Indian Express, 20 October 2007
EYE ON MODI
A new deal for Gujarat
Manish Tewari
BJP and Congress are preparing for the big fight in December. Here, Manish Tewari, AICC secretary looking after Gujarat, argues that Modi’s ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ is a myth that will not hold
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the Congress won 12 out of 26 seats and 44 per cent of the popular vote in Gujarat. The BJP won 14 seats and 47 per cent of the vote. The Lok Sabha results analysed in terms of the 182 assembly constituencies in the state reveal that both the Congress and the BJP won 90 assembly segments each with one going to the NCP and the JD(U) respectively. Ostensibly, the ensuing battle for forming the new government in Gandhinagar is evenly poised.
The BJP came to power in Gujarat in 1995. Except for a brief period when Shanker Sinh Vaghela gave it a short shrift, it has been ruling for close to a decade now. There is a two-party system with no third force in the state. The BJP’s sand castle in Gujarat rests on the twin constructs of minority-bashing and a myth called Vibrant Gujarat.
Let’s examine the latter first. How vibrant is Gujarat, really? From January 1997 to September 2005 Gujarat has consistently ranked fifth in terms of approved FDI projects behind Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. While Maharashtra attracted investment worth Rs 35,757 crore, Gujarat could only mobilise Rs 13,289 crore during this eight year period. Between January-May 2007 Gujarat was not even among the first five states in terms of investment proposals. It managed to retain its position in the first ten only due to the expansion plans of Reliance and Essar refineries.
Gujarat is the most indebted state of the Union. Its public debt stands at a whopping Rs 86,000 crore. Its 48-lakh farmers have a per-capita debt of Rs 15,526 on their heads. The power situation is abysmal with rural areas receiving six to eight hours of power every day.
On the law and order front, atrocities on dalits and violence against women has increased over the past five years. More than 100 Dalits have been murdered in the past 3 years.
Gujarat ranks eighth in terms of providing minimum wages. Evaluated on six fundamental indicators of population status, that is, health, basic amenities, education, unemployment, poverty and social deprivation Gujarat has slipped, over the past decade, from the fifth to eleventh position in rural areas and to the eighth position in urban areas.
Corruption is at a zenith in the highest echelons of government. The issue of gross irregularities in the Sujalam Sufalam irrigation project, shady land deals, tax breaks worth Rs 15,000 crore to select industrialists, purchasing power at padded rates of up to Rs 5.32 per unit from private producers thereby causing a loss of more than Rs 11, 000 crore to the state exchequer, are urgent issues.
Coming back to the first construct of minority-bashing, it would be sheer escapism not to point out that there are historical reasons for the continuing Hindu-Muslim divide in Gujarat. The great Indian Renaissance that harmonised Hindu-Muslim relations in the 15th and 16th centuries completely by-passed Gujarat. The lingering bitterness of Somnath and other invasions could not be reconciled. In the early 20th century the initial emigrants to Africa and other places were mostly Muslim entrepreneurs. Their remittances generated affluence for the brethren back home that created envy among the local Hindu populace. (Mahatma Gandhi, conscious of this historical legacy, laid great emphasis on bridging this divide). The textile mill riots in Ahmedabad in 1969 acquired communal overtones and set the stage for a fresh round of bitterness. Last but not least, successive governments from 1980-95 have been singularly unsuccessful in combating a canard spread by the Sangh machine that these governments were soft on criminal elements in the Muslim community.
It is a given that the Sangh Parivar has been using Gujarat as its laboratory. The intent is to psychologically coerce the minorities into accepting the status of second rate citizens. A vicious whisper campaign suggests, “How does it bother you if Modi continues to rule as long as you can live in peace”. From the persecution of Christians in the Dangs in 1998 to the state sponsored pogrom against the Muslims in 2002, the effort has been to cleanse the state of minorities through conversion, migration and violence.
The decisive battle against fundamentalism would only commence with the rout of the BJP at the hustings. Over the past decade the Sangh Parivar has systematically injected the toxin of fundamentalism into the body politic, administrative structure and education system of Gujarat. It would require nothing short of a purge to detoxify the institutions of the state. The pre-requisite for doing that is to acquire control over the instruments of governance. Mere grandstanding and verbosity to score debating points does not further the secular cause. It undermines it. Nobody understands this hard reality better than the Congress.
Gujarat needs a healing touch and a new deal. A healing touch to reconcile the deep fissures between people and communities. A new deal for inclusive growth. Above all, there is a need to ensure that those responsible for masterminding the 2002 pogrom are brought to justice.
Views are personal
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