[Not too many would probably recall today that in the campaign for the 2007 Gujarat election, Modi, on the issue of Sohrabuddin murder, had from a public platform thrown an open challenge yo Delhi: Himmat Ho To Mujhe Phansi Pe Latkaa De (If you dare, come and hang me)! Perhaps while countering Sonia Gandhi's famous jibe: Maut Ka Saudagar (merchant of death).Despite show of some residual belligerence and bravado, such war cries are now sounding more and more meek and hollow. More like wails of despair. And, for the BJP. it has come on top of the very credible charge that its senior leaders, and ministers, in Karnataka - the infamous Bellary Reddy brothers, are engaged in massive illegal mining.] I/II.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Going-gets-tough-for-Narendra-Modi-/articleshow/6239388.cms Going gets tough for Narendra ModiSubodh Ghildiyal, TOI Crest, Jul 31, 2010, 02.30pm ISTPolitics, like life, has a strange way of getting back at you. Especially when you least expect it. A harried Narendra Modi may be realising this truth even as he presents a picture of bravado while defending his closest aide and disgraced former Gujarat home minister , Amit Shah. Not long ago, the irrepressible Modi coined the epithet "aquarium fish” for Rahul Gandhi. Just a year later, as Modi fends off the biggest challenge to his carefully-crafted, decade-long , Hindutvastrongman career, the 'chhappan chhati' that aspired to rule pan-Indian Hindu hearts is increasingly getting sucked into the limiting boundaries of Gujarat, aquarium-like . This, when the butt of his joke is jetting in and out of villages and cities across India, gathering his own political capital. The Gujarat chief minister may not admit this outside his moments of loneliness but the irony is not lost on anyone.
It appears now, in the wake of the heat generated over the Sohrabuddin case, that political ground rules could be redefined in perhaps the most significant way since the Mandal-Mandir confrontation altered the political landscape. A cornered Modi, and a Modi-fied BJP, could decisively eclipse the saffron outfit that rode to national prominence on a hardline Hindutva line but found sustenance in the moderate pill administered by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The events that have unfolded since CBI sleuths allegedly found evidence incriminating Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter are potent pointers as to what may lie ahead for the BJP. First, and most importantly, it may expose the Modi regime's brazenly devised encounters-fornational security policy as something that was actually driven by nothing more than greed and corruption. It may show that the brave gunmen killing in the name of fighting Islamic terror are perhaps just a band of thugs. Modi has all along argued that Sohrabuddin was no angel but the central probe agency is building a case to prove that the saffron regime is no saviour either. The real trouble for the party, however, starts hereafter. The all-out defence launched by the BJP national leadership runs the risk of moulding the party into a Modi-centric outfit, an anti-thesis to the roadmap of coalition-building it had hoped to chart after the 2004 defeat, which was followed by a complete decimation at the polls in 2009. The cancellation of the prime minister's customary lunch on the eve of the monsoon session of parliament, the unveiling of top saffron guns before a national audience to portray Modi as a lamb in woods infested by Congress hunters, the charge that the Congress was endangering national security by targeting Modi, his aide, and cops all threaten to reduce the entire party into being a franchise of Modi acolytes, wearing, in a manner of speaking, the ubiquitous Modi mask that did the rounds during the 2007 Gujarat election campaign. 'BJP in Mask Modi' has a cocky Congress chuckling. Barely has the parliament session got underway that the Congress is hurling the "are you with Modi's party?" query at 'secular' rivals. The debate on price rise apart, it is clear that the main opposition will stay away from the saffron stands. Sushma Swaraj belied the party's fears in public when she told reporters that the arrest of Amit Shah on the eve of the monsoon session was a Congress strategy to divide the opposition. The Left's stand — that while the misuse of the CBI by the centre is a concern, the Sohrabuddin case was different — confirms the BJP's fears. With Modi at the forefront of the debate, anti-Congress outfits would be wary of being tainted by association. Fake encounters are not new or unheard of in India. They’re de rigueur in the rough and tumble of Indian crime and lawenforcement . What is new, however, is that no other encounter has carried the potential to impact politics like this one promises to, evident from the way both the Congress and BJP central leaderships have jumped into the fray. To many, the charges leveled against the powerful Amit Shah point out to darker machinations in Gujarat's administration. That the men in the dock — from Shah to cops like Abhay Chudasama and DG Vanzara — formed the core of Modi's anti-terror execution squad could tempt Gujaratis into suspecting every bullet fired. And it does not help that private sting operations featuring builders and businessmen show this star cast as conduits negotiating ransom and extortion, as ring leaders hiring criminals like Sohrabuddin and, worst of all, as men of flesh and blood. In this battle, triggered by a Supreme Court-ordered probe, the mask of invincibility that Modi has sported so far appears to be peeling off — eight years after he positioned himself, post the 2002 anti-Muslim riots, as a partisan-with-a-cause . The success of the Congress-led UPA in reaching out for and getting his confidante's jugular and portraying his administration as corrupt and vile has taken some sheen off Modi's image, a man who polarised Gujaratis, fearing terror both real and imagined, saw as their saviour. As the slammed-shut door to Modi-dom is wrenched ajar, the victims are rushing in. The newfound aggrieved among Hindus, be it the father of a dead cop or of a dead RTI activist or wife of a murdered Tulsi Prajapati, show that the Modi administration has not been an honest Hindu broker either. The most talked about politician of recent times is under a cloud. In the image that he carved for himself, he was a man on a mission. A bachelor married to the cause of "five crore Gujaratis" , running an honest administration; a leader who could bring the Nano to Gujarat and water to Saurashtra, and maintain a stable state when those around it were mired in regressive debates of the yesteryears. In one blow, the CDs playing on national television are threatening to cripple Modi's carefully-crafted national ambitions. Just as he aspired to take the final leap out of Gujarat into national politics, Modi seems to be forced to retreat and work to save his home turf. Suddenly, Modi and the BJP appear to be anti-thetical to each other. By espousing the cause of its Gujarat mascot, the BJP is yoking itself to a politics that is limiting its pan-Indian aspirations. Who would want to partner the BJP, which has as its mascot a face that spurns minorities? The Vajpayee-led coalition was built around pragmatic politics and a moderate image. The BJP built the NDA around partners who felt the Vajpayee brand of saffron politics did not put off all Muslims and any loss of minority votes would be compensated for by a corresponding gain of Hindu votes. The marginalisation of the BJP over the last six years among its core voters has reduced its potential to guarantee even safe Hindu votes. This has made a Modi-centric BJP a bigger handicap for coalition partners. The recent revolt by Nitish Kumar against ally BJP in Bihar after Modi flashed advertisements showing him alongside the Bihar chief minister highlights the dilemma for BJP allies. Nitish does not mind partnering the BJP as long as it keeps away the polarising Modi from its campaign posters, aware that secular rivals like the RJD and the Congress are waiting in the wings to brew controversy and milk it to its last drop. The same consideration pushed away allies like the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, the BSP in UP, the TMC in Bengal , and the BJD in Orissa, reducing NDA a pale version of its original self. Modi's own flight may well have been cut short for good. The Sohrabuddin issue is forcing him back to an agenda he thought he could outgrow to gain national acceptability. For instance, the idea behind showing Muslim girls working on computers in government ad campaigns was to exploit the Sachar commission report , which has said that Muslims were the most prosperous in Gujarat. But such attempts have boomeranged and post the Sohrabuddin case, Modi seems forced to fall back on hardline rhetoric , claiming victimisation. It may be the end of an experiment in moderation that started with the surprise appointment of a Muslim as state police chief. Meanwhile, the Congress is smacking its lips in anticipation. Modi's fall, if and when, would offer a chance of redemption for the party. The Congress's biggest rupture with the Muslim community came after it silently presided over New Delhi during the Babri demolition in 1992. It paid a heavy price: regional outfits cashed in on Muslim angst across states and swept the Congress away. The community has moved on since, voting heavily in the 2009 general elections for the Congress. But the Congress still has to fend off other secular rivals — from Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati to Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan — who have encroached on what was once its formidable constituency among Muslims. The Congress's success in breaching the hitherto impregnable Modi fort, and the tantalising prospect of stymieing the Hindutva mascot himself, is an achievement many see as one that could bring rich political dividends elsewhere in the country. The Sohrabuddin storm is giving Modi, the man of certitudes, a dilemma to chew upon. He needs to chart a new course after the arrest of Amit Shah and renegotiate his relationship with the central BJP leadership . Modi's tragedy is that he has got inhouse rivals as well who don't seem unhappy with his travails. It could be a threeway closing in on the man who till not long ago felt he had, in any given situation, ten directions to escape to. II.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/I-cant-be-frightened-Narendra-Modi/articleshow/6237815.cms I can't be frightened: Narendra ModiPTI, Jul 30, 2010, 06.43pm ISTBHAVNAGAR: In the backdrop of CBI's reported move to quiz him in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he cannot be frightened and would fight against "falsehood" 100 times. "The war between nationalists and anti-nationalist demons has started in Gujarat. But remember this is Gujarat where anti-nationalists forces will be defeated", Modi said addressing a rally in Palitana town of this district. "If you think that you can frighten me, you should open your ears and listen, Modi will bow down to truth and will fight 100 times against falsehood," Modi said in stepped-up offensive at a Van Mohatsav function. "I want to tell Delhi Sultanat (central government), Gujarat is inheritor of legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who provided leadership to win our freedom. Gujarat will win in this war of nationalism and anti-nationalism", he said. "This country never takes the side of those who stand besides terrorists, those fighting for rights of 'demons', anti-nationals and those related with underworld activities," Modi said. Shah, former minister of state for Home, has been arrested by CBI for his alleged role in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and the agency is reportedly planning to question Modi too. "For the last eight years, there has been peace and development in the state. They are trying to destabilise the progress of Gujarat," Modi claimed. "They are jealous of progress of Gujarat and so they are not trying to derail the progress of the state", he said. Addressing a rally in Ahmedabad, Modi yesterday had said Congress has already accepted defeat in the forthcoming local body polls and will have to field CBI officers as their candidates. Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
