Amid gloom, Gujarat sets an example

2012-07-31T23:31:00.000-07:00

A power surplus state with near 24-hour electricity supply not just in cities like Ahmedabad and Vadodara but in all the 18,000 villages. Now, the Gujarat government plans to further sharply increase power generation from 13,500 MW now to 18,000 MW by the end of the current year.

The Narendra Modi government was able to ensure almost 24 hour electricity supply, especially in villages, by implementing the Jyoti Gram project. Even the Government of India has accepted this as a flagship scheme for the 12th Five-Year plan (2012-17) for supplying round-the-clock, high-quality, three-phase power to all villages.

Commissioned in 2006, Jyoti Gram provides for a separate electric feeder for domestic use and a limited agricultural supply of nearly eight hours a day, continuous and of constant voltage. A recently released Planning Commission document, "Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth : An Approach to the 12th Five Year Plan", says "the separation of agricultural feeders" in the country will enable villages to get "24 X 7 three-phased power for domestic uses, schools, hospitals and village industries".

As for the farm pumpsets, which require more power, they can obtain "eight hours or more of quality power on a pre-announced schedule." The document underlines, "The programme of feeder separation has to be carried through across the country. Gujarat has achieved very good results by combining feeder separation with an extensive watershed programme for groundwater recharge. Punjab, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have also moved forward in this direction. Feeder separation needs to be extended to all states, especially where groundwater is extensively used."

The Gujarat government spent Rs 1,200 crore to implement Jyoti Gram by separating 12,000 agricultural feeders from domestic feeders. It brought down transmission and distribution losses from 35 per cent five years ago to 15-19 per cent this year.

Already a power surplus state, Gujarat sold 5,105.43 million units (MUs) to other states last year earning a profit of Rs 1,888.53crore. Last year, the state had sold 5,105 million units to states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Maharashtra. This was approximately seven per cent of total power produced in the state — 68,710 MUs. According to minister of state for power, Saurabh Patel the government sold power at Rs 8.51 per unit to Rajasthan, at Rs 7.70 per unit to Maharashtra and 9.52 per unit to Delhi. By selling these surplus power, the government was giving Rs 3,000 crore as subsidy to farmers.

With new plants planned to come up, the situation would further improve. And, Gujarat is not just planning to have more imported coal and gas based power plants, but is also negotiating with the Government of India for a second ultra mega power plant (UMPP). There has been no looking back since 2004 when the state successfully unbundled the loss-making Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) into smaller power utilities. Smaller set-ups improved efficiency - cutting T&D losses and better plant load factor - helping the firms to make profits.

Look ma, new job

2012-07-28T23:50:00.001-07:00

The veil lifted but briefly when Rahul Gandhi acknowledged to a television channel recently that he was ready to play a "more pro-active" role. Government? Party? Both? The questions hovered in the air as the Congress went into a frenzy of speculation about Rahul's next steps after his revelation that a decision had been taken. Efforts at expectation management by party handlers, who insisted that nothing was final yet, did little to quell the buzz that a new succession plan had been readied to replace the one that bombed in UP.

Ever since Rahul vanished from public gaze for six weeks after the UP assembly poll debacle, the Congress has been in a blue funk about his intentions. Many thought the party was over, that the reluctant prince would call it a day and refuse to accept the leadership mantle most Congressmen and women believe is his birthright. An aide who spoke in confidence admitted that in retrospect, it was a mistake perhaps to disappear the way he did. But Rahul needed quiet time away from the hurly-burly of politics. His surprise declaration about his future role was part image-correction and part announcement that he was back, this time for good.

The Gandhis are wont to keep their plans shrouded in mystery. Consequently, Rahul offered only a peep into the future. But it is evident that something is brewing. Those who know are reluctant to talk details but they admit privately that various blueprints are being finalised to relaunch Rahul and dispel the sense of impending doom that has gripped the Congress in the wake of a series of election defeats and the non-performance of the Manmohan Singh government amid mounting corruption scandals and sagging economic indicators.

One plan, according to these sources who spoke on condition of confidentiality, envisages him as an important cabinet minister in the government. Portfolio options include rural development, human resource development and yes, even finance which would see him sound the bugle for a general election with a populist budget next year. Another plan is to elevate him as party vice president, or working president, and give him a free hand to revamp the Congress and focus on the forthcoming assembly elections. In all six states, the Congress goes head to head with the BJP and the results will determine which party gets to lead or be part of the next government. There are other blueprints too, which are still being drawn up.

The political mood will colour the choice of plan, which is why timing is crucial. NCP chief Sharad Pawar has already given the Congress a foretaste of the risks ahead if it tinkers too much with current power equations in the government and the UPA. Yet, many believe that come September, once the monsoon session of Parliament is out of the way, the chosen succession plan will be put into motion. "The Lok Sabha elections are less than two years away. Rahul can't delay the decision beyond September if he wants to make a mark, " says a Congress leader close to the Gandhi scion. Those who are privy to some of Rahul's thoughts and feelings say that the UP loss was a watershed in his political career. "He has emerged humbler and less dogmatic about his views, " says one of his aides. According to another, Rahul is beginning to come to terms with India's shambolic political culture, understanding that it cannot be straitjacketed into modern management systems and fixed office hours as he wanted. Late night confabulations will happen and deals will be struck in the wee hours of the morning. Rahul has had to stop his nightly gym routine for the past couple of weeks because he's been forced to keep the odd hours most politicians are accustomed to.

This is not to say that he has abandoned his desire to modernise and professionalise the Grand Old Party of Indian politics. At his behest, Sam Pitroda recently got the American consultancy giant Deloitte to prepare a report on revamping the Congress to give it a 21st century look and feel. The report is lying with Rahul.

Those who work with him have observed several changes in the months since he came back with the intention of putting the UP debacle behind him. For instance, he has started reaching out to GenEx leaders to understand what makes the Congress tick. It is interesting that even those who were sidelined by his mother, like yesteryear aides M L Fotehdar and R K Dhawan, were invited by Rahul for a chat. He spent considerable time listening to their recollections from the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi eras.

With UP on his mind, Mohsina Kidwai was another party elder Rahul tapped recently. He wanted to get a fix on her 1978 Lok Sabah bye-election victory from Azamgarh. She won the seat just one year after the Congress post-Emergency wipeout in UP. He has also had several meetings with Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, a veteran of three successive Congress victories in the capital, and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad whose political skills were once much in demand.

The really big change though is his decision to maintain regular contact with his mother's aides who he once shunned. The truce with Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel is particularly significant as they are collaborating on the upcoming Gujarat state assembly elections with the aim of reducing Narendra Modi's victory margin and erasing his sheen as Gujarat's iron man. Patel, pointed out a Rahul confidante, can play a crucial role in persuading parties like Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party and Pawar's NCP to desist from contesting so that all the anti-Modi votes accrue to the Congress in a straight fight with the BJP. "These parties cut into our votes, " he said.

"Rahul has realised that he cannot bypass the main party as he was doing, " explained a senior Congress leader. "We all got the impression that his Youth Congress was just waiting to throw us out and take over. And it had created a great sense of insecurity. Rahul will have to work through consensus and take everyone along. "

In fact, it seems Rahul is quite disillusioned with his experiments with democracy in the Youth Congress. The election process he crafted to democratise the YC with the intention of opening it up to a wide spectrum of aspiring young political workers proved disastrous. The elections became a contest of money power and influence peddling and a large number of those who ended up being elected as officebearers were either relatives of Congress leaders or their sycophants.
The effort turned the Youth Congress into a corporate entity and destroyed its usefulness as a frontal organisation at the cutting edge of Congress street politics, which Indira Gandhi used effectively against the RSS in UP and the Left Front in West Bengal and Sanjay Gandhi unleashed on the Janata government from 1977 to 1979. "The Youth Congress should have been out on the streets at the height of the Anna Hazare agitation with counter hunger strikes and rallies, " grumbled an old timer.

At the same time, Rahul's team is hopeful that part of the operation can be salvaged. "Some of the young faces Rahul inducted are good and now that they have been put into the Congress system, they can be part of his future team as he crafts a party in his own image, " said one aide. "But, " he added somberly, "there will be no more elections to the Youth Congress. I believe it has been decided to go back to the old system of appointments. "
The UP election debacle was a huge learning curve not only for Rahul, but for Sonia too. According to one leader who had several interactions with mother and son during the assembly poll, Sonia now regrets that she held Rahul back the way she did, possibly contributing to the humiliation. She overruled his desire to pitch himself as a chief minister probable. So the Congress had no face to counter Akhilesh Yadav's growing popularity. She also insisted that he confine himself to the dais at election rallies for security reasons instead of mingling with the crowd. Akhilesh, on the other hand, was making waves with roadside stops and tea stall chats. And while she did not interfere in his ticket distribution plan, she allowed her aides to monitor the process discreetly which often created confusion.

"Mothers tend to be over-protective of their sons, " said one leader with a wry smile. "Sonia Gandhi's concerns for Rahul are understandable but they tied him down. "

After much introspection and frank talk, say their aides, mother and son have decided to meet halfway. While Sonia has agreed to allow Rahul the functional freedom he craves, he has bowed to her desire to consult party elders and evolve a consensual style that will help to bridge generational gaps.

None of this mitigates the challenges ahead as the Congress strives to prepare for the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Rahul's extended political internship and a flawed succession plan cost both party and government dearly. And the new blueprints are not inspiring. Still, a party that has got used to operating on dynastic levers cannot think beyond the Gandhi family and is desperately keen for Rahul to take charge in whatever capacity he deems fit.

The mood is so down that expectations are low. "Maybe a stint in the opposition after 2014 will be good for us and for Rahul, " says a member of the party's youth brigade in Parliament which hangs out with the Gandhi scion. "We are not looking to win elections at the moment. What we want is hope and inspiration. We want to believe that we as a party have a future. We want the gloom enveloping us to go away. If Rahul can do that, he will have done us a great service. "

Maruti may start construction of plant in Gujarat soon

2012-07-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

Country's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki is expected to begin construction of its proposed manufacturing unit in Mandal taluka near here within the next three months, a top state official said here.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently met Suzuki Motor Corp Chairman & CEO Osamu Suzuki during his Japan tour.

"Chairman of Suzuki has said they will start the work on setting up car manufacturing plant at Mandal soon, and assured that a large number of vendor units would also come up there," state's Principal Secretary (Industries) Maheshwar Sahu said.

"I think they would begin construction work within next three months," said Sahu, who was a member of delegation accompanying Modi, talking to PTI.

The company had faced a serious bout of violence at its Haryana plant recently, and there was some speculation that it might focus more on the planned plant in Gujarat.

The government has already allotted two parcels of land to Maruti Suzuki, measuring 160 hectares 70 hectares, for its proposed expansion in Gujarat.

The company is set to invest Rs 4,000 crore -- its biggest investment outside Haryana -- to set up the greenfield project near Becharaji, Mandal taluka, by 2015-16.

Besides, components suppliers of the company are also likely to make an equal investment.

The plant will be set up in a phased manner, with initial investment of Rs 4,000 crore by 2015-16. The overall capacity in the first phase will be 2.5 lakh units.

"They (Japanese) are very serious about making investments in Gujarat in sectors like automobile industry. A exclusive vendor park for Japanese industrial houses is proposed near Mandal," Sahu said.

Modi to do an Obama

2012-07-27T22:17:00.001-07:00

Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be the first politician in the country to have a live video chat via Google+ Hangout with people across the country,something the US president,Australian PM and our own Aamir Khan have done before

President Barack Obama did it with his all-digital interview from the White House that brought him directly into the homes of thousands of Americans.On Saturday morning,Julia Gillard became the first Australian Prime Minister to follow suit in an experiment in online democracy.Now,Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is all set to become the first politician in India to have a live video chat with people across the country.

Like with Obama and Gillard,the video chat with Modi will be conducted via Google+ Hangout,their new social media platform.

For the fans and followers of Modi,it is a chance for a live video chat with the leader that will be broadcast directly into the homes of lakhs across the nation and the world.While politicians are known to use social media like Twitter,Facebook and others to interact with their fans and followers,Modi will be the first to use Google+ Hangout to communicate with the masses.

In India,actor Aamir Khan has done it on his popular show Satyamev Jayate.While there have been occasions in the past where recorded questions have been answered,this digital interview gives an opportunity to political leaders to interact live with their audience.
According to a CMO official,Modi will join Google+ in the third week of August,probably August 17,that will be broadcast live by the YouTube channel.
People drawn from all walks of life,including the youth,can discuss at length on the topic,Be the Youth of Swamijis (Swami Vivekananda) dreams.While people have known Narendra Modi through his speeches and through the eyes of the media,this will be their first opportunity to have an open dialogue with the leader as lakhs view it from their homes, Dr Hiren Joshi,officer on special duty,Chief Ministers Office told Media.

Those who get a chance to have a live dialogue will be screened from entries by Google+ and YouTube.From Monday,Google+ and YouTube will ask people to send in recorded questions to the channel.Entries will be screened and those chosen will have a live dialogue with the leader.

According to Joshi,Modi is popular on social networking sites,Twitter and Facebook.This will only add to his growing popularity.

For Obama,over 227,000 people submitted questions,but only five lucky Americans got to chat face-to-face with the president.Google (and YouTube) selected questions for Obama from the videos that got the most votes from YouTube users.

Obama and Gillards video chats were 45 minutes and 1 hour respectively,but Modis live chat will be around 2 hours,according to a CMO official.

Those interested in posing questions to the chief minister can take part in Live Hangout with him on Google+. You can post your questions on www.youtube.com /narendramodi.The questions will be shortlisted and the best will get to have a live interaction with the CM.

Digvijaya Singh is right: Assam is no Gujarat. It’s worse

2012-07-27T05:19:00.001-07:00

The motormouth indiscretions of rent-a-quote politicians have a nasty habit of coming back to bite them. And showing up their ‘sagely’ pronouncements as the cynical mechanics of politics where anything goes.

Which is why the Congress party’s topmost troll, Digvijaya Singh, is today performing linguistic contortions to deflect criticism of the failure of the party’s government in Assam to restore order for days after the riots broke out. Some 44 people have so far been killed, and nearly 2 lakh people have been drive out of their homes are in refugee shelters, and the riots have spread to more parts of Assam.

Asked why the Tarun Gogoi government had failed to put down the riots for days, Digvijaya Singh, in an interview to CNN-IBN, trotted out many alibis. Assam, he said, was “not an easy state to govern.” Its complex demographics, and the multiplicity of ethnic identities, rendered it volatile, which had manifested itself in many incidents of ethnic conflict over the years, he said.

“I think you can’t really… judge the performance of the Chief Minister or the Assam government (based) on one incident (of riots),” he added.

Congress party’s topmost troll, Digvijaya Singh, is today performing linguistic contortions to deflect criticism of the failure of the party’s government in Assam. PTI

Asked how his defence of the Assam government today squared with his criticism – over the years – of the role of the BJP government in Gujarat for its failure to put down the riots of 2002, Digvijaya Singh reiterated the same old charges that, a decade later, have yet to be proven in a court of law.

What happened in Gujarat in 2002, he said, “was a state-sponsored… pogrom; the communal violence was state-sponsored. Here (in Assam) it is certainly not state-sponsored. The state government is trying its utmost to bring peace to the area and you just can’t compare Gujarat with Assam.”

Digvijaya Singh’s comments are worth dissecting, for they show up the inconsistencies in his own stand in the matter of governmental responsibility for riots that happen under their watch, and of the cynical politics that underlies these shifts in stand.

This is the same Digvijaya Singh who had earlier taken the high moral ground to claim that the mere fact that Gujarat riots had not been put down immediately pointed to state complicity in the riots. If a Chief Minister, with all the powers of the State government under his command, could not quell a riot situation in 24 hours, he ought not to stay in power, he had suggested.

Yet, it appears that when it comes to his own party government’s failure, in Assam, Digvijaya Singh’s golden rule of governance in riot situations goes for a toss.

Similarly, many of the same alibis that Digvijaya Singh invokes in defence of the Gogoi government apply with greater merit to the Gujarat government in the context of the 2002 riots. Just as Assam has had a record of ethnic tension over the decades, Gujarat too has witnessed communal riots over the decades; in fact, under successive Congress governments in the State, there were many more instances of communal tensions and riots.

But, more significantly, in the decade gone by since 2002, Gujarat has not witnessed even one single instance of communal riots. If, in Digvijaya Singh’s reckoning, the Gogoi government deserves a break because “you can’t really… judge the performance of the Chief Minister or the… government (based) on one incident (of riots),” the Gujarat riots of 2002 too ought to be seen as a tragic aberration – and not be milked for political gain in the way that the Congress has done.

There can never be any “justification” for violence, of course, but the riots of 2002 were an extreme response to the provocation of the Godhra train massacre. And unlike in the case of Assam, where the tension was building up for days without the government even waking up to it, in Gujarat the time-lapse between the Godhra provocation and the riots was very brief, which effectively flat-footed the administration.

There is one other aspect of the Assam situation that renders it worse than the Gujarat parallel. For all the ethnic complexities in Assam that Digvijaya Singh cites (and which are true up to a point), the latest riots are only the most dramatic manifestation of the tension triggered by illegal immigration from Bangladesh that the Congress government in the State refuses to acknowledge to this day.

Even the Congress’ coalition partner in Assam, Hagrama Mohilary, noted earlier this week that illegal immigrants (from Bangladesh) were involved in the riots, but on Thursday Gogoi dismissed these charges as untrue. “The violence was orchestrated by our own people, and not by Bangladesh nationals,” he said.

What is far harder to dismiss is the Congress’ contribution to the build-up of tension over the years through its cynical exploitation of minority politics, which manifests itself in its refusal to acknowledge that illegal immigration is a problem. As Assam’s Sentinel newspaper noted in an editorial, the Congress has over the years been responsible for “changing the demographic profile of the state and making the minorities a majority community… (because of unabated influx of Bangladeshis with geometric population growth) in several districts.”

And that cynical project, of actively feeding off minority politics, continues to this day.

In that sense, Digvijaya Singh is right. Assam is no Gujarat, but not for the reasons that he’s cited. Assam is far worse than Gujarat: perhaps not in terms of the cynical arithmetic of the death toll from one episode of riots, but in the manner in which the Congress has milked ‘minority politics’ in Assam for years and years and deliberately downplayed the security risks from the unchecked illegal immigration from Bangladesh.

There’s a far greater risk that it will be Assam, not Gujarat, that will see many more communal riots and ethnic tensions because of this blatant minority politicking. On that count, at least, Assam is far worse than Gujarat.

Eye on 2014, Cong grooms GenNext for Team Rahul

2012-07-27T01:22:00.002-07:00

While there is growing demand from the Congress rank and file that Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi be entrusted with greater responsibility, the party has signalled it is preparing for this eventuality by grooming its GenNext leaders for a bigger role in the organisation with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

This was clearly indicated when members of the screening committees for the poll-bound states of Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Gujarat were announced recently. Three junior ministers, who are said to be close to Rahul Gandhi, have been included in these panels, which are mandated to screen and recommend names of candidates to the party's Central Election Committee, headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

RPN Singh, minister of state for petroleum, is a member of the screening committee for the crucial state of Gujarat, Jitin Prasad, junior minister in the Roads and Transport Ministry, has been named on the panel for Tripura

and Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Home, is a member of the screening committee for Himachal Pradesh. The panel on Gujarat is headed by Minister of Roads and Transport CP Joshi, who is again known for his proximity to Rahul Gandhi. All the three junior ministers worked in the party organisation before their induction into the council of ministers. Jitendra Singh is a member of Rahul Gandhi's personal team, RPN Singh was AICC secretary for several years while Jitin Prasad headed the Youth Congress and also worked as AICC secretary. Congress leaders said the inclusion of these three ministers was a clear signal that the party is giving serious thought to the grooming of younger leaders so that they are ready to assume greater responsibilities once Rahul Gandhi enters the picture.

"The younger leaders need to be trained to build Rahul Gandhi's future team," remarked a senior Congress leader, adding that as members of screening committees, these young ministers will learn to deal with the pulls and pressures of handling ticket seekers and the considerations that go into the selection of candidates.

While Rahul Gandhi recently declared that he is ready to play a larger role either in the party of the government, there is no clarity on this matter so far. There is a section in the Congress, especially the younger leaders, that feels he should be more proactive in the organisation instead of confining himself to the activities of the Youth Congress as this would enthuse the demoralised party cadres. It has been made clear that Sonia Gandhi will continue as party president and will lead the party in the 2014 elections while Rahul Gandhi will be projected as the future Prime Minister.

There is a section in the party which believes Rahul Gandhi should be made a minister to gain experience in the running of a government which will stand him in good stead for the future.

Rahul as LS leader?

Ten Congress MPs have written to Sonia Gandhi suggesting that Rahul Gandhi be appointed Lok Sabha leader in place of Pranab Mukherjee. As leader of the House, Rahul will be able to speak dynamically on issues concerning the masses, the letter said. According to norms, a Lok Sabha leader has to necessarily be a Cabinet minister.

Narendra Modi may pose challenge to Rahul Gandhi in 2014 national election: Time magazine

2012-07-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi may pose a challenge to Congress's young scion Rahul Gandhi in India's next parliamentary elections, Time magazine said.

Modi, who figured on the cover page of the latest issues of the Asiaedition of the prestigious magazine, which hit the stands on Friday could put up a challenge to Gandhi in particular after the recently held Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, where Congress fared poorly.

"With two years left before the next national election in 2014, Congress hopes its young scion, Sonia's son Rahul, will refresh the party, but a resounding loss in a recent state election makes him look vulnerable," Time said.

"Modi Means Business. But can he lead India?" says the headline on the coverage which has a blown up picture of a serious looking bearded Modi who has ruled Gujarat for more than a decade now.

"Modi, 61, is perhaps the only contender with the track record and name recognition to challenge Rahul Gandhi," says the cover story by Jyoti Thottam, which includes an interview of Modi.

"Many Indians recoil at any mention of a man whose name is indelibly linked to Gujarat's brutality of 2002; choosing him as India's leader would seem a rejection of the country's tradition of political secularism and a sure path to increased tension with Muslim Pakistan, where he is reviled," it says.

"But when others think of someone who can bring India out of the mire of chronic corruption and inefficiency -- of a firm, no-nonsense leader who will set the nation on a course of development that might finally put it on par with China -- they think of Modi," Time says.

The cover story highlights the achievement of Gujarat under his chief minister ship. "What's certain is that during his 10 years in power in Gujarat, the state has become India's most industrialised and business-friendly territory, having largely escaped the land conflicts and petty corruption that often paralyze growth elsewhere in the nation," it said.

"Gujarat's USD 85 billion economy may not be the largest in India, but it has prospered without the benefit of natural resources, fertile farmland, a big population center like Mumbai or a lucrative high-tech hub like Bangalore. Gujarat's success, even Modi's detractors acknowledge, is a result of good planning -- exactly what so much of India lacks," the magazine said.

But Time does point out towards the 2002 riots, the victims of which are yet to get justice. "In the decade since that carnage, dozens of individual rioters have been convicted, but the state has never had to answer accusations that it failed to halt the violence: no top officials have been held accountable or had conspiracy charges proved against them," it said.

"One case naming Modi remains open, a notorious incident in which nearly 200 people were killed while taking shelter in the home of a Muslim politician, Ehsan Jafri, whose desperate calls to government officials for protection were ignored.

Modi denies ever hearing from Jafri, who was dismembered and killed. If this case also ends without any charges being brought, the last remaining obstacle between Modi and national office will fall," the weekly wrote.

Hang me if I’m guilty: Modi

2012-07-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

Gujarat chief minister pleads innocence in post-Godhra riots

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi appears to have perfected the art of recalling the Godhra riots when it suits him politically.

Modi, who has never apologised for his government’s alleged role in the pogrom, told an Urdu newspaper that he will prefer to be hanged if found guilty. Instead, the media should apologise for hounding him for the last ten years, he claimed.

The Congress was quick to respond. “Narendra Modi is a leader in the state of Mahatma Gandhi and is known for his arrogance and ego. We don't expect any apology from him,” said Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh.

“You can check whatever I had said at that time. In 2004, I had given an interview in which I questioned why should I apologise. Had my government done this, I should be hanged in public so that it remains a lesson for the next 100 years and nobody dares to do it,” Modi said in an interview to the Urdu weekly “Nai Duniya.”

In the interview, Modi reiterated his stand on the riots. However, what has drawn attention is that, this time, Modi chose the vernacular media to rewind his views. “Nai Duniya” is edited by former MP Shahid Siddiqui who had quit and rejoined SP, after a brief stint in BSP.

Siddiqui said Modi was answering questions on whether he was willing to apologise for the post-Godhra riots that claimed around 1,000 lives.

Criticising Modi’s statement, the Congress dared the Gujarat chief minister to allow lodging of FIR against him. Senior Congress leader and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said Modi made the statement keeping the ensuing Assembly elections in mind.

“I was surprised to see the statement because there are certain procedures to be followed before somebody is held guilty. In the last 12 years, not a single FIR has been registered against Modi. Who will hold him guilty when there is no FIR against him ? Who is going to hang him?” Sibal wondered.

In Modi’s defence
Speaking in Modi’s defence, former BJP president Rajnath Singh said: “There is an attempt by this government to defame Modi and the Gujarat government. It is a well-planned conspiracy...to malign the BJP government which succeeded in projecting Gujarat as a model state.”

Siddiqui said he agreed to interview Modi only after the chief minister assured that it will be a “free-wheeling chat” where he will be allowed to ask questions related to the 2002 violence.

Modi-Keshubhai spar may intensify

In an election year, amid allegations and counter allegations, the war between rebel BJP veteran Keshubhai Patel and Gujarat BJP is all set to escalate further, reports DHNS from Ahmedabad.

The state unit of the party for the first time has officially reacted to Keshubhai’s anti-Modi moves in the editorial of party mouthpiece - Manogat.

On Japan tour, Modi is seen as India’s rising sun

2012-07-27T00:52:00.000-07:00

Modi is being received with protocol befitting a Cabinet-ranking Minister of the Union, which in the Warrant of Precedence, is higher than that of a chief minister outside the state. AP

The only things redder than the red carpet that Japanese government officials have unrolled for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today are the faces of his dissidents in his home State, and his detractors elsewhere who are looking to declare him persona non grata on his home turf.

On the same day that Keshubhai Patel was painting a grim picture in the media projecting Gujarat as as a living hell for people, and when the Maruti Suzuki plant in Manesar remains locked down following last week’s horrific trade union violence, Japanese officials are reinforcing their faith in him to provide a stable and business-friendly environment for Japanese investments. And Japanese businesses are putting their money where their mouth is.

Modi is being received with protocol befitting a Cabinet-ranking Minister of the Union, which in the Warrant of Precedence, is higher than that of a chief minister outside the state. The symbolism of the reception protocol is noteworthy, particularly because it contrasts with the reluctance in western capitals to dissociate the 2002 Gujarat riots from their assessment of Modi’s record in office.

Influential Japanese media have used Modi’s four-day visit that began on Sunday as an occasion to reacquaint their readers and leaders with the larger story of Gujarat’s rise as a business-friendly state under Modi’s watch, and the evolving perception of Modi himself as potential Prime Minister.

Industrial safety is uppermost in Japanese businessmen’s minds today, given the shocking events at the Maruti Suzuki plant in Manesar last week, and the timing of Modi’s visit, during which he will also meet top Suzuki executives, couldn’t have been more propitious from an Indian perspective.

At a time when Central and Harayana leaders have failed to reassure investors outraged by the attack at the Manesar plant and other incidents of violence targeting corporate executives, Modi’s presence among the community that’s been most severely affected by the Manesar violence is having a becalming effect.

Faced with the prospect of losing over Rs 50 crore a day, Suzuki officials are justifiably incensed, and although the violence happened in another state, Modi isn’t playing politics on the issue, but delivering a confidence-building message on behalf of not just Gujarat but the whole of India.

In an interview to a leading Japanese business daily ahead of his visit, Modi articulated a pan-Indian vision, noting that Gujarat’s developmental model, with its emphasis on building infrastructure and providing an enabling environment for international businesses to thrive, could be applied across India. People across India, he said, had expectations of a better lifestyle, and only economic growth could deliver that.

The Japanese newspaper noted that in contrast to many other states, Gujarat was a haven for international investors: its government, headed by Modi, was responsive to investors’ needs and, just as important, could deliver, it added. It is this that reinforced the perception among international leaders that Modi is someone they could do business with. He is, it intoned, a strikingly different leader who had earned their respect.

Over the next three days, Modi will attend 44 events and meet with top leaders from both the ruling party and the opposition, including the Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada and former Prime ministers Yasuo Fukuda and Shinzo Abe.

In addition to meeting top Japanese industry leaders, Modi will travel by bullet train from Tokyo to Hamamatsu and then on to Nagoya, a 350 km distance that the Shinkansen does in about 100 minutes.

Modi is looking to introduce the bullet train project on the Ahmedabad-Surat-Mumbai-Pune route; additionally, Gujarat is in talks with Japanese officials to set up two Japanese industrial parks in Gujarat as part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. All his public events will be streamed live here.