I am delighted Narendra Modi has won the polls in Gujarat. If that makes you believe I have changed my views about the man or his politics, the answer is no. But yes, I am happy Modi has won for four specific reasons.
One: It will stabilise the Centre. The Left will be forced to give up its politics of brinkmanship. The Americans are not exactly great political allies (for them, trade comes first; not yaari) but anybody with half a brain will tell you that the nuclear deal is good for India. It's the only way ahead for us if we don't want to remain isolated as nuclear pariahs in a world where everyone, including China (who the Left swear by) have signed on the dotted line. As it is, the Russkis are giving us a hard time over our defence deals. Spares for existing Russian hardware are sold to us through middlemen who jack up the prices manyfold. Now they want to revisit old deals and push up the prices. It's pure blackmail and unless we sign this deal with the US, our options are woefully limited. With Modi back in full regalia, the Left will now see the importance of keeping the UPA together instead of constantly threatening to pull Manmohan Singh down.
Two: It will teach the Congress an important lesson. That the battle for trust begins with winning over the hearts and minds of the minorities, not by offering them fancy slogans at election time. The minorities hate and fear Modi, yes. But they hate and fear far more those who promise them secularism and security but can't save their own MP from being savagely beaten and burnt to death by a violent communal mob. Ehsan Jaffri, a sick old man, desperately phoned everyone he knew in Delhi, including his party chief Sonia Gandhi, pleading for protection. But no one took him seriously. No one did anything to save him or his family from a savage, brutal execution by the blood thirsty mob ransacking the neighbourhood. How can you trust a party to protect you when it cannot gear up the political will to save its own MP? Trust gets you votes, not empty bhashans on secularism.
Three: This is a wake up call for all those who have written off the BJP. Voters are a quixotic lot. You never know which way they will swing. Remember how cocky the BJP was when Pramod and Gang launched the self congratulatory India Shining campaign just before the last general elections? It was this very campaign that sealed the party's fate. Those who were seriously pissed off with the way the NDA was running India saw India Shining as the last straw. The Congress suffers from exactly the same incumbency problem today. Yes, the economy's doing well. So is the garrulous middle class. But no one attributes all this to the Congress. We see this as rightfully ours, the regaining of our economic freedom. The Congress has done nothing to speed it up. In fact, it has failed to even size down the corrupt Government machinery that's holding up further progress. So incumbency will now work to its disadvantage unless it decides to make real changes happen. How about a straight 10% tax cut across the board?
Four: Modi is not a nice guy to know. His victory will make him even cockier and less bearable, sharpening the divisions within the BJP. Even Advani who has finally regained his stature within the party (after his famous Jinnah snafu) will find it impossible to contain Modi's ambitions. As for Rajnath Singh, Modi doesn't even acknowledge his existence. So he will try and ride roughshod his victory rath all the way to the India Gate in Delhi, to first humble his own detractors in the party and then to tell Sonia that the merchants of death are knocking at her door. In that process, Modi will not only weaken the BJP (which men like Advani and Vajpayee, despite all their differences, had built into a national party) but could also splinter it as he has splintered the party in Gujarat and won. It was a smart strategy and, luckily for Modi, it worked. He is foolhardy enough to try it.
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