Refuting charges that the BJP campaign has been Modi-centric, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial contender said the truth is that the youth fear a return to the chaos of the 18th century and are angry over the wasted past decade; the BJP instilled hope, so “hope is the strength of this election. The youth can’t wait anymore; they don’t want to lose the 21st century”. Firmly rebutting a suggestion that he was an arbiter of the nation’s destiny, Narendra Modi said, “I am no bhagya vidhata; 125 crore people can’t wait, they want a Government with the guts to make policy and representatives with the intent to change their lives so that they can live in the 21st century”. The new government will respond to these aspirations, he said, denying that there would be ‘vindictiveness’ against any persons associated with the outgoing regime.
Speaking to Ravi Prakash of TV9 on the evening of April 15, with the clear intention of wooing Kannadiga voters as the State votes on April 17, Narendra Modi said that normally in public life, it is the ruling party that sets the agenda. But the Congress has nothing to say after being in power for 10 years, so it resorts to random attacks, and this has forced the people to set the agenda. As for allegations of personality cult (vyatki puja), he asked if the sustained targetting of one person for 12 years and connecting one man to all evil, “was not that repulsive behaviour vyakti-vad.” He mused that it was likely that this triggered a reaction among the public, but more likely slogans like ‘har har Modi’ were simply part of the good slogans and bad slogans that are part of every election.
Affirming veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi’s contention that there was a ‘BJP wave’, the Gujarat strongman said, “yes, Modi is just one person, it is the party worker who had worked hard to produce this effect; some of the workers have sacrificed for generations”. Resisting a suggestion that he was now greater than the party, he said, “Can a child ever be greater than the mother?” When pressed about the controversy over LK Advani’s desire to shift to Bhopal, MM Joshi’s unhappiness at being moved to Kanpur and the exit of Jaswant Singh, Narendra Modi that such momentous decisions were never taken by one person, and in the BJP the state and central election committees made the decision after carefully considering the overall situation of the constituency and the State vis-à-vis the benefit to the organisation. “News traders” however concocted stories of revenge and spread the bubble, misguiding the media.
Even the decision to field him from two seats was taken by the party, he insisted, adding that many persons have stood from two places in the past. Above all, for the past 10 years there has been a Prime Minister who did not fight from anywhere and no one asked him why.
The story of ‘paratroopers’ is also the handiwork of news traders, he said, in response to allegations about resistance to newcomers like Kiran Kher and Paresh Raval. On one hand, sections of the media say the party should bring in new people, so when we bring professionals, “space has to be made. A big nation needs all types of people”.
Brushing off a suggestion that the BJP might need the Telengana Rashtra Samiti or YSR Congress after the election, Narendra Modi insisted that the BJP and its allies in the NDA were heading towards a decisive mandate, refused to predict numbers, but said there would be no scrambling around to cobble up a majority. He told his interlocutor that the largest result achieved by any political party in the last 25 years would be exceeded by the BJP. Expanding on this theme, the BJP veteran said that the NDA today is the largest pre-poll alliance ever, with 25 parties, and “this is an historical event in election history”. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had left the NDA long ago, he pointed out, and the people know how Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been behaving for the past five years, but the BJP-NDA strength has risen. The people, he explained, don’t want a crippled regime (apahij sarkar), and the youth have played a massive role in bringing about the realisation that if a regime has the power of 300+ to decide in Parliament, it can do much to ameliorate their condition.
Gamely fielding one tough question after another, Narendra Modi mocked the Congress for saying that the BJP stole its manifesto or that it was a Modi-festo. The document was drafted under the leadership of Murli Manohar Joshi and a stalwart team, and Dr Joshi deserves full credit for its clarity and wide spectrum. The problem was that for the date of release, all our leaders had to be available, and that caused a two-day delay. Once the BJP manifesto came out, the Congress document looked like a dwarf before it, so their loyalists began to carp at it, he said, adding that for him the party’s manifesto is a commitment, (sankalp patra).
On the issue of possible overtures to the Muslim community, Narendra Modi said he shunned this divisive terminology and even in Gujarat he only spoke of 6 crore Gujaratis; for India he used the term 125 crore people. Regarding the charge by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others like P Chidambaram that Modi’s ascent should be stopped because he is a danger to the nation, Narendra Modi countered that “if a man is dangerous then he will be so even in a gali mohalla”. As for the Congress’s public chanting that he apologise for the 2002 post-Godhra riots, he said the Congress had never come to him with this demand, and anyway, Congress should first account for its own sins (apne paap ka hisaab to baatayin), an allusion to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
Dismissing the Congress vice president’s charge that all claims regarding Gujarat’s development are false, he asked why the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation chaired by Sonia Gandhi had given awards to Gujarat, which has also received many national and international awards. He added that the State only claimed to be better than before, and not ahead of nations like America and China.
Further, he said, the Gujarat model was not applied uniformly in every district, but tweaked according to its needs. Uniform planning has destroyed India, he said, because the needs of Himalayan regions, deserts, coastal States, urban and rural and landlocked regions, flood or drought prone regions, need specific solutions. Shrugging aside charges of exaggerated growth claims, he said the Congress’s allegations had been disproved in the previous three elections, and could be examined by the Government of India.
On the issue of corruption, the BJP leader said that there were no allegations against B Sriramulu who recently joined the party, and that the High Court has dismissed allegations against BS Yeddyurappa. The rest is for the people to decide. As for allegations of land grab by Robert Vadra, he specified that the BJP was being elected to take the country ahead and fulfill the dreams of the people, so he would focus on the promises made. “I not vindictive, democracy is not like this. The law can take own course, but there is no role for Modi or the Government here; I suffered for 12 years and will not think like that”.
Accepting a request that his personal life be left out of the interview, the quicksilver interlocutor asked about the party’s prospects outside north India. Narendra Modi said there are many myths about the BJP. One pervasive was that it is a Brahmin Bania party, so much so that people never believed that he (Modi) was an OBC. Another was that it is an urban party, when the fact is that it sent women, dalits, and farmers to Parliament. A third myth is that it is a Hindi belt phenomenon when it has formed the Government in Karnataka, been a partner in Odisha and Maharashtra, and rules in Gujarat and Goa which are outside the Hindi belt. This stuck gramophone record situation does not change the fact that we have a presence all over India today, including Jammu and Kashmir. Today we are getting an unprecedented response in Kerala, the northeast, Odisha; the youth does not want a lame duck regime, it will ensure the results it wants, he said.
[Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rsi8q4aoVQ]
Niticentral.com, 16 April 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/04/16/bjp-surge-powered-by-hopes-of-all-indians-212361.html