The PM, who once claimed that he had built Gujarat like no one else, now claims that the Congress never allowed him to develop the state
The current Prime Minister of India was chief minister of Gujarat for 12 years. When he wanted to become Prime Minister of India, we were told by him and his supporters that he had brought unprecedented progress and development to Gujarat. This was accepted by many in India and Narendra Modi was chosen to be prime minister of the country.
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PM Narendra Modi on the maiden voyage of the Ro-Ro ferry service in Ghogha, Bhavnagar, during his visit to Gujarat on Sunday. Pic/PTI
Now the Prime Minister of India goes to Gujarat and tells the people of Gujarat and of India that he was prevented from bringing progress and development to Gujarat by a Congress-ruled Centre. Can both these stories be true? Was the chief minister of Gujarat being economical with the truth when he described the 'Gujarat model' which was to be used to transform the whole nation? Or was the prime minister of India being a bit unbothered by facts or his own claims in the past when he said he was not allowed to bring progress to Gujarat?
The thing is, that Gujarat is and always has been exactly like the rest of India. Some parts are better developed; others are not. Yes, more Gujaratis are business-minded than many other Indians. And also, many Gujaratis are extremely hard-working and resilient. However, there are other communities across India who also demonstrate these qualities.
I had moved to Ahmedabad a few months before the current prime minister had become chief minister, and I found it quite annoying that many people there looked either to Mumbai or to New York when they ran short of supplies. I lived in Gujarat for some years under the prime minister as chief minister, and even with a BJP government at the Centre, I saw no dramatic progress that transformed the state to look miraculously different from what it had been before. Did that Central government also stop Modi in various ways, reminders of "raj dharma" apart?
As parts of India grew and the neo middle classes had more spending power, so did some cities in Gujarat. But since the malls in Mumbai were bigger, snazzier and better stocked than those in Ahmedabad, people in search of brighter lights still made that trip to stock up the way some people do when they go abroad.
Of course, having been out of Gujarat for three years, and running from the twin disasters of demonetisation and the fallout of the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, the prime minister of India now has to look for excuses to explain why that promised development did not happen. "Give me 50 days to prove why demonetisation worked" has been forgotten as we reach the first anniversary of a move that makes even less sense now than it did then.
Blaming Jawaharlal Nehru for stopping Modi from bringing development to Gujarat is clearly the only way forward.
I live in Uttarakhand now, and here was the prime minister, informing us the other day that the Congress did not let him do anything for Kedarnath after the floods of 2013. Well, the BJP has been in power since February this year and it took the prime minister that many months to worry about Kedarnath. While he was at it, he could have worried about the whole of Uttarakhand which has seen no development in nine months and whatever plans have been proposed will all cause severe environmental damage — not least the planned Char Dham highway. Development can be a disaster in eco-sensitive areas, if anyone's interested.
Gujarat, of course, is being primed for Assembly elections. Ever since Modi left it to become prime minister, reports out of Gujarat have not been as starry-eyed and full of developmental fervour and promises as before. The strict PR machinery that built up the glorious 'Gujarat Model' moved to the Centre and, with that, Gujarat was left out of the grand designer's grander vision.
As to what will happen in Gujarat, I have no clue. But it seems sad that the prime minister, who once claimed that he had protected Gujarat's asmita like no other and that he had built Gujarat like no one ever had, now claims that he wasn't allowed to build Gujarat.
For the first time, he himself has opened that out to public scrutiny and, even more extraordinarily, exposed a weakness in his earlier impenetrable armour.
Strange times.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist. You can follow her on Twitter @ranjona. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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