Thursday, October 04, 2007

Allegations fly thick and fast against Modi

The "gutter inspector" saw only what she wanted to. ELM is looked down upon as worse than scum in Gujarat. It is a surprise if anyone even glanced at her, leave alone give an interview.

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : The going may not be easy for Modi
Saurashtra was visibly hostile to the Chief Minister.

But there was also simmering anger against the BJP for the way it was
seen to have exploited tribal susceptibility. The tribal participation
in the anti-Muslim riots of 2002, the subject of much intellectual
agonising in Delhi and elsewhere, is recalled with shame in these
parts, and the emotion bursts forth like a torrent: “He [Modi] used us
against Muslims during the riots, and then sent us to jail for it.”

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Modi treated the rebels with contempt.

In the case of Leuva Patels, this was compounded by a kinship feeling
towards Mr. Keshubhai Patel, “next only to Sardar Patel” in stature but
“humiliated” by a BJP leadership more keen on Mr. Modi.

An interesting feature of the Leuva Patel bitterness was that it was directed only against Mr. Modi.

The Koli resentment against Mr. Modi is of more recent origin and can
be traced to a double incident of rape and murder that shook the
community in mid-May. The two Koli girls had gone to a shrine in
Junagadh where one of them was raped and the other killed. Today with
the criminals still at large, the inconsolable Kolis are disillusioned
with Mr. Modi and the BJP — a party they have largely been voting in
the past 15 years.


Some of the anger was visible at the Tarnetar mela which came to a
close with the visit of the Chief Minister. Mr. Modi waved to the
crowds which refused to return the gesture, remaining sullen for all of
the time he was there.

At a recent function in Bhuj in the Kutch region, he called Mr. Modi a “dictator” comparable to “Adolf Hitler”

As I returned to Ahmedabad, the negatives seemed to outweigh the
positives for Mr. Modi in an election which the Gujarati intellectual
class — barring a minuscule section — said the Chief Minister could
find tough but which he would win anyway.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"...the negatives seemed to outweigh the positives for Mr. Modi in an election which the Gujarati intellectual class — barring a minuscule section — said the Chief Minister could find tough but which he would win anyway."

There is no surprise that negatives weighed more, as the conclusion was predetermined at Kasturi Buildings. But, it is certainly magnanimous on Chindu's part to admit that there is after all such a thing called "Gujarati intellectual class". Anyhow, Chindu seems to have sadly reconciled to the fate that Modi would win anyway. Too bad that(Chindu-supported)Karnataka-type machinations are not possible out there in Modiland.