On the Modi speech trail:

Understanding it all

Table of contents

Decoding Modis many speeches

Why Modi has to move from good to democratic governance

04

What the woman audience thought of Modis Ficci speech

07

Was Modis governance speech inspired by Digvijaya Singh?

09

Modi cosies up to Mamata: Says Left, UPA destroying West Bengal

12

From NaMo to Obama: A politicians guide to sexism

13

Was Modis allegation against the Gujarat governor wrong?

15

Mr Modi, are your ambitions showing?

Modi whirlwind: Neat strategy to corner party rivals and Congress

17

By attacking Rahul in Guj, Modi, Rajnath make intentions clear

19

Will BJP have guts to run a 2014 Gujarat shining campaign?

21

I am an apolitical person: Narendra Modi

23

Narendra Modi desperate to become Prime Minister: JD(U)

24

Modi vs Rahul: Battle of the #Fekus?

On Twitter anti-Modi #Feku beats #ModiStormsFicci

26

No need for Feku of the Year award: Manish Tewari takes dig at Modi

28

Speaking in stereotype: Modis playbook of #Feku women

30

Narayana Murthy is wrong: Its not a Modi vs Rahul race

32

Rahul, Modi are wrong: India is neither a beehive nor a filmi mother

34

In Kolkata, no one wants to be clicked with Narendra Modi

36

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Decoding Modis many speeches

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Why Modi has to move from good

to democratic governance
Modi has an interesting best practice compilation of
good governance thats bordering on democratic
governance. Its time that he worked on the missing
elements because democracy is our lifeline.
G Pramod Kumar Apr 9, 2013

ost of what Gujarat chief minister

Narendra Modi said at the Think
India Dialogue Forum on Monday on
his governments achievements and his vision
for India could have got into international best
practice documents on governance, but for his
2002-taint and his limited worldview on rights.

had not been explicit on the principles of democracy.

The lingo that multilateral institutions such as

the UN, donors and western think-tanks currently use is democratic governance, whereas
Modi consciously or not stuck to its predecessor good governance which in the past

However, if one disaggregates Modis speech,

which was essentially about minimal government and efficient governance, and the principles that his examples embodied, it resonated
well with most of the universal principles of

Globally, the terminology had transitioned from

governance to democratic governance about a
decade ago, of course not without criticism and
debates on the politics behind it.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

governance. Most of the ideas that he sought to

communicate were practical examples of good
governance and efficiency that are worthy of
replication elsewhere.

size without adequate technical resources. For

instance, what civic governance required was
not a bloating bureaucracy which bred red-tape
and inefficiency, but people with technical skills.

Broadly, the overarching principles of democratic governance are participation, consensus,

strategic vision, responsiveness, efficiency,
accountability, transparency, equity and rule of
law. Modi seems to have done well on strategic
vision, responsiveness, efficiency, accountability
and transparency, as he presented his strategic
vision for Gujarat and the country.

Government was about outlay and not outcome,

he said indicating that conventional bureaucratic milestones such as building a facility was
not enough for demonstrating good governance.
The indicator for efficiency was a desired outcome, a word international development institutions use. An outcome is a measurable result
that arises out of a certain intervention. Modi
also said the same thing.

On the other four? Well, that is what makes

good governance also democratic.
Perhaps that is why Modi prefers good governance to democratic governance as he focusses
primarily on efficiency and results.
Narendra Modi needs to move from good to
democratic governance. Reuters
In his speech, Modi covered an entire gamut of
sectors ranging from agriculture to heavy industries and touched upon intricate details of how
his government transformed the rules and practice of business. The most striking was his focus
on three elements: responsiveness, efficiency
and accountability, a lot of which in the Indian
context depended also on innovation.
His examples such as enrolling engineering
students into paid internships in civic bodies
that were struggling with a shortage of technical
manpower, and doing away with the government undertaking silly exercises such as boiler
and lift examination were about innovation. Use
of technology, that he repeatedly referred to,
for efficiency was evident in examples such as
a one-day governance centres where people got
a number of services delivered in a single day,
and his investment on alternative energy.
His example of a replenished Sabarmati enhancing availability of water to people and
reducing direct and indirect costs in monetary
terms, as well as preventing epidemics demonstrated his practical idea of multi-sectoral
impact or multi-sectoral governance.
The efficiency angle was also evident when he
said the governments in India were growing in

He said, his government was focussed on outcomes and they were measured using socioeconomic impact studies. We havent heard any
other politician in India saying this before.
This results-based-management or RBM, as it
is called in international development parlance,
is essential in avoiding wastage of public money
through politically expedient fancy projects.
And he did mention that a lot of government
decisions are influenced by politics and frequent
elections. Coming to power has become a priority in this country.
Then, there were interesting one-liners: Government is file, governance is life; government
is all about power, governance is about empowerment.
Another overarching principle of democratic
governance globally is decentralisation. Its now
an established fact that decentralisation leads to
more efficiency, transparency and participation
by people. At Think India Dialogue, Modi was a
strong advocate for decentralisation as well.
He used the example of how government of India prevented him from laying gas-pipelines in
his state, citing jurisdiction, and how he had to
approach the Supreme Court. Within the state,
he said his local governments were free to do
anything they wanted until they had additional
financial requests.
He also focussed on participation by people and
consensus building the elements that ensure
inclusion. In this context, he proposed a new
model for PPP (public private partnerships).
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

He said it should be PPPP (People-Public-Private-Partnerships). As far as possible, peoplec

consent should be sought on policy decisions
and they should have a role in decision-making
processes.
Perfect! So far so good. Its great governance
one-on-one. But is that enough?
Unfortunately not.
What make his wicket sticky are the principles
of equity and rule of law.
He may have his own interpretation, but right
to equality and an enabling legal and ethical
environment were conspicuously missing in
Modi-speak. Rule of law is not just about tough
law enforcement, but also about an enabling
and equal environment. If efficiency and results alone meant good governance, some of
the worlds worst autocrats will fare well on the
governance chart.

That is where democratic governance is important. Equal rights to all, or equality in the eyes
of law, respect for human rights and participation by people in the real sense of the term are
the elements that will make democratic governance qualitatively different from simple good
governance. Democratic governance should be
good and inclusive.
Participation should provide people with the
right to question and socially audit the governments decisions, whether it is the construction
of a big dam or a police-crackdown. A leader
has to be a real democrat for these principles to
work, let alone flourish.
In summary, Modi has an interesting best
practice compilation of good governance thats
bordering on democratic governance. Its time
that he worked on the missing elements because
democracy is our lifeline.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

What the woman audience

thought of Modis Ficci speech

Modi received much flak from women entrepreneurs
for his speech which was meant to be about womens
empowerment, but, instead wound up about all the
stereotypes women are set into of subservient wives,
sacrificing mothers and cooking wizards
Arlene Chang Apr 10, 2013

ew Delhi: Whether its a common

man, a leader or politician, every Indian man has a stereotypical man
in them Its sad, but true, says Meghna
Agarwala,the creative head and CEO of Gallery
Kolkata, of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modis keynote address to Ficci Ladies Organisation in Delhi, on Monday.

wife who burns her finger trying to make chapatis for her husband and of another woman who
hastily abandons a sari sale to run home and
save her child from a fire.
Often our Indian leaders talk about womens
empowerment and they dont feel it. By talking
of stereotypical role of women making chapattis
and serving chai, he is being stereotypical himself, Agarwala told Firstpost.
The women in his audience, were clearly not the
women he was talking about.
Anjali Aggarwal, a Delhi-based entrepreneur
who attended the event, would still give Modi
a high score for his spell binding personality
and oratory skills, but she was not impressed
with the actual content of his speech.

Modi on Monday received much flak on Twitter for his speech which was meant to be about
womens empowerment, but, instead wound
up about all the stereotypes women are set
into of subservient wives, sacrificing mothers and cooking wizards . And its no surprise
that his core audience were disappointed about
him propagating the cliches of being an Indian
woman.
While women entrepreneurs, well-paid professionals and high-ranking corporate executives
gathered to listen to his speech on woman
empowerment, Modi narrated instances of the
strength of women with examples of the house-

His thinking is generally very progressive but

the examples he gave were very stereotypical
and very very filmi. He was addressing a crowd
very different to who he was talking about, Aggarwal told Firstpost.
On the other hand, Anuradha Goel, president of
the Ficci Ladies Organisation in 2008-09 and
partner/director at Cosco Blossoms Pvt. Ltd. In
Delhi, told Firstpost that despite Modis stereotypical examples he was convincing about the
cause of women empowerment.
I feel his examples were his way of saying that
a woman has a lot of inherent strength and she
can utilise and channel it positively and constructively, if the situation so desires. It was a
positive way of championing womens empowCopyright 2012 Firstpost

erment, she said, adding, that There cannot

be 100 percent perfection. There will always be
loopholes. But, as long as one is positive hopefully things will correct.
However, Anjali Aggarwal thought that the subject and tone of his speech may have had a lot to
do with how he is positioning himself, now that
he is being projected as a potential prime ministerial candidate for the BJP.
Maybe he was trying to tell people at the grassroots that he is thinking of them, she said,
adding, We have to understand, 90 percent of
the population lives in rural India. He probably
wants to appeal to the masses and thats how he
wants to showcase himself. If he is projecting
himself as a man of the people, he has to start at
grassroots and talk about them which is what
he did.
Meghna Agarwala, owner of an Art gallery in

Kolkata, agrees. She says, Modi is a smart politician after all and this may just be strategic.
Agarwala says Modi needs to walk the talk if
he is really serious about womens empowerment address the malnutrition levels in Gujarat, stop making derogatory statements like
the Rs 50 crore girlfriend one against Shashi
Tharoors then girlfriend, Sunanda Pushkar and
address the states extremely low female labour
force participation and poor health indicators
for women and give more women tickets to the
Rajya Sabha.
If Modi is making a speech like that, he has to
back it up and put his money where his mouth
is, Agarwala told Firstpost.
It was a politician talking but the Indian
male mentality peeked into his speech ever so
often, she said.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Was Modis governance speech

inspired by Digvijaya Singh?

The phrase Less government, more governance
came first from Digvijaya Singh 11 years ago. But
Singhs idea never had takers in Congress.
Will Modis in BJP?
Seetha, Apr 10, 2013

s I listened to Narendra Modi hold forth

on 8 April on the theme for which he
is being feted all around maximum
governance, minimum government my mind
could not help but go back 11 years. On 27 May
2002, a then-celebrated chief minister and now
Modis arch baiter, Congress General Secretary
Digvijaya Singh, delivered the first Minoo Masani Memorial Lecture. The topic: More Governance with Less Government.

Singh had used this phrase when I had interviewed him for the business magazine I then
worked for. That was so much in line with the
philosophy of the Swatantra Party that Masani
had co-founded that I got him to deliver the
lecture.
There is no text of Modis address at the ThinkIndia Dialogue series for readers to judge for
themselves, but as speeches go, I rate Singhs
lecture higher. It put the issue in a historical
context and provided a perspective that Modis
chatty-jokey sermon did not.

Singh had wowed the audience at the India

International Centre then, much the way Modi
captured everyones imagination when he first
articulated his now pet phrase while addressing
students at the Shri Ram College of Commerce
earlier this year. But there was no social media
then to hype up the speech and the speechgiver.
But just look at the irony. The Congress had a
headstart over the Bharatiya Janata Party, with
a chief minister who was probably the first to
articulate this idea and, dare I say, attempt to
implement it as well. And it is the Congress that
is heading a government whose actions are designed to perpetuate the mai-baap orientation
of the government, thus increasing its size, even
as governance suffers.
Take education. As Madhya Pradesh Chief
Minister, Singh experimented with government
financing of education and leaving provisioning
and supervision to the community. The jholawala brigade castigated him for initiatives like
para-teachers part-time teachers drawn from
within the community who were paid less than
government teachers but were more accountable than them but it was a commendable
experiment.
In contrast, his party first pushed through and
is now implementing a law the Right to Education that insists all schools must pay government salaries to teachers and hence shuts all
community and low-cost private initiatives for
the poor, even as the government schools are
unable to meet the demand for education.
MR Madhavan of PRS Legislative Research, an
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

independent research initiative, had once pointed out how some of the new Bills that the United Progressive Alliance had either introduced
or mulling the National Food Security Bill,
the draft Communal Violence Bill (the National
Advisory Councils version), the Lokpal Bill and
the Right of Citizens for Time-bound Delivery
of Goods and Services and Redressal of their
Grievances Bill would result in a large number
of new posts being created.
The Food Security Bill, for example, requires
the appointment of a grievance redressal officer in each district and for every state to have a
State Food Commission, comprising a chairperson and five members. The Grievance Redressal
Bill stipulates a 11-member grievance redressal
commissions at the centre and the states. The
Communal Violence Bill talks about an Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation, at the centre and in the states, each with
a chair, a vice-chair and five members.
Meanwhile, the states primary responsibility
law and order and rule of law suffers because
of shortage of police personnel and judges.
Clearly, Singh hasnt managed to get his own
party to buy into his model of governance. Its
motto, on the other hand, appears to be More
Government with Little Governance.
Both Singh and Modi would bristle at this, but
there are many similarities between the two lectures, despite their contrasting world-views.
- Both spoke about the need to right-size the
government as against the more reviled concept of downsizing, with examples to show
that rationalising the workforce need not affect
the quality of government services. Singh got
jan swastha rakshaks (educated village youth
trained in primary health care) to provide basic
health services in villages; Modi got students
from engineering colleges to do internships with
departments that needed technical help.
- Both spoke of the need for effective decentralisation and devolution of power to the grassroots and how the country cannot be governed
from Delhi or state capitals.
- Both drew attention to how peoples involvement in governance leads to better outcomes.

Singhs experiments included rogi kalyan samiti

(government-run hospitals being managed
by peoples committees), joint forest management and water users associations. Modis P4
formula (people-public-private-partnership) is
somewhat similar.
- Both also highlighted the fact that people are
willing to pay user charges if they see a clear
benefit for themselves. The rogi kalyan samitis,
for example, managed to raise finances through
such user charges which were then used by
hospitals to buy equipment. In Gujarat, people
are willingly paying a fee at 200-odd One-Day
Governance centres where paperwork related to
160 services is completed in one day, with the
help of technology.
Singhs lecture has some tips for Modi, who lamented that politicians often delayed unpopular
decisions retrenchment of excess government
staff being one of them whenever there was
an election around the corner. Singhs government abolished thousands of vacant posts and
retrenched 28,000 daily wage employees in
municipalities, despite criticism from within
his party, just before elections to local bodies in
1994. The Congress won those elections.
No new concepts from Modi? PTI
Does his speech indicate that Modi really wants
a small but effective state in the classical liberal
mould, one which will confine itself to national
security, internal law and order, upholding the
rule of law and protecting individual liberties
and the provision of public goods?
Its difficult to decide on the basis of one speech.
Such a concept of a state will mean doing far
more than allowing self-certification of boilers
and lifts or electronic delivery of services that
Modi boasted about. These, in any case, are not
initiatives he or Gujarat pioneered or invented.
Besides, this is just tinkering. A minimal state
will require a complete change in the way both
politicians and the people view the role of government.
A strong but effective state will leave little scope
for patronage by politicians and will definitely
not have any room for the state to be in business. Modi is not an unconventional politician
so it is unlikely that he will willingly give up the
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

heady power of patronage (ditto for Singh). And

when quizzed about privatisation of state public sector enterprises after the lecture, he very
clearly waffled.
In any case, even if Modi does subscribe to the
minimal state idea, its not certain if he can carry the rest of the BJP with him, just like Singh
couldnt influence the Congress.

But what I found encouraging about the two

speeches 11 years apart though they may be
is that the two mainstream parties have people who appear to be thinking alike on issues of
basic governance.
May their tribe increase.
Seetha is a senior journalist and author

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Modi cosies up to Mamata: Says

Left, UPA destroying West Bengal
Addressing a gathering of industrialists at an event
in Kolkata today, Modi expressed confidence that the
West Bengal government will fulfill peoples dreams.
Will Modis speech make Mamata happy?
FP Politics Apr 9, 2013

n what looks like a peace overture to West

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi repeated her constant claim that the Left government had ruined Bengal for years.

According to a report in The Telegraph, many

industrialists were in two minds about attending Modis address and the fall-out of the same,
lest they manage to miff the Mamata Banerjeeled government.
The Telegraph reported that even if business
honchos turn up at the meet, there is no great
rush to share the dais with Modi as no one
wants to be in a picture with him. Because in
Mamatas books, being seen with Modi is nothing less than a crime and as is evident, industrialists are clever enough to not leave proof!

Addressing a gathering of industrialists at an

event in Kolkata today, Modi expressed confidence that the West Bengal government would
fulfill peoples dreams.
It has taken me 10 years to fill the potholes
left by the Congress in Gujarat. Bengal has had
such potholes for 32 years, Modi said. I am
sure Bengal will develop under the current chief
ministers rule, he added.
Applauding the state of Bengal for its intellectual prowess, Modi said he will learn a lot from
the state and will implement those things in
Gujarat.
But can Modis speech make Mamata happy?
Mamata is a known critic of Modi. She even
refused to allow the meet to be organised in
Kolkatas Netaji Subhas Indoor Stadium.

Modis charm offensive also saw him blame the

UPA government for discriminating against
non-Congress ruled States. We have problems
in Gujarat all day because of the UPAs interference, he said. The central government has
been biased, its destroyed the federal structure
of the country.
I see this happening with West Bengal too, he
said.
During Vajpayees government, there was never
the cry from Bengal that it was being discriminated against, he added. But Bengal must protest against this discrimination, he said.
While Modi was addressing the CCI meet in
Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee in on her way to meet the Prime Minister to seek justice for her state. We want to
know why Bengal is being denied its due. We
will also protest against the economic blockade
by the Centre, she had told reporters in Kolkata
on Monday before setting off for the capital.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

From NaMo to Obama:

A politicians guide to sexism

Barack Obama has found himself in hot water for
calling Kamala Harris the best-looking Attorney
General in the country. Political correctness run
amuck? But is it any better to constantly harp about
ma-behen as Indian politicians like to do?
Sandip Roy Apr 8, 2013

arack Obama has apologised for calling

Kamala Harris by far the best-looking
Attorney General in the country. Mind
you, he talked about her looks only AFTER he
had already praised her as tough, fair, brilliant and dedicated.
Political commentator Joan Walsh said the
comment made her stomach turn.

Ms Walsh must have a delicate stomach. Kamala Harris who once said Obama looked like
a million bucks is not complaining about his
compliment. This is a storm in a very small teacup. Obama and Kamala Harris go back a long
time. He was at an event where he was goodhumouredly talking not just about Harris looks
but also how baseball great Jackie Robinsons
widow looked gorgeous at 90. And face it,
Harris, like Obama, is a very good-looking politician and cameras love both of them. Obamas
compliment was NOT sexism and its important
to acknowledge that. The Telegraph bemoans
in an editorial today this mix of political cor-

rectness and fantastical over-interpretation

which leads to a tendency to miss the spirit of
a certain manner of putting things because of
misplaced earnestness about matters pertaining
to gender, sexuality and race.
This isnt just political correctness run amuck. It
perpetuates every unfair stereotype of feminists
as dour and humourless, trigger-happy about
screaming sexism at the slightest opportunity.
Thats not to say sexism cannot come dressed
up in a compliment. This wasnt one of those
moments. But for confused politicians out there
here are five simple commandments on how to
avoid the sexism trap when you are trying to
charm a woman in public.
Thou shalt not call her sweetie. Obama
has, as one headline quipped an executive
sweet problem. In 2008, a female reporter
from Detroit asked him a question about autoworkers. Hold on one second, there sweetie,
he replied. She was clearly not amused, especially when he didnt even answer the question. This sweetie never did get an answer to
the question, she said later. He also told a fan
at a campaign stop, Sweetie, if I start with a
picture, I will never get out of here. Obama
habitually calls Michelle sweetie which itself is
slightly sickeningly sweet PDA. But thats between the president and his wife.
Thou shalt not leap to her looks. This one
seems very tricky for politicos to understand.
Its one thing to tell your female friend Oh you
are looking lovely tonight at a social event. Its
another thing to say the same to a colleague or
worse, a complete stranger, who is just trying to
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

do her job. When a journalist asks a question,

she is expecting an answer not a compliment
about her wardrobe, her looks or her hairdo.
Sharad Yadav was once asked by a woman
which state was doing better, Madhya Pradesh
or Bihar. Yadav trying to smartly duck the question said Whole country is good. Then unable
to stop himself, he added Even you are very
beautiful. No wonder the man waxes in Parliament about the romance of stalking. By the
way a sub-commandment here is no comments
about painted dented ladies or women with
bob-cuts either.
Thou shalt not gush over her cooking
first. Douglas Martin of the New York Times
landed himself in hot water by leading his
obituary of rocket scientist Yvonne Brill with
the words She made a mean beef stroganoff,
followed her husband from job to job and took
eight years off from her work to raise three
children. The worlds best mom, her son Matthew said. Brill was also the only woman doing
rocket science in the 1940s and that was the
reason why she even merited a New York Times
obituary. Martin thought he was building up the
drama but he just needed to have asked himself
if he would have ever begun the obit of a male
nuclear scientist thus He grilled the perfect
steak, always remembered his wifes birthday
and made it a point to go to his sons football
games. Its not rocket science.
Thou shalt not use ma-behen like a salt
and pepper shaker. Narendra Modi, when
he is not putting a price tag on Shashi Tharoors
wife, lays on the ma-behen as thick as the toppings on Jassubens pizza. Talking to the businesswomen at FICCI, Modi even asked them
to bless him because they were all mothers out
there. During the rape debate, we heard over
and over again from politicians oozing sincerity about how women were our mothers and
sisters. I find it offensive, because as citizens
of this country or any other country, we are
entitled to fundamental human rights that have
bloody nothing to do with whether I am your
sister or your mother or anybody, retorted
Mallika Dutt, the executive director of the NGO

Breakthrough at that time. Not to mention the

fact, she pointed out, that the home is often
the most unsafe space for women. Anyway just
calling women sister doesnt mean you cannot
be sexist. Sushil Shinde, the home minister told
Jaya Bachchan during a debate about riots in
Assam Listen carefully sister, this is a serious
matter. This is not a filmy subject.
Thou shalt not put women in binders.
Mitt Romney trying hard to put forth his prowomen credentials put his foot in his mouth in
the presidential debates by touting how as governor of Massachusetts he had binders full of
women. Poor Romney wanted to show off his
outreach to womens groups but all he ended up
doing was launch a thousand mocking Internet
memes. Romney obviously meant to show off
his interest in gender parity but as the Shortcuts
blog on the Guardian pointed out he managed
to conjure an image confirming every feminists
worst fears about a Romney presidency; that
he views womens rights in the workplace as so
much business admin, to be punched and filed
and popped on a shelf.
By the way in that same speech where he
praised Kamala Harris looks, Obama also
singled out Asian American congressman Mike
Honda for a little friendly ribbing.
First of all, somebody who works tirelessly on
behalf of California every day, but also works
on behalf of working people and makes sure
that weve got a more inclusive America a
good friend of mine, somebody who you guys
should be very proud of, Congressman Mike
Honda is here. Where is Mike? (Applause.) He
is around here somewhere. There he is. Yes,
I mean, hes not like a real tall guy, but hes a
great guy.
Now that is the President of the United States
literally looking down on an Asian American
man. At least he was complimenting Kamala
Harris. Poor Honda just got the short end of the
stick. Where is the Society of Height-Challenged
Asian Men and Friends when you need them?

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Was Modis allegation against the

Gujarat governor wrong?

Narendra Modi might have squarely placed the blame
of not having 50 percent reservation for women in
civic bodies on Gujarat governor Kamala Beniwal,
but his claims may well be unfounded.
FP Staff Apr 9, 2013

arendra Modi might have squarely

placed the blame of not having 50
percent reservation for women in civic
bodies on Gujarat governor Kamala Beniwal,
but are his claims unfounded?

The governor, a veteran Congress leader from

Rajasthan, had welcomed the legislation but
only requested the government to drop a provision for compulsory voting in the Gujarat Local
Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009.

Narendra Modi. Agencies.

Modi during his speech at FICCI was answering
a question posed by a member of the audience
when he said: I wanted to reserve 50 percent
posts in Gujarat civic bodies for women. Unfortunately, it is a woman governor who has not
given her consent and is blocking it.

The governor said that she wanted this provision included in the Bill as it was passed hurriedly by the House without much political or
public debate which was necessary to appropriate the effect of the Bill. She also argued that it
may go against the constitutional freedoms.

However, the Times of India reports today:

Read the complete TOI story here.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Mr Modi, are your ambitions

showing?

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Modi whirlwind: Neat strategy to

corner party rivals and Congress
He has already set an agenda: making the campaign
presidential, no matter what his party, the BJP,
would ultimately decide.
Sanjay Singh Apr 9, 2013

rom Ahmedabad to Delhi to Kolkata, in

the last four days Narendra Modi has
unveiled a political strategy that would
be difficult to counter both by his rivals within
the BJP and without, at least for now. A variety
of themes that he chose to speak on has kept
the media glare on him. It has also reflected a
marked evolution in his oratory he appears
more relaxed now, peppering his speech with
humour, sarcasm, solutions, reflection and the
trademark punch.
Even as he named former External Affairs Min-

ister as a lost reader, his real target was his

principal national rival, Rahul Gandhi, a large
part of whose CII speech appeared to be a repetition of the Jaipur AICC conclave acceptance
speech.
Though Modi says that he speaks of politics
only when he is on an electoral campaign, none
of his speeches, particularly the one at the joint
meet of three chambers in Kolkata, has been
without political connotations. He and his close
aides have realised that he could unveil his alternate political and governance strategy better
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

before the people through live media broadcast

by moving from one theme to another at varied
platforms, campus to party to media to business
and industry forums, men and women separately.
He has already set an agenda: making the campaign presidential, no matter what his party, the
BJP, would ultimately decide and or what his
chief rival Congresss crown prince Rahul Gandhi thinks. If till a few days ago it was the pressure from below, from the rank and file of the
party to declare Modi as the BJPs prime ministerial candidate, through his last four nationally
televised speeches in as many days, Modi too
has mounted pressure on the party leadership.
It would be now be very difficult for the partys
parliamentary board, of which he is also a member, to deny his claims to lead the BJP in the
next parliamentary elections.
After all, nobody else in the BJP has of late
articulated alternate governance policies raging from external affairs to internal security,
to industry to agriculture to skill development
to non-conventional energy to small and big
ideas on administrative and economic reforms.
His advantage against his own peers in the
BJP is that his ideas are based on his practical
experience and he has a track record to flaunt.
His own evolution of oratory has come close to
the tallest BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, to
whom he has been referring to repeatedly these
days.
Politically astute, Modi, however, knows that
his ambitions should not be spoken in as many
words, so for the record, though in lighter vein,
he said in Kolkata that he was not a politician
and thus was not nurturing prime ministerial
ambitions.
It was significant that he chose to ignore his
partys hue and cry over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees refusal to allow him to
speak at the Netaji indoor stadium. He praised
her instead for her efforts to fill the potholes

that had been created by 32 years of misrule by

the Left Front government.
In Bengal, the potholes left by 32 years of
misrule will need several years to be filled. I
am sure whatever is being done by the present
government is in the direction of filling these
potholes. He is clearly wooing Mamatas support. He was also clever enough not to engage in
suggesting a measure or two to Mamata, even of
pointed questions were asked. That could have
been counterproductive. So he chose a safe line
that he had come there as student, to learn.
He knows that Mamata is nursing a wound
inflicted by the Congress-led UPA government.
He called for a unity of all non-Congress states
against the discriminatory treatment of the
centre. A day ago, at Network18s inaugural
Think India Dialogue series, he had blasted the
centre for releasing grants after seeing the gotra
of the state government(Congress or non Congress) and had cited the example of tiger versus
lion. The centre releases Rs 200 crore for tiger
protection but no money for lion. Is tiger secular and lion communal, he had questioned. In
Kolkata, he reminded of the Vajpayee Government, which did not discriminate against the
Left Front Government in West Bengal.
His tricks paid somewhat. At Planning Commission in New Delhi where Mamata Banerjee
came out angry flanked by Deputy Chairperson
Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister of State
Rajiv Shukla over SFI protests against her, she
responded calmly to queries on Modis statement. It is his speech how can I interfere in
that. A chief minister coming to another state
and appreciating development efforts is not a
political activity. No politics should be seen in
that, she said. But then she picked up a cue,
almost word by word from Modis speech in the
morning that West Bengal was the gateway of
development for the East and North East and
the Planning Commission should visit Kolkata
to explore possibilities.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

By attacking Rahul in Guj, Modi,

Rajnath make intentions clear

Senior BJP leaders had so far avoided taking direct pot
shots against Rahul Gandhi. That task was mostly left
to the tier two or tier three leaders. However on
Saturday, Modi and Rajnath not only named him,
but also hit out at him.
Sanjay Singh Apr 7, 2013

t was Narendra Modis show in Gujarat, so

it had to be big.

The occasion on Saturday was to celebrate BJP

Foundation Day. But its implication was much
more than that. By listing the felicitation of
party president Rajnath Singh in the official
agenda, he sent out a clear message to the rank
and file of the party that a strong and meaningful equation was growing between the two of
them.

The event also marked a shift in the BJPs political strategy.

Senior BJP leaders had so far avoided taking
direct pot shots against Rahul Gandhi (Except
during the Gujarat poll campaign). That task
was mostly left to the tier two or tier three leaders. However on Saturday, Modi and Rajnath
not only named him, but also hit out at him.
For once Congress president Sonia Gandhi and
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were spared.
Rahul is now in the BJPs official line of fire and
they think that so far, he is easy pickings.
Also, the extent to which Rajnath Singh chose
to dwell on Maut Ka Saudagar and Congress
spokesperson Rashid Alvis Yamraj (Lord of
Death) remark is an indicator that the BJP want
a polarized nationwide public opinion on the
subject. Come 2014 elections people of India
respond to Congresss Yamraj remark, like people of Gujarat had responded to Maut Ka Saudagar remark, Rajnath said.

And second, by making Rahul Gandhi their target for the day, they wished to convey that the
BJP intended to contest the next parliamentary
elections Presidential style, whether or not the
two parties go to the polls with with declared
Prime Ministerial candidates. It was with this
intent that the Gujarat chief minister made eloquent references to the BJP workers in Kerala
and West Bengal where he would hope to get
incremental popular votes to open his electoral
account.

Modi sought to give an emotional tilt to his

criticism of Rahul.
The issue that he chose to launch a frontal
attack on his principal political rival was incidentally the one on which Rahul had got some
positive initial vibes from the public. I was
hurt and pained to hear the person on whom
Congress has pinned all its hope for the future.
I was pained to realized how could these people
think like this. He said to him India was beehive
(Madhumakhi ka Chatta). Only Congress party
leaders believe in India being a beehive. For us
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

India is like mother. It has been the mother of

100 crore Indians. If you dont have an understanding of Indian traditions, you should first
learn about it. But you dont have the right to
hurt our sentiments.
Modi knows that Rahul made the beehive reference in a different context but in large parts of
India, beehive or Madhumakhi ka chatta, is a
colloquial reference to trouble mongering. How
far the Maa versus Madhumakhi Ka Chatta
debate goes would be interesting to see.
Beyond the Bharat Mata emotional pitch,
another hard hitting attack on Rahul came in
reference to the way he completely bypasseed
a question on Indias water problems, choosing
instead to give a long lecture on the devolution of powers to the Pradhan and the need for
structural change. The country has immense
water problems and the leader concerned does
not even know about itcant expect anything
better from the Congress.
The two top BJP leaders also responded to
Rahuls innuendo on Modi, when he referred to
the idea of the man riding on a horse. Rajnath
was more direct by saying that claiming divine
right, making a grand entry, riding elephants
and horses were only ingrained in Congress culture, if a leader was to rise to a pedestal he had
to sweat it out to prove his worth.
However Modi played humble sharing credit
with his party workers. I would have been

nobody and if all of you had not worked hard.

Modi as an individual may have got the fame
but its because of the collective work and the
credit has to be shared collectively. This was
also perhaps his way to responding to his critics both internal and outside who are wary of
individualistic style of functioning.
Modi seems to be an on image makeover exercise.
He repeatedly invoked Atal Bihari Vajpyee, even
as he shared a sweet and sour relationship with
him, notwithstanding former Prime Ministers
public rebuke of him. While he does not want to
dilute his impression as a strong leader on the
broader nationalist issue, he is trying to play it
easy on personal attacks on him. Those who
are coining new words in the dictionary forget
that the more muck you pour on the lotus, it
only helps nourish that flower
The tone and tenor was of an election launch
rally. So came his Chetwani (warning) to Delhi
in his trademark style. If you use the CBI and
governors to harass the BJP governments, the
party would not be cowed down.ln any case
Congresss days of living with arrogance of
power in Delhi is going to be over soon.
The BJP president may officially maintain that
it is the partys parliamentary boards prerogative to announce the Prime Ministerial candidate, but his lavish praise for Modi made it clear
who he would

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Will BJP have guts to run a 2014

Gujarat shining campaign?

The BJP now faces a Gujarat Shining moment. Should
it run a positive campaign around Narendra Modis
fine economic achievements?
Aakar Patel Apr 7, 2013

decade ago, the BJP assumed it would

win the elections on the back of India
Shining and called early elections. India
Shining was the campaign executed brilliantly
by Nirvik Singh of Grey Worldwide. It told
Indians they were a Great Power and a middle
income nation.

India Shining, because they actually had the

achievement. In the four years before the election, India grew 9.5 per cent (05-06), 9.6 per
cent (06-07), 9.3 per cent (07-08) and 6.7 per
cent (08-09).
But despite this Congress chose not to do India
Shining. They projected themselves as the party
of the poor and campaigned on the strength of
legislation such as the right to work scheme,
which assured the poor 100 days of work, and
the Right to Information, which addressed ordinary corruption and so on.
Some analysts, like Swaminathan Aiyar, believe
that it wasnt this campaign advertising itself as
the party of the common man, but the economic
growth that actually won Congress the election
of 2009.

The problem of course was that we were neither.

And the other thing was that the shining aspect
was mainly in the BJPs head. In the three years
before the campaign Indias GDP had grown
4.4 per cent (2000-01) 6 per cent (01-02) and
3.8 per cent (02-03). Hardly the sort of record
that should have made voters ecstatic about the
party.

It is so difficult to gather data on voting patterns

in India that we cannot say if this is necessarily
true. In my opinion, the Congress itself has two
ways of looking at it. The Sonia Gandhi led traditionalists believe it was mainly the laws aimed
at the poor that won the day. The Manmohan
Singh led modernists believe it was mainly the
economic growth with some elements of the
laws for the poor.

But Pramod Mahajan (the BJPs smartest next

generation leader before Modi) was convinced
that the time had arrived for a positive, nationalist election campaign. He was wrong.

The BJP now faces a Gujarat Shining moment.

Should it run a positive campaign around
Narendra Modis fine economic achievements?
That becomes inevitable in the event of his
becoming the candidate for PM. I have written
before in this space that I do not think he will
become Prime Ministerial candidate, and I still
believe this.

In 2009, Congress could have campaigned on

But let us assume that with his recent eleva-

India Shining was a hit advertising campaign

that didnt have a product to sell.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

tion into the BJPs central parliamentary board

he will at least become the focus of the partys
campaign.
Many in the BJP, like actress Smriti Irani, do
not tire of telling us that Modi is the only man
ever in Indian history to use development as
an issue, as he did in Gujarats elections. Will
his joining the partys national team bring this
positiveness to the 2014 campaign? It will be
interesting to see, because the experience of
India Shining will be fresh for many others in
the BJP.
The important fact here is that the key asset
Modi brings to the party in New Delhi is the
urban youth and the middle class voter.
It cannot be denied that for large numbers of
these, he is an attractive figure, whom they want
to see leading India. For them, talk of high economic growth and efficient government is more
important than the social sector schemes that

the Congress focusses on, which concern the

rural and semi-urban poor.
It seems quite certain that the Congress campaign will again focus on its delivery to this
section of Indians. For instance such things as
direct cash transfers for food and fertilizer instead of subsidies, and the Right to Education,
under which private schools are being forced to
reserve seats for the poor. Even if it had wanted
to, the Congress cannot campaign on its economic performance because this time it has not
been great, for whatever reason.
This means the space is available for the BJP
to project itself, under Modi, as the party of the
middle class and also the party of economic
development and growth.
Will they grasp it? Or will the ghost of India
Shining spook the BJPs headquarters?

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

I am an apolitical person:
Narendra Modi
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today sidestepped questions on his Prime Ministerial ambitions,
saying he is an apolitical person.
PTI Apr 9, 2013

olkata: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra

Modi today side-stepped questions on
his Prime Ministerial ambitions, saying
he is an apolitical person.
I am not a politician, he said, when asked by a
questioner at a programme about the desire of
politicians to aim for the top political post and
what was his attitude about it.

A politician may have (the desire to become

Prime Minister) but I am not a politician. I am
an apolitical person, he said to a round of applause from the gathering of businessmen at the
Merchants Chamber of Commerce here.
Modi is widely perceived to be BJPs Prime
Ministerial face in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Narendra Modi desperate to

become Prime Minister: JD(U)
BJP ally JD-U on Tuesday hit out at Narendra Modi,
saying he was desperate to become the Prime
Minister and dubbed Gujarats development
model as non-inclusive.
PTI Apr 9, 2013

ew Delhi: BJP ally JD-U on Tuesday hit

out at Narendra Modi, saying he was
desperate to become the Prime Minister and dubbed Gujarats development model as
non-inclusive.

Board, come to the view that he is the Prime

Ministerial candidate, senior JD-U leader Shivanand Tiwari said.
Tiwari also slammed Modi for his comments
that states like Bihar should adopt the Gujarat
model of development and asked him (Modi) to
learn from the Bihar model.
Narendra Modi is talking like the next Prime
Minister, he is talking about his manifesto as
Prime Minister and most important thing in
that manifesto is the Gujarat model. However,
what we and the people of Bihar believe is that
ours is an ideal model, because it is an inclusive
model. It aims to bring the downtrodden to the
mainstream.

Modi is desperate (to become Prime Minister). He has already accepted that he is a Prime
Ministerial candidate of BJP though the party
has said the decision will be taken by its Parliamentary Board.
He has, without decision of the Parliamentary

We dont know much about it, but what we

know is that Gujarat doesnt have that (inclusive) model. The second thing what we know is
our growth rate, which is taken as the yardstick
for development of states. We have regularly
achieved a better growth rate than Gujarat
through our model that is why I think Modi
should learn a few things from Bihars development model, Tiwari added.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Modi vs Rahul: Battle of the

#Fekus?

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

On Twitter anti-Modi #Feku

beats #ModiStormsFicci
While Narendra Modi spoke at Ficci conference, and
talked about womens empowerment, on Twitter
another battle was being fought. The hashtag, #Feku
which means one whos all talk and no substance
was trending on Twitter.
FP Staff Apr 8, 2013

hile Narendra Modi spoke at the

Ficci conference, and talked about
womens empowerment, on Twitter
another battle was being fought. The hashtag,
#Feku which means one whos all talk and no
substance was trending on Twitter ahead of
#ModiStormsFicci.
While the Hastag initially seemed to be critical
about Modi, fans also jumped in and instead
started using #Feku to refer to Rahul Gandhi.
But for now, it would be fair to say that the antiModi trolls are winning. Given the dominance
of pro-BJP (and Modi in particular) people on
Twitter, this is extremely unusual. In fact wed
even go out on a limb and say that this is the
first time something anti Modi is trending while
he is speaking live.

The top trending tweet was by @JhaSanjay who

asked Modi, about where his (Modis) wife was?
Last year, Open Magazine had published a profile of the woman who is believed to be Modis
wife, Jashodaben Chimanlal. You can check out
Opens piece on Modis wife here.
Some on Twitter were also critical of Modis
speech where he seemed to restrict his vision
and understanding of women as only mothers
and sisters. One asked about Modis Rs 50 crore
girlfriend comment and whether that showed
any respect for women.
All in all, nobody says no to a good hashtag
war on Twitter and this one definitely wont be
forgotten for some time. Heres a look at some
tweets that were critical of Modi.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

No need for Feku of the Year award:

Manish Tewari takes dig at Modi

Union Minister Manish Tewari on Wednesday took a
dig at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is
being described in the cyber world as Feku (bragger),
suggesting the Limca Book of Records need not have to
add Feku of the Year award in its list.
PTI Apr 10, 2013

ew Delhi: Union Minister Manish

Tewari on Wednesday took a dig at
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,
who is being described in the cyber world as
Feku (bragger), suggesting the Limca Book of
Records need not have to add Feku of the Year
award in its list.

I do not want to use that expression but the

synonymous expression in Punjabi is called
Shekhi Master. I do not want to use the word
Feku, but I hope you dont have to add another
award for the Feku of the Year in the Limca
Book of Records, he said.
Later, when mediapersons queried about the
use of the word Feku in his speech, Tewari
said, Golden words are not repeated again and
again. You all are political analysts. You do political analysis daily. Keeping in mind the recent
events and what I said, try and bring out your
own conclusion.
Some tweets on Twitter recently termed Modi
as Feku for taking credit for development in
Gujarat.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister was

addressing a gathering after unveiling the 24th
Cinema Special Edition of the Limca Book of
Records in New Delhi.
Tewari spoke about efforts made by UPA government for the film fraternity such as proposed
changes in Cinematographic Act and a singlewindow system for granting permission to foreign movie makers to shoot in India.
But the kind of narrative which has been going on in this countrythe claims, the counterclaims. You know the developmental credits,
empowerment credits which are being put
forth, he said.

Asked as to when Congress will declare its Vice

President Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial
candidate, Tewari said, Your job is to give news
and our job is to make political strategies. But it
is not our job to react to every news or confirm
every news.
He also said Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have already clarified the partys
position on the issue.
On this issue Rahul himself, the Prime Minister and the party have expressed their views.
So there is nothing more to add or subtract, he
said.
Asked to comment on BJPs internal report that
projecting Modi as PM candidate will result in
polarisation of minority votes in favour of ConCopyright 2012 Firstpost

gress, Tewari said his party has nothing to do

with the opposition partys internal differences.

to, if necessary, by the respective minister, he

said.

We dont have anything to do with BJPs internal debates, difference and conflicts. On this
Madhya Pradeshs Chief Minister (Shivraj Singh
Chouhan) has already reacted saying BJP is being laughed at because of the ongoing race for
Prime Ministership in it.

On BJP President Rajnath Singhs comment

on Rahul Gandhis record in politics during an
interview to a TV channel, Tewari advised Singh
to concentrate on the affairs of his party.

When their own chief minister thinks so, nothing is left for us to say, he said.
To a question on BJP leader LK Advanis blogpost on follow up of the white paper on black
money presented by the government last year,
Tewari said queries of the opposition will be
replied, if necessary, by the Ministry concerned.
Advaniji had brought a stop work proposal
in Parliament. I was given the opportunity to
speak on the issue on behalf of Congress after
him and government had presented all facts on
the table of the House. After that if Advaniji and
opposition have any query then it will be replied

When I last heard Rajnath Singhji was the

President of BJP. Therefore, he will be well
served if he concentrates on the affairs of his
own party, which is seeing intrinsic warfare,
which is seeing all sort of tendencies, which
can be called fissiparous for the lack of a better
word, he said.
On Singh describing Modi as a secular leader,
Tewari said, It is immaterial in our scheme of
things, because there are certain judgements
which people of this country have already seen.
I dont think any certification, which BJP may
want to give to itself, is going to change the reality.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Speaking in stereotype: Modis

playbook of #Feku women

More than the lack of thought, what Modis speech to
the FICCI Ladies Organisation revealed was his lack
of vision: He literally didnt see the women who were
assembled to hear him speak.
Lakshmi Chaudhry Apr 8, 2013

eminists are upset at Modis Ma behan mode of address coz they borrow
rhetoric of western donor agencies
and western academia, tweeted an indignant
Madhu Kishwar, upset with the #Feku naysayers who were busy making fun of Narendra
Modis, ahem, quaint speech to the FICCI Ladies Organisation. We presume that includes
the masculine kind like @BrownBrumby who
declared, The man who cannot see the role of
women beyond domestic chores is automatically
not fit to represent modern India. #feku

For those unacquainted with FLO, the organisation is comprised of enterpreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives. According to
its website, The primary objective of FLO is to
promote entrepreneurship and professional excellence in women. FLO endeavors to enhance
the various skills of women through its educational and vocational training programmes,
talks, seminars, panel discussion and workshop
on a wide range of subjects like information
technology, taxation, insurance, venture capital,
stock market operations, accountancy, marketing, mutual funds, investment planning, entre-

preneurship development programmes etc.

According to Modi, this is the first ever speech
where he interacted extensively on Facebook
and Twitter with his future audience. So I did
not have to give much thought to this speech,
he said or, it seems, take a quick look at the
FLO website. And that explains why Narendrabhai spent over an hour talking about chapatis,
pashu palan, and sari shopping.
More than the lack of thought, what Modis
speech revealed was his lack of vision: He literally didnt see the women who were assembled
to hear him speak. The kind of women who are
well-compensated for specialising in girly stuff
like IT, stock market, investment, accountancy
et al. Modijis bharatiya naari is an entirely different breed, best epitomised in iconic ye olde
Hindi film cliches: the gaon ki gori sweating
over the hot chulha; demure housewife serving
chai-paani to her hardworking patidev; longsuffering widow who looks for livelihood to feed
her children; soft-hearted mother whose love
extends to all of Gods creatures. Why talk to
the real women in front of you, when you can
wax eloquent about imaginary ones culled from
fiction.
Modis version of the Indian Woman is a bit like
a greatest hits CD, recycling the best of the oldigoldie myths about femininity.
The sacrificing mother
So sick of this We love mothers rubbish politicians spout. Stop seeing us all as either walking wombs, or nothing, tweeted Firstpost contributor Kavitha Rao, spouting modern heresy
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

that has no place in Modis world.

NaMo is all about matrashakti as he demonstrated with a long-winded example of the coy
housewife who burns her finger trying to make
the perfectly round chapati and then strains
to bring her sore pinky to her husbands attention. Now a lesser man would dismiss this as an
example of typical feminine weakness. But not
our man Modi who would have you know that
the same woman would hastily abandon a sari
sale offering 20 percent discount, no less to
run home and save her child from a fire.
This is her strength. We need to harness this
power in order to transform society, thundered
a triumphant Modi at his bemused audience
who seem to have missed the moral of this little story: Women make excellent kamikaze fire
rescue workers.
Gaon ki chori
While Modis SRCC speech was all about the
urban middle class development, growth, IT
plus IT = IT he didnt waste this big city stuff
on the maas and behens in his FLO audience.
India lives in her villages, claimed Gandhiji,
so apparently do her women. Except for a longforgotten photo-journalist and a forest guide,
Modis ideal woman is a gaon ki chori. She
works in rural cooperatives, belongs to the sakhi
mandal, or at best, is a village sarpanch. Even
the prominent example of feminine success
the Amul cooperative is a testimony to her
rustic virtues, in this case, pashu palan.
There was nary a mention of the vast number of
educated cityslickers who work in offices, earn
salaries, climb the corporate ladder, or the some
who run a company or two. The women who
belong to aspirational India that Modi claims to
champion. The women sitting right in front of
him.
Queen of the kitchen
As classic Hindi films have taught us, a womans
place is in the kitchen or in its vicinity. She is
either slaving over the hot stove or clucking at
the dining table, urging her family to eat. But it
is Modi, the true feminist, who recognises the
entrepreneurial potential of her domestic vir-

tue. Like Jassubens pizza, Indubens famous

kakhra, or the adivasi womens lijjat papad, her
culinary prowess could be channeled into feeding not just her family, but an entire nation.
Now thats what they call progress!
So dont bother your pretty head getting that
MBA, or dreaming of making VP or working
all-night at your own start-up. The kinds of successes Modi wont even deign to acknowledge.
Just stick to what you girls already do best:
cooking.
Mommy the good commie
We all know what the bad commie looks like,
the kind that swears by Karl Marx and hangs
out at JNU, ranting about tribals and dalits et
al. But as our great movie directors recognised,
women embody a higher kind of socialism,
which springs not out of blinkered ideology
but their infinite reserves of feminine compassion. Maa ka dil melts at the sight of suffering,
even of strangers. And thats the kind of bleeding heart liberal Modi can get behind. Like the
female members of a village panchayat who told
Modi: Hum kuch aisa karna chahte hain ki
hamare gaon mein garib na rahe.
What an agenda! Modi roared in enthusiasm
at this awe-inspirisng evidence of feminine
compassion that lowly womb-deprived men can
never aspire to.
Hey, NaMo may loathe government hand-outs,
but it doesnt mean he is opposed to helping the
needy. For example: corporate social responsibility. If men in the company give the women
in their families the job of CSR, woh uttam kam
karke dikhayein gi, he declared, adding that
this would be sabse bada creative role for
women. How better to tap into our natural maternal urge to tend and care for others. Men can
then focus on what they do best: like, actually
running the company.
Modis greatest strength lies in his ability to talk
directly to the urban professional man. What
he revealed today is that he has no idea how to
talk to his maa, beti, patni or behen. And, no,
Ms Kishwar, the Ford Foundation did not fund
this revelation.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Narayana Murthy is wrong:

Its not a Modi vs Rahul race
Framing it as a Modi-versus-Rahul race sets the stage
for disqualifying both and shifting the goalpost to the
perceived advantage of one party over the other.
Venky Vembu Apr 10, 2013

he media-inspired framing of the emerging political contest in gladiatorial

termsNarendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhihas acquired such widespread resonance
that it has become impossible for anyone making any observation about India to avoid it.

In an interview to Economic Times, the very

first question that Infosys founder NR Narayana
Murthy confronts is: What are your views on
Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi?
Every syllable of Murthys answer is worthy of a
UN diplomat who, when asked to vote on a contentious resolution, takes a toilet break to avoid
taking sides.
Well, I know both of them very well, he says.
Both are extremely well-intentioned people.
Rahul Gandhi is very idealistic and a very decent human being. He has real concerns for the
downtrodden. Modi is a good administrator. He
is a very open-minded person. He has demonstrated in Gujarat that individuals can maybe
make a difference. I think either of them, with
suitable advisors, will really be able to bring

about positive changes in the country.

Asked next about Modis national credentials,
Murthy again does the two-step routine aimed
at establishing equivalence. Let us remember,
he says, that the secular credentials of all are
at the same level. If Gujarat under Modi saw
its riots in 2002, so too did Delhi in 1984 under
Congress rule. So I dont think any of these
coalitions can claim to be more secular than
the other. The issue, therefore, should not get
down to who is more secular. Our question will
have to be, who can lead the country to make it
a better place. I think both Rahul Gandhi and
Modi will do a decent job.
Saying that theyre both equally worthy of the
top job is one way of establishing the ModiRahul equivalence, and opinion is divided on
whom it benefits. Columnist Seema Mustafa
seems to think that it works to Modis advantage
because of the two, Modi is the better orator,
is better informed, a politician of the masses,
and someone who is not diffident or shy. Rahul,
on the other hand, is shy, diffident, childish
and well meaning and one almost feels sorry
for Rahul pitted against a politician who has
calibrated his rise so successfully, she writes.
Even BJP spokesperson and actor Kirron Kher,
who is given to flashes of theatricality when
she appears on television panel shows, said
she sympathised with Rahul Gandhis plight.
The sight of him being forever propelled to the
forefront of politics when he is clearly unwilling
reminded her of parents who declare aaj mera
bachcha ye poem sunayega. And every Congressman worth his name screams that Rahul
Gandhi is the best thing that happened to India,
she recalls.
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

The recent high-profile speeches of both Rahul

(at the CII event) and Modi (at the FICCI Ladies
Organisation event, a ThinkIndia conclave, and
at a business chamber event in Kolkata) provided enough material for an assessment of their
respective leadership styles and their vision for
India. And for economist Surjit Bhalla, it was a
no-contest.
If you compare their speeches on several parameters, Bhalla told an NDTV panel discussion, Mr Modi geared his speech to the audience. It was, he reckons, a brilliant stroke.
When one listened to Modiat each of those
eventsone came away with the impression
that he was speaking from experience, having
dealt with the problems and with facts at his
fingertips, he added.
In terms of leadership qualities and experience and offering a vision of what a person will
do, when I watched Rahul Gandhis speech, I
had no idea what he would do when he gets into
office, whereas I have a very god idea of what
Modi will do once he gets into office.
Yet, not everyone agrees that a Modi-vs-Rahul
framing works entirely to the formers advantage. Some analysts see the propping up of
Rahul Gandhidespite his manifest lack of
interest in such a direct contestas a red herring, a decoy intended to draw fire away from
Sonia Gandhi, who still remains the axis around
whom the Congress party pivots.
That theory gains credence when you consider
the other kind of equivalence that is increasingly being established between Modi and Rahul by suggesting that neither of them is worthy of consideration, and that both their names
should be taken off the ballot, so to speak.
Appearing on Karan Thapars talk show recently, social anthropologist Ramachandra Guha
said pointedly that he did not have to choose
between Modi and Rahul Gandhi. I refuse to go
along with the media reduction of the choice of
Prime Minister to these two people. And within

both the Congress party and the BJP, he said,

There are better qualified candidates.
Likewise, editorial columnists Tridivesh Singh
Maini and Arko Dasgupta point (here) to the
half-baked understanding of foreign policy
issues that, in their estimation, both Modi
and Rahul Gandhi share and suggest that neither would be a force for good for India on the
world stage.
But its fair to say that framing the Modi-Rahul
equivalence in such a fashionand asking for
both their names to be taken off the ballotappears calculated to work to the Congress political advantage. It seeks to remove from political
contention the man who is perceived as the
BJPs trump card and prime vote-catcher (even
if Modis appeal beyond Gujarat has not yet
been validated). From all accounts, for all the
brave face and bluster that Congress leaders
display in public, they appear clueless about
how to stop the Modi juggernaut. Taking
Rahul Gandhis name momentarily out of the
prime ministerial race is small sacrifice for the
Congress if it means getting Modi out of the fray
as well. It would be like giving up the 12th man
of your teamand a reluctant one at thatin
exchange for seeing the opponents Most Valuable Player benched.
Thats because even though Modis name has
the potential to polarise voters, his appeal may
work to the BJPs advantage only if he is declared the partys candidate ahead of the election. It is in that context that the equivalence
being established by commentators between
Modi and Rahul Gandhiand calling for both
of them to be stood down from the raceacquire political significance. There never was a
race between Modi and Rahul Gandhi, in the
first place, even though it has enormous chatter
value. But framing it like that sets the stage for
disqualifying both and shifting the goalpost to
the perceived advantage of one party over the
other.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Rahul, Modi are wrong: India is neither

a beehive nor a filmi mother

While Modis Mother India metaphor explains much
of what is wrong with the country, India is not and
should never become Rahuls beehive.

Jay Mazoomdaar Apr 8, 2013

t is astonishing, wondered George Eliot,

what different results one gets by changing
the metaphor. More astonishing is what
those results tell us about ourselves. Last week,
Rahul Gandhi talked of India as a beehive bristling with enterprise. Promptly, Narendra Modi
shot back that the metaphor insulted the idea of
Mother India.
The Gujarat chief minister won instant approval
from his followers, more so because madhumakkhi ka chatta is apparently a colloquial
reference to trouble mongering. Politicians have
the liberty of twisting perceptions to suit their
purpose. But the buzzing analogy and the streetsmart spin it inspired however off the cuff

they may seem also reveal a lot about how we

perceive our entitlements and duties as Indians.
Mother India, as the popular perception goes,
is an avatar of Mother Nature. Much like the
quintessential Indian (or any) mother, she must
provide unquestioningly for her billion-plus
children. The prototype is common enough in
Indian narratives, including those of Bollywood,
where the mother will go to any extent from
routinely skipping meals at the very least to
sacrificing herself to prostitution and worse to
nurture her children.
But while her needs are negotiable, her dignity is not. It must be restored in the end with
Copyright 2012 Firstpost

the children paying back their debt to her and

avenging every insult. Indeed, they must prove
worthy children. That is the idea of Mother
India our patriots, poets and politicians love to
invoke.
In reality, things rarely come full circle. We take
Mother India for granted. We mindlessly dam
and drain the water from her rivers and aquifers without even considering the possibility of
her ever running dry. We douse her fields with
chemical pesticides assuming that the land will
absorb all the poison and still yield as much.
We greedily destroy her forests and still demand that her skies keep raining as much. We
litter and pollute every nook and corner of the
country in a way no filmi villain ever defiled any
mother.
While Mother India suffers her worst fate every
day at home, we are ever prompt to give call to
arms to avenge insults and injuries more imaginary and perceived than real heaped on her
by outsiders (read neighbours). That is the idea
of citizenship the liberty to wantonly plunder
the nations resources and resort to irresponsible jingoism the metaphor of Mother India
seems to inspire in most of us.
The beehive, dripping with honey as it is, is not
half as mushy. Of course, the idea of a queen
bee is so central to the concept of a beehive that
it has fired the imagination of many Sonia detractors. To them, the beehive metaphor implies
that every Indian must serve a certain queen
bee. But whether or not the junior Gandhi made
that case, the life of a queen bee in a beehive is
far from enviable.
Instead of enjoying any so-called regal dynastic
power, the queen bees sole purpose in a hive is
to mother bees. In fact, her very life depends on
it. The day she trips, she is smothered to death
by the other bees and replaced by a new queen
(just another working bee on a diet of superior
honey called royal jelly). Clearly, the working
bees do not live in a tyranny of Regina. Besides,
there is a shelf life to this office of power.
But, of course, the new Congress vice-president
was comparing the country to the hive itself.
That demands the unquestioning lifelong service of every bee, ergo Indian. The singularity

of purpose as opposed to the confusion and

complexity Rahul sought to convey is rather
intimidating.
The queen must lay eggs to live. The workers
must tend to the eggs, fetch honey and defend
the hive at the cost of their lives (each bee can
sting just once because it kills the bee). The
drones must die mating with the queen or be
expelled from the hive to die at the end of every
mating season. This precise and unforgiving
arrangement is reminiscent of a totalitarian
system which India evidently is not.
Yet, a beehive is also far more democratic than
India may ever be. Every time a hive gets overcrowded, a bunch of worker bees leave it with a
queen to set up a new home. Scout bees fly out
individually to look for good sites. Each reports
its findings by performing a waggle dance. The
better the quality of a site, the longer is the
dance. Then all of them visit the best rated options and vote with another bout of dance. Once
the majority of scout bees back a particular site,
the rest, including the queen, accept that consensus.
It is unlikely that Gandhi was referring to that
highest form of democracy, though there was
quite an attempt at waggling in the Youth
Congress. In fact, as Manish Tewari eagerly
explained, the heir-very-apparent was talking
about the energy, diligence, cohesion, focus
and unity of purpose exhibited in a beehive.
But it still makes for a lazy metaphor, for India
is not an equal society. No worker bee is ever
denied its equal share of honey. Otherwise, who
knows, they might well object to the exclusive
royal jelly diet of the designated queen.
While Modis emotive metaphor of Mother
India is what the country should strive to grow
out of, Gandhis beehive it is clearly not and
may not aspire to become. Even in an ideal
democracy, can we demand that every citizen
must conform to a single idea of productivity
(and much else) to qualify for her equal share of
fortune and justice? What keeps India going is
her generous appetite for dissent. It is also her
best bet against superfluous analogies and the
ones who draw those.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

In Kolkata, no one wants to be

clicked with Narendra Modi

While industrialists across India might be clamouring
for that one prized picture to flaunt at the wall of fame
in office, business honchos in Kolkata seem better
off without making their Modi-adulation obvious.
FP Staff Apr 9, 2013

hile industrialists across India might

be clamouring for that one prized
picture to flaunt at the wall of fame in
office, business honchos in Kolkata seem better
off not making their Modi-adulation obvious.

While the meet has been jointly organised by

the biggest business bodies in West Bengal by
the Indian Chamber of Commerce, MCC Chamber of Commerce and the Bharat Chamber of
Commerce, industrialists are reportedly still in
two minds about attending Modis address and
the fall-out of the same, lest they manage to miff
the Mamata Banerjee-led government.
The Telegraph reports that even if business
honchos turn up at the meet, there is no great
rush to share the dais with Modi as no one
wants to be in a picture with him. Because in
Mamatas books, being seen with Modi is nothing less than a crime and as is evident, industrialists are clever enough to not leave proof!

A report published in The Telegraph quoting

sources, says that top Kolkata industrialists like
Sanjeev Goenka of the RPG group, Harshvardhan Neotia who owns Ambuja and Sanjay Budhia of Patton might not turn up for the 9 April
address in Kolkata.

Mamatas discomfort with Modi stems from

the fact that the Tata Nano factory, which she
shooed out of Bengal, was a success in Gujarat.
Banerjee even refused to allow the meet to be
organised in Kolkatas Netaji Subhas Indoor
Stadium.
Read the complete Telegraph story here.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

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