S P E C I A L   E D I T O R I A L

Gujarat goes the Modi way
Hari Jaisingh

Gujarat has gone the BJP way, the margin of its two-thirds victory in the 182-member Assembly far exceeding cautious estimates of poll pundits. Apparently, the silent swing in favour of the saffron party started building up right from the halfway mark of the campaign. The BJP leadership went whole hog to carry the voters along since early indications did not appear so promising even to the party's ardent supporters. What, then, made the party click with the voters? Was it the Hindutva card? Or, was it "aggressive nationalism" of the "Chhota Sardar", as Mr Narendra Modi is called. Of course, his "gaurav yatra" meant different things to different segments of the population. But it must be acknowledged that he is the key player in the BJP's roaring success. He exploited the Hindutva card to his maximum advantage. The other party bigwigs like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr L.K. Advani, Mrs Sushma Swaraj and Mr Arun Jaitley too helped to project a new composite image for the party. Even the presence of UP Chief Minister Mayawati must have made some difference. In any case, the people's verdict should be accepted graciously and without reservations. This is what the democratic spirit demands.

The Godhra incident was undoubtedly a watershed in Gujarat politics. What followed subsequently was an equally dark phase. The Akshardham attack also made quite an impact on the psyche of the Gujarati voter. Who failed whom will continue to be debated. For, even the massive victory does not provide answers to Gujarat's fractured polity. A lot will now depend on how BJP leaders at Gandhinagar, especially Mr Narendra Modi, look at their electoral success. The victory should inject some sobriety and broadmindedness in them.

The Congress, on the other hand, failed to gauge the mood of the voters. Its performance was pathetic. The party leaders lacked a sense of direction as well as purpose. They were no match to the BJP's aggressive style of campaigning. No doubt, the majority of Muslims must have voted for the party, but the Congress lost the bulk of its supporters among the adivasis and other segments of the population because of its lacklustre poll campaign. Party President Sonia Gandhi did not click with the Gujarat voters. In fact, Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Shankersinh Vaghela cancelled each other out in the party's image-building efforts. Mr Vaghela's softline Hindutva and the Congress President's half-hearted negative campaigning did not go well with the pragmatic Gujaratis. Perhaps, one factor which finally swung the Hindu voters towards the BJP was the last-minute rumour of the play of the "underworld money" in electoral politics and the appeal of a group of Muslim leaders to the Muslim voters to favour the Congress. It seems this did not go well with most voters, even those who normally prefer the Congress.

Be that as it may, the time has come for the BJP leadership to look beyond Godhra and draw appropriate lessons from its mistakes as well as its success. It is for the party's central leadership to take an objective view of the situation in the long-term interest of the state. However, there is no denying the fact that the hero of the 2002 Assembly election is one and only Mr Narendra Modi and not Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee or Mr L.K. Advani. It is equally important for the BJP leadership to look beyond the Hindutva agenda and get down to tackling the hard issues of poverty, illiteracy, social deprivation, backwardness and restoration of communal harmony. This is how Mahatma Gandhi visualised Gujarat, nay, the whole of India. For, the mere religious card cannot provide lasting answers to the crucial issues facing the nation in today's globalised world.