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Just what did a Delhi reporter miss in Gujarat?
As a Delhi reporter sent to Gujarat to feel the pulse of its people, I’m still trying to make sense of the Congress landslide in that state. Technically speaking, the Narendra Modi-led BJP with 15 seats is right there at the top. But how did the Congress win even 10?
A single-digit score would have been perfectly respectable considering that most people whom I talked to spoke of Modi as if he was a wrathful but just God who crushes the evil, feeds the poor and doesn’t let any power bring dishonour to Gujarat’s asmita.That’s why a Surati restaurant owner refused to talk to me since “you must be one of those Delhi journos who come to Gujarat, scribble down some notes in English and then go back to badmouth our Modi.” The man didn’t know that I was determined not to report on what has already been so excessively reported - pogroms, massacres, justice denied. Instead,
I wanted to find out if the fruits of the unprecedented prosperity that Modi is said to have brought have finally softened the Hindu-Muslim hostilities. Intoxicated by the new good life of 24-hour power supply, smooth highways and a Nano plant, are both communities forgetting the past scars and moving on?
On the surface, this seemed to be the case. I met a software entrepreneur in Surat who was a Modi fan and, hold your breath, a Muslim. Another Muslim, an Ahmedabad stockbroker, claimed he has performed namaaz in Modi’s chamber. Another confessed that Modi has ‘something’ in him.
With not just Hindus, but Muslims too fawning for him, I smugly thought that there would be no serious contest in Gujarat. Other than Ehsan Jaffrey’s son, and the jobless workers of Surat’s slump-hit diamond industry, everyone whom I spent time with seemed in a hurry to again vote for NaMo, the ‘asli mard’ Modi.
In Ahmedabad, I caught up with the young crowd in malls assuming they are the type who would easily swoon over the looks of Sonia Gandhi’s children. But no, they liked Modi because of his pro-development policies. It fell to a hip tattoo artist to put the matter in a clearer perspective. He said, “I don’t care about the riots and I don’t have Muslim friends.” With such attitudes, who could have stopped Modi’s BJP from sweeping the whole of Gujarat. Yet it won just five more than the Congress.
In hindsight, I feel that I didn’t pay much attention to two conversations I had in different parts of the state. While meeting the only Muslim family in a village near Gandhinagar, the talk was all about Modi’s efficient administration but the moment my Hindu translator left the room, the wife burst out in broken Hindi, “You don’t know but we face many problems here.” She became quiet when the translator reappeared. Then in Surat I met a textile industry entrepreneur who praised Modi for “teaching a lesson to Muslims” before adding that he is also a fan of Rahul Gandhi.
Perhaps it is this fondness for both Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi coupled with the fear psychosis among the Muslims that led to a very average victory for the Gujarat chief minister. But I must add a third conversation that I had with a Bohra Muslim in Surat. The gentleman argued that Gujarat’s present prosperity was not due to the Chiman Bhais and Narendra Modis, but because of ‘dhondo’ loving Gujaratis and that it is the media that is making too much of Modi’s development record. Point noted, sir.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Mayank Austen Soofi on Friday, May 22, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged Congree landslide, delhi journos, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Hindu-Muslim hostilities, Nano plant, Narendra Modi, Surat
I wonder where are the ‘glorified traders’ who were hailing Modi as the next Prime Minister. They felt that the wind ws blowing in Modi’s favour and the words were used to get concessions and subsidies for projects.
Do Bajaj, Mittal and Ambani have the conviction to should repeat it with a Cong govt back in power at New Delhi?
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Soofi u did it again,
why not go to Jammu and hear abour plight of hindus driven out of Kashmir? or in Assam?
I wonder what are you made of?
What is Delhi reporter doing in Gujrat all the time? why can’t you move on to Kashmir? you do move to Kashmir but only to publish you “stories” about kashmiri muslim wanting freedom.
Delhi is not only in that damed Nizamudin basti… get out that hole and you will see other parts also .. .. hope you camera works at that time.
I wonder who gave you space to write in HT…
freedom of free speech and democracy.. all misussed and abused by people like you…..
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I agree with Pankaj. It is not the media which is trying to bring up Modi’s development. But, it is media which is trying to find faults in what the general public is talking about all the development. Somehow, a hindu being killed is never a news. Muslims who have been goons in Gujarat since such a long time get all the importance. Why did he not go to the muslim ghettos in Ahemdabad. Probably because even the police and the AMC (Ahemdabad Municipal corporation) can not enter those areas. During 2002, lots of guns, swords and even shoulder rocket launchers were recovered by the army from these areas. Even the army did not go much inside these ghettos. These people kill anyone who comes inside those areas. And then they say oh! we don’t have roads and water… help us. General public including hindus and muslims are now able to live peacefully since some of those goons were killed. The leader of those goons was that MP who Teesta keeps talking about. What is wrong with the media, BJP is not taliban, these muslim ghettos are going towards Talibanisation. Wake up……
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Pankaj….you are right. Soofi should go to Naxal areas and see why predominantly Hindu Naxals wage war against this country. He should also go to North East and see whey Hindu miltants are attacking secular India. He should go to RSS headquarter to see why Abhinav Bharat was created.
Swati…Muslim goons. Good. I think you like Hindu women who lead mobs and kill pregnant women and innocent children. That’s your dream of India. But this dream…the dream of Mayaben Kodnani….will never realise. You guys are in a majority on internet. But in real world it is the secular Indian who will crush fundamentalism and live in harmony.
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vikram Reply:
May 28th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Well said brother. the indians will crush all fundamentalists
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Dreamer ….. you name tells the story… you are living in a “dream world” of yours.
There is nothing called “Hindu Naxals”. Naxals are not waging a war in the name of religion.
Abhinav Bharat was created to protect and safegaurd hindu interest.. what’s wrong with that?
Secualr India is a joke….. get Uniform civil code sorted 1st and then we talk.. if u dont know about what is uniform civil code then you should keep your month shut and your views to yourself.
What is your dream of India? Sharia law in India in next 100 years?
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Dreamer… First of all when did I say Muslim goons. You are just talking like our current media who twists and turns people’s words into what they want to say. There are ghettos in Ahemdabad where the authorities can not enter. They can not build roads or get water. It is not my fault that they are all inhabited by Muslims.
Why are you talking about killing of pregnant women. Do you know that this story which was brought up by Teesta Stelvad was false propaganda. Our own supereme court has ruled against the affaidavits she brought up. One person brings up one imaginary strory and the media keeps harping about that and makes it true. My dream is to make my country grow so much that people from America and Europe will need to stand in lines for Indian visa.
Unfortunately the current government we have got has always gone to the world with a begging bowl. We are poor help us. Rahul Gandhi takes foreign delegates to slums as if he is very proud — see there is so much poverty in my country after my family ruled it for 50 years. Indians have the capability of doing anything and everything. The current govt and its muslim appeasement policies are bringing everyone down.
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Mayank,
This is indeed a mystery why Modi’s BJP managed only 15 seats in Gujarat. The other curious fact is that the victory of BJP and Congress are confined to pockets; large contiguous areas have gone either to BJP or to Congress.
However, I am not sure your post offers any explanation for this. Even the two conversations that you quote do not explain much. For one, the Muslim vote in Gujarat is much less significant than, say, UP or West Bengal and if the riots were an issue in the elections, we would have seen bigger impact in earlier elections.
Maybe the canny Gujarati wanted to hedge his bets? By voting for Congress in the centre? But, no, the area wise voting patterns still do not make sense.
Anyways, keep posting on Delhi. You are truly in your element and I love your posts.
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I completely second Soofi’s ideas.
There was a time when I had no connections with Gujrat and then I depended on the media. Although from a BJP supporter family, I did not like what Modi spat on Gujrat.
But now having links with the state, even I am completely aghast how could congress even win 10 seats there. The people over there are staunch supporters of Modi and take him as God.
I completely understand Soofi’s amazement. That was my condition once. Poor chap!
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