A country built its heritage and constitution beyond cast and creed faces an acid test to select her future leader. It may be unaffordable for ordinary citizen especially minorities (Muslims and Christians) to send a party or person with intense casteism and communal approaches to the most crucial position of our country. Even though there is a strong tension among the multiple leaders of BJP about the Prime ministership, the self declared Narendra Modi gains attention and conscience among his followers and a large number of party leaders. Party President Rajanath Singh gave green signal to his urge for the Prime Minister race. It can be concluded in other way, Narendra Modi almost ensured his PM position if BJP become gain power in the coming election.
It is apparent that Narendra Modi is
a strong leader as well as a well administrator. Amidst downturn, he maintained
growth and development of his state surpassing counter parts. Bihar is the only
state which competes with Gujarat in terms of economic growth. A recent study, Poverty
Amidst Prosperity: Essays on the Trajectory of Development in Gujarat
(Aakar Publications) depicts the situation of Gujarath and Modi model of
development. GDP growth in Gujarat is commendable and is in par with
Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu. But the balanced growth and the remarkable
growth in agriculture sector give a dominant nature to Gujarat. In the recent
past Modi successfully persuaded global business leaders and investors to participate
in his business. Albeit Modi lost his image in the backdrop of Godra incident,
he managed to reach in to a lead positions by pacifying entrepreneurs with pro
corporate approaches. The move of certain European countries to remove Modi
from their black list is the evidence of their indirect approval his PM
candidature. Also many developed countries feel that Modi can create safe
havens for their business investment.
The cloud of communal dimensions behind Modi is slowly discarding and
world countries are showing their willingness to accept Modi as their dialogue
partner. A few months ago, Modi was invited to UK to share his business ideas
and he is now a frequent visitor of various universities in different parts of
India and abroad.
The ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ investors
summit was a feather to the crown of Modi and the Darshan Yathra led by him
gained wide attention. Now no one can vehemently reject the leadership of Modi that
revived Gujarat in diverse fronts. A state with largest coastal area is now a
hub for business. Among the states industrial growth is high in Gujarat and
Modi claimed that his contribution to centre exceeds the supports from central
government. While making controversial remarks regarding the Indo Pak border
( ) he even dared to challenge
centre. At the same time this is his third term in Gujarat and a person elected
by the people consecutively for three times is a good sign for India. It proved
that he is an accepted leader among people. This was enough for Modi to silence
his strong critics those argued that he is ignoring the poor and promote
communal thinking. Pro Modi people argue
that Modi has no communal approaches and he strives to maintain the attitude of
secularisms and work for achieving a developed state. His strong attitude
against administration shames UPA which crawls amid corruption, policy
paralysis and maladministration.
Nithish Kumar, the Chief Minister of
Bihar also in the run for PM position is in tuff words with Modi. But he is not
yet emerged as a viable option for BJP. Other party icons Arun Jaitley, Sushma
Swaraj, Advani, Nithin Gadkari etc. are not started their campaigns and not yet
gained any attention even from their followers. But Modi is in the forefront of
his rally towards Delhi. The situation is not favoring BJP due to its group
rivalries and leadership crisis. Also there will be only scare parties to
support a communal party like BJP and almost all parties like to make coalition
with a more liberal UPA. So the ball is always in the court of UPA and pro
Congress Pranab Mukherji.
As an efficient administrator, India
deliberately needs Modi as the Prime Minister. The people of India are not in a position to
accept people like Manmohan Singh or Montek Singh Aluvalia who always talk
about numbers, economic s and reforms. People without any practical experience
can’t lead India in this alarming crisis of deficit. Also we don’t want any
more big bang economic reforms but we need vehement administrative reforms. As
a person who proved his administrative skills and shown his vibrant growth
approaches, Modi can do a little to revive this paralytic condition of Indian
administration. Modi is not a panacea to curb corruption but he can act as mild
agent for change.
I hope Modi has learnt a lot from the
Godra Incident and related developments. I believe he will shed communal dimensions
absolutely and clad a secular approach. As an ordinary citizen I can’t find any
traces of communalism in the eyes of Modi. Even though I strongly object the
ideas of BJP, a person who loves India, I have a hope in Modi.
What will happen to the poor?
Economists
and social scientists complain that low wage rates, poorly functioning public
schemes and patchy access to water and sanitation in Gujarath. This was in the
wake of Narendra Modi’s recent remark in an interview to Wall Street Journal
that high malnutrition in his State is because of the Gujaratis habit of beauty
consciousness (lean beauty) and vegetarianism. The mutual existence of economic
growth and malnutrition do raise questions on Modi’s mode of development.
The workforce
participation rate and the quality of employment are extremely poor in Gujarat.
As per the latest National Sample Survey Office statistics, the daily wage
rates of casual men and women workers in rural areas are lower than the
corresponding rates in India, with the State ranking 14th (Rs.69) and ninth
(Rs.56) in men’s and women’s wage rates respectively among the major 20 States.
In the case of urban casual workers’ daily wages, the State ranked seventh
(Rs.109) and 14th (Rs.56) for male and female wage rates. In the case of
regular rural workers also the State ranked 17th (Rs.152) and ninth (Rs.108) in
the male and female wage rates respectively. The corresponding ranks for urban
areas are 18th (Rs.205) and 13th (Rs.182) respectively among the major 20
States in India. (Dr. Indira Hirway, September 27,
2012, The Hindu)
She also
mentioned about the deficiencies of social schemes in Gujarat. Mid-Day Meal and
Integrated Child Development Services (particularly for pregnant women and
mothers) are not working well in the State. The Public Distribution System
(PDS) was providing much less than the stipulated 35kg food grains to Below
Poverty Line (BPL) households on the ground that the number of BPL households
in the State was much larger than what the Centre had estimated and was
providing for. The State was not willing to use its own funds to meet the
deficit. Also, the recent data of the 2011 Census of Population has shown that
67 per cent of rural households do not have an access to toilets and more than
65 per cent households defecate in the open, polluting the environment. 44 per
cent villages have reported frequent occurrence of jaundice; 30 per cent,
malaria, 40 per cent, diarrhoea, and 25 per cent, kidney stones, skin diseases,
joint pain, dental problems, etc
Anyhow there
is no visible difference in the ruling of UPA and Modi. UPA talks about pro
poor plans and discusses about big bang reforms while mudding over corruption.
Modi strives to proclaim his vision as ‘Gujarath – model for development’. Both
hail for development and poor people bear the cost of liberalization. With the
hope of effective administration and to curb corruption, let’s try the efficacy
of Modi. It’s the ill fate of the people in the largest democratic country in
the world.
Paul
V Mathew
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