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December 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong blames defeat on Hindutva wave NEWS ANALYSIS PM hails Gujarat
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GUJARAT DIARY Al-Qaida e-mail: red alert in
Maharashtra Sex scandal: in- camera proceedings
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Cong blames defeat on Hindutva wave Ahmedabad, December 15 Every Congress leader was emphatic that the party lost because of the hard Hindutva of the BJP. But Mr Modi was in no mood to reflect. “It is a victory of the pride of five crore Gujaratis. It was a battle of self-respect. Gujarat’s honour had been tarnished and the people have given their reply. They have voted on our performance,” an ecstatic Mr Modi said, refusing to go into the reasons for the BJP’s landslide victory. “It is for political pundits to analyse,” he said. Saffron-scarffed BJP workers, celebrating the party victory by bursting crackers, dancing and distributing sweets since the results started pouring in, would not let Mr Modi go as he arrived at the party’s office here around noon. Making his characteristic gestures, Mr Modi called on senior party leader Keshubhai Patel in Gandhinagar before coming to Ahmedabad. From the party office he went to meet top priests of Akshardham before proceeding to Maninagar which gave him a memorable victory. Even as he tried to be magnanimous, telling his vanquished opponents that they should not lose heart as there was no full stop in politics, Mr Modi could not help needling the Congress. “It is the first election where the Congress has been forced to give precedence to Sardar Patel over Pandit Nehru,” he said, trying to link the BJP victory to the life of the Iron Man of India. “We started our campaign from Karamsad, Sardar Patel’s home place on his birth anniversary. And today, when the BJP has won, it is the Sardar’s death anniversary. Is there a message in it?” he asked. Expressing his gratitude to the voters, Mr Modi said it was the third election in succession where the BJP had crossed or neared the two-thirds mark. “It is not victory of a party but of Gujarati pride,” he said to repeated questions about the reasons for the BJP’s victory. “The gaurav yatra was linked to the dreams of five crore Gujaratis,” he said. BJP state President Rajindersinh Rana described the party’s victory as the defeat of all pseudo-secularists. The people, BJP leaders said, voted on ideology and the caste combinations tried by the Congress were rejected. Conceding defeat, PCC chief Shankersinh Vaghela, blamed the party’s poor results on the BJP’s hard Hindutva. “The BJP has been successful in dividing society. It got votes chanting Mian Musharraf, Mian Musharraf.. It was not a vote for peace, development and prosperity. Winning over corpses is defeat of humanity. The BJP exploited the religious feelings of the people by chanting Godhra,” a downcast Vaghela said at the PCC office here. Party MP Suresh Pachouri said the BJP had been successful in its plan of polarising society. “We cannot go to that extent,” he said, pointing out that the BJP had gained in the polarised central Gujarat where Godhra is located. “We have done better in the three other regions where development was an issue,” he said. Senior party leader Urmilabhen Patel whose son lost the elections said Mr Modi had been successful in playing the Hindu card. But this will not be good for the country in the long run,” she said. Congress workers, who had assembled near the party office hoping to cheer their leaders, dissipated as the results started pouring in. General Secretary Kamal Nath, who is in charge of Gujarat, deferred his trip to Ahmedabad. |
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NEWS ANALYSIS New Delhi, December 15 It was as recently as some 10 days ago when the IB had given an exhaustive report to the Vajpayee government wherein it had predicted a “photo-finish” in the Gujarat poll. The results today must have brought back the memories of the IB’s infamous goof-up in 1977 when Indira Gandhi, relying on an IB report of a sure-shot victory if she were to hold the General Election immediately, played the gamble and lost comprehensively. While there is no gainsaying the fact that Mr Modi’s political stock and stature have risen with this landslide victory, it may also impact the national politics. The Congress, whose electoral ship in Gujarat has been sunk by the Modi torpedo, would be hoping that the election results trigger off a power struggle within the BJP. Just as Mr L.K. Advani had a meteoric rise more than 11 years ago with his Somnath-to-Ayodhya rath yatra, it can only be expected that Mr Modi would become a towering figure at the national level in the coming months. It will have to be seen whether the Modi magic will be visible when Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan take place next year. More importantly, it would be interesting to see whether the BJP high command ropes in Mr Modi for election campaign in these states. A million dollar question which is bound to come up sooner or later would be whether the BJP, enthused by the Gujarat results, would be toying with the idea of ordering a snap General Election. As of now, the indications are to the contrary. The reason: the situation in Gujarat had become peculiar since the February 27 Godhra carnage and the subsequent communal riots. Polarisation between the two major communities of Hindus and Muslims is complete in Gujarat and the election results are a powerful indicator of that. This kind of situation is not visible in the rest of the country, at least not for now. A significant point is that the Gujarat results should be seen more as the Modi magic rather than a saffron surge. The BJP’s allies in the NDA would also be quitened by the thumping victory of the BJP in Gujarat. Those very allies who had been clamouring for the removal of Mr Modi have now been forced to swallow their words. Not only that, the allies, who have been creating trouble for the BJP
leadership by demanding a share in power much more than their parliamentary strength, would now willy-nilly fall in line. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would heave a sigh of relief and would concentrate on the governance. The Gujarat elections mark a watershed in one way. Probably for the first time in the electoral history of the country a state has seen the poll campaign directed against a foreign country and its leader. Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf and the ISI constituted the major poll planks of Mr Modi. Obviously Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had unwittingly given a handle to Mr Modi when he raised the issue of communal riots in Gujarat in international fora like the United Nations and poured choicest of invectives on Mr Modi himself. Eventually, General Musharraf has proven to be an unwitting, unexpected and unintentional ally of Mr Modi. But if the BJP were to be hit by the Modi-fication bug and the rise of a new political superstar in the BJP firmament were to change the power equation within the BJP, the Congress would have the last laugh. As the Congress’s General Secretary in charge of Gujarat, Mr Kamal Nath, commented today: “We may have lost the battle but we may still win the war.” |
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PM hails Gujarat
win New Delhi, December 15 Talking briefly to reporters this evening, Mr Vajpayee said the Opposition had not condemned the Godhra carnage and this offended the people of Gujarat. He congratulated the leaders and workers of the BJP for the thumping victory in Gujarat and asked them to pull up their socks to face imminent Assembly elections in several other states. He said the Gujarat elections were only the beginning of the BJP’s journey to victory. Meanwhile, Care-taker Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election as leader of the BJP’s Legislature Party tomorrow is a foregone conclusion. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Party President M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters today that the new leader would be elected tomorrow when the Legislature Party meets and the swearing-in would take place a few days later. Mr Naidu, party General Secretary Arun Jaitley and party in charge for the state Ramdas Aggarwal would go to Ahmedabad for the meeting. However, Mr Advani and Mr Naidu declined to give a categoric answer to the question whether Mr Modi would be re-elected. Mr Naidu, however, dropped enough hints about Mr Modi’s re-election when he said “Mr Narendra Modi was presented as the party leader in Gujarat and the people have given a massive mandate to the party under him.” Mr Advani rebuffed those who described the party’s success as a result of its aggressive Hindutva approach in the post-Godhara phase. Speaking at a hurriedly convened news conference at the party headquarters he contended that the people of Gujarat had reacted in anger against the mud-slinging campaign unleashed against the BJP, the Gujarat Government, the police and the administration post-Godhra He said this was one of the three rare occasions where the media and political analysts had failed to read public opinion. The first time was in 1977 elections where media could not understand the public opinion. This was followed by the Ayodhya issue and now the Gujarat elections. Mr Vajpayee telephoned Mr Modi soon after his own victory was announced and congratulated him. Union Minister Uma Bharti blamed the Congress for trying to get votes on the post-Godhara incident. “It is not us, but they (Opposition) who need to change their mindset on the definition of secularism. The VHP described the Gujarat election results as “a turning point” and minced no words in admitting that the Gujarat win was a seal of approval by the people on the Hindutva approach. “This is a turning point in India’s politics. Now on, Hindutva will be the decisive factor in elections,’’ VHP international president Praveenbhai Togadia said. The Congress attributed the BJP victory in Gujarat to a sense of fear among the people, saying that people had cast votes out of fear, relegating the issue of development to the background. AICC General Secretary and in charge of Gujarat affairs Kamal Nath said: “The politics of riots has created an atmosphere of fear among the electorate and it was under this influence that they had cast their votes in favour of the BJP... the issue of development has taken a back seat.” The Left parties said they foresaw a greater danger being posed by the Hindutva ideology and blamed the Congress and other secular parties for not coming together despite repeated calls for posing a united fight against the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in the state. |
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GUJARAT DIARY After the elections, most BJP workers here want to see him as the Chief Minister. Some even feel that he should go to the Centre as the post of Chief Minister is not good enough for his talent. The BJP state office in Ahmedabad only has cutouts of Mr Modi. No big-sized photographs of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee or Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani greet a visitor. “Mr Modi is enough for us,” say BJP workers. Looking relaxed, Mr Modi freely mixed with workers today and gave the impression of being accessible. Even half the results were not out when banners with VHP written over them came up in some major intersections of Ahmedabad. ‘Jang aage jaare hai. Ab Dilli ki bari hai (the war continues, next is Delhi),’ read the banners. |
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Al-Qaida e-mail: red alert in Maharashtra Mumbai, December 15 A tight vigil was also being maintained at the American Consulate and at the United States Information Services Centre in the city, they said. The police is ascertaining the origin of the E-mail.
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Sex scandal: in- camera proceedings
held Bangalore, December 15 The deposition in Bangalore today was held in camera. The Director-General of Police, Karnataka, Mr T. Madiyal, Mr B.G. Koshi, who had filed a public interest litigation before the Karnataka High Court against the media on the issue, President of the Bangalore Bar Association, Legislator Mr K.N. Subbareddy and the secretary of the Delhi-based Lawyer’s collective, Mrs Indira Jaising, deposed before the committee today. Mrs Jaising later told newspersons, that the Chief Justice of India would be requested to expand the scope of inquiry and appoint an independent body like the CBI to probe the issue. The committee heard the Mysore city Police Commissioner and the owner of the resort yesterday in Mysore. The Registrar of the Karnataka High Court, Mr A.C. Kabbin, told reporters that the high-level committee would submit its findings to the Chief Justice of India soon. |
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