Modi bashing any which way: Swapan Dasgupta

[Guest dada_rocks]

Modi bashing any which way http://dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=swapan%2Fswapan176%2Etxt&writer=swapan Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi made an intriguing statement in Parliament last week. Referring to the sting operation involving participants of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Minister detected a deep-rooted "conspiracy" to vitiate the pre-poll atmosphere in the State. He assured Members that he would provide details of this conspiracy in due course, presumably after the voting. The over-reliance on stings and honey traps by Tehelka has attracted both professional and political criticism. However, the last thing anyone can charge the magazine with is complicity with either the BJP or Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Yet, ironically, the natural conclusion to be drawn from Dasmunsi's statement is that a beleaguered Modi tried to resurrect the riots during the polls so as to polarise the electorate along religious lines. Worse, he used Tehelka as the instrument of discord. Dasmunsi's statement is very revealing. Secularist wisdom, particularly outside Gujarat, deems that Modi has built his reputation on the strength of the hateful riots and that the Congress is hellbent on demolishing him by invoking the true legacy of the Mahatma. It is only when you come to Gujarat that you realise that the last thing the Congress wants is for secularism to be the dominant theme of the Assembly election. Last Friday afternoon, the Gujarat Congress released a small booklet of some 60 pages containing its chargesheet against the BJP Government. The booklet contains interesting details. In the early pages we learn that the tenancy reforms of 1937 were initiated by the Congress and replicated in, of all places, Kenya; we learn of the party's discomfiture that the amount of electricity generated in Gujarat is more than the demand; we learn that the announcement of the State's prize money for the Pathan brothers of cricket fame was made by LK Advani rather than Modi; we learn that the Jyotigram scheme is scam-ridden because it was not vetted by the Centre; we learn that Modi didn't do enough to hasten the pace of the Narmada project; and we learn that there are some 406 more incidents today of domestic violence than there were in 2002. It is only in the penultimate pages that we come across a perfunctory reference to Modi's alleged departure from secular legacy. The Congress' advertisement campaign is replete with claims that Gujarat doesn't have enough water and electricity. I am yet to come across an indictment of Modi for violating the tenets of secularism. On the contrary, the Congress is banking heavily on BJP dissidents who charge Modi with betraying Hindutva. The present Gujarat election is being fought on one central question: Is Modi good for Gujarat? Naturally such a question involves scrutinising his record of governance and examining his leadership style. This is exactly as it should be. If Modi's claim of building a Resurgent Gujarat is in tune with popular expectation, he deserves to be elected. If there is a striking mismatch between claim and performance, the Gujaratis would be justified in turfing him out of power. In the past, pundits and commentators have lamented that elections invariably bypass governance and focus disproportionately on questions of identity. In Gujarat, we are witnessing an election fought on bread and butter issues. If both the Congress and BJP in Gujarat are preoccupied with basic development issues, why is the poll perceived as a litmus test of secularism by the chattering and editorial classes of metropolitan India? The answer, it seems to me, lies in the fact that Modi's opponents want to have the best of both worlds. If Modi wins on the strength of his record of governance and the leadership he has provided, it will be presented as a triumph of hate. The Chief Minister will then continue to be berated as an ogre and his performance ignored. If Modi is defeated by an aggregate of local factors, like the disgruntlement over 406 more husbands beating up their wives, it will be presented as a decisive rejection of "communal politics". It's all very convenient.

[kumble_rocks]

Congress and the left have lost all moral authority to criticize Modi after the Nandigram incidents. That does not mean Modi is absolved for his role in the Gujarat riots. I find it hard to believe that rioters could cause to so much mayhem without the tacit approval of the ruling party.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Same broken cassett absolvign comes later first comes booking .. You are right rioters can never cause so much mayhem without police participation but to extrapolate it to the door of CM is what I have been contesting.. I also find it hard to believe in a country which has seen 66000 riots much more worse that post-godhara people are asking this question now.. it never occurred to anyone before this. anyway have written many books on this am in no mood repeat them all.. Point here is p-secularist card of head I win and tail u lose campaign

[kumble_rocks]

Same broken cassett absolvign comes later first comes booking .. You are right rioters can never cause so much mayhem without police participation but to extrapolate it to the door of CM is what I have been contesting.. I also find it hard to believe in a country which has seen 66000 riots much more worse that post-godhara people are asking this question now.. it never occurred to anyone before this. anyway have written many books on this am in no mood repeat them all.. Point here is p-secularist card of head I win and tail u lose campaign

Werid logic.... yours here. So , what next from you , Balasahib had no hand in the mumbai riots. And I can agree with your point that goons from other parties should also be held accountable for their tacit approvals of riotings and ethnic cleansing . For example Congress goons like Jagdish Tyler and H.K.L Bhagat should have been hanged for instigating the mobs to violence during the 1984 anti-skih riots. You just don't get the point , do you ? Get out of this two wrongs equals one right mentality !

[Guest dada_rocks]

Werid logic.... yours here. So ' date=' what next from you , Balasahib had no hand in the mumbai riots. And I can agree with your point that goons from other parties should also be held accountable for their tacit approvals of riotings and ethnic cleansing . For example Congress goons like Jagdish Tyler and H.K.L Bhagat should have been hanged for instigating the mobs to violence during the 1984 anti-skih riots. You just don't get the point , do you ? Get out of this two wrongs equals one right mentality ![/quote'] That's what judicial system demands if there is no evidence against some person he is not guilty.. When there is no evidence to book even a case then he certainly is not guilty.. By your logic that buck stops at ruler we should be roasting Manmohan singh million times everyday. Why stop at Jagdish titler why not Rajeev Gandhi to be bar-be-qued simple reason was beacuse there was no evidence against him same dictum holds for Modi too. just because ur over-jealous minds feels sthg it doesn't become truth.. YEs my stand remains more cosnistent than any psec can come up if found guilty punished but this conviction without charge drama I find hard to swallow.. anyway do we have to go through that path again.. Topic of debate is sly media's heads I win tails u lose campaign agains thim.. I say pick a freaking side u morons of media and we will view election results on that basis.. Let us stick to this