Gujarat chief minister Narendrabhai Modi is known to be a ‘method’ politician. He works on the script very closely and he can sink into the role he assigns to himself. On Thursday, having worsted arch-rival Congress for a third time in a row with the BJP winning 115 out of the 182 state assembly seats, he decided to play a large-hearted victor ‘ready to make amends’ and ‘look forward’. And what does he have to look forward to? Of course lead the BJP during the 2014 general election.
Modi’s followers at the public meeting in Ahmedabad on Thursday evening made no bones about the fact that they want to see Narendra Modi as prime minister but before that Modi will have to invent himself as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. By deciding to swear himself in for the fourth time as CM on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on 25 December, Modi has underlined the need to acquire the BJP’s tallest leader’s inclusive statesmanship. A difficult task for the Gujarat chief minister to achieve!
But adverse situations are known to spur Modi and he took the first step towards it by turning his victory speech, made in Hindi and not Gujarati, into an address to the nation. He made it clear that he was ready to subsume Gujarati sub-nationality with Indian nationhood. ‘I chose to serve the six crore Gujaratis and in this way serve my Mother India. What I do is serve my country with the work I do for the citizens of Gujarat,’ he said with an implicit yearn that he should have an opportunity to serve the nation.
The script went on to unravel his plan to build an inclusive image. ‘I invite the citizens of the country to come to Gujarat and look for employment, medical surgeries, etc. We are ready to serve you. This victory is for the citizens across the country who have suffered,’ he said, not forgetting to soothe ruffled feathers within his party. ‘We are team BJP, team Gujarat that is ready to serve you. I am just a small part of this team. You made me win by electing BJP,’ he said realising that despite winning for the third time detractors within the party could point out that the prime ministerial hype notwithstanding, Modi could not improve upon his performance.
In the coming days the clamour over the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate is bound to grow with the BJP’s prime ally Janata Dal (United) already putting the ball in the former’s court by saying it was for them to decide who would lead the alliance. Modi’s nomination will be faced with three-way resistance – first the BJP’s central leadership, second the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and of course from the allies from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Gujarat leader well realises the impediments and thus chose to reiterate that he was a leader with mass appeal. ‘The results show that if the voters see good governance and development, they vote for the government. I would like to convey this message to the whole country through Gujarat’s voters that the country should have good governance and development. The national leaders should understand that the citizens want these and not divide-and-rule politics,’ he said.
Modi, who remained non-sparing towards his rivals during the campaign, on Thursday hedged reconciliation with satire. While he visited former chief minister and now rebel Keshubhai Patel’s house before addressing people, he extended an olive branch to opponents. He, however, laced it with pot-shots during his address. ‘I have tried to not make any individual comments on anyone through this entire election process. I have tried to respect everyone. There are no enemies in democracy, there are only competitors,’ he said, however preceded it by saying, ‘I wonder what state the opposition will be tonight . They must not be able to digest this defeat.’
After swearing-in, Modi would arrive in New Delhi on 27 December for the National Development Council meeting, a visit which would be eagerly awaited.
Modi’s followers at the public meeting in Ahmedabad on Thursday evening made no bones about the fact that they want to see Narendra Modi as prime minister but before that Modi will have to invent himself as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. By deciding to swear himself in for the fourth time as CM on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on 25 December, Modi has underlined the need to acquire the BJP’s tallest leader’s inclusive statesmanship. A difficult task for the Gujarat chief minister to achieve!
But adverse situations are known to spur Modi and he took the first step towards it by turning his victory speech, made in Hindi and not Gujarati, into an address to the nation. He made it clear that he was ready to subsume Gujarati sub-nationality with Indian nationhood. ‘I chose to serve the six crore Gujaratis and in this way serve my Mother India. What I do is serve my country with the work I do for the citizens of Gujarat,’ he said with an implicit yearn that he should have an opportunity to serve the nation.
The script went on to unravel his plan to build an inclusive image. ‘I invite the citizens of the country to come to Gujarat and look for employment, medical surgeries, etc. We are ready to serve you. This victory is for the citizens across the country who have suffered,’ he said, not forgetting to soothe ruffled feathers within his party. ‘We are team BJP, team Gujarat that is ready to serve you. I am just a small part of this team. You made me win by electing BJP,’ he said realising that despite winning for the third time detractors within the party could point out that the prime ministerial hype notwithstanding, Modi could not improve upon his performance.
In the coming days the clamour over the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate is bound to grow with the BJP’s prime ally Janata Dal (United) already putting the ball in the former’s court by saying it was for them to decide who would lead the alliance. Modi’s nomination will be faced with three-way resistance – first the BJP’s central leadership, second the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and of course from the allies from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Gujarat leader well realises the impediments and thus chose to reiterate that he was a leader with mass appeal. ‘The results show that if the voters see good governance and development, they vote for the government. I would like to convey this message to the whole country through Gujarat’s voters that the country should have good governance and development. The national leaders should understand that the citizens want these and not divide-and-rule politics,’ he said.
Modi, who remained non-sparing towards his rivals during the campaign, on Thursday hedged reconciliation with satire. While he visited former chief minister and now rebel Keshubhai Patel’s house before addressing people, he extended an olive branch to opponents. He, however, laced it with pot-shots during his address. ‘I have tried to not make any individual comments on anyone through this entire election process. I have tried to respect everyone. There are no enemies in democracy, there are only competitors,’ he said, however preceded it by saying, ‘I wonder what state the opposition will be tonight . They must not be able to digest this defeat.’
After swearing-in, Modi would arrive in New Delhi on 27 December for the National Development Council meeting, a visit which would be eagerly awaited.