Modi won. Gujarat won. Gujaratis won. People won.
Congress lost. Media lost.
I live in Gujarat. I have seen it from the urban areas and from the most interior and undeveloped villages. I have seen the developed countries as well and hence I believe my views about Gujarat are not myopic. I write all this to make my readers understand that what I say here, are my views, but they are a reflection of lakhs of people of Gujarat too.
Okk now coming down to Modi’s victory. He deserved to win. His work and determination spoke for him. People love him truly, madly, deeply. But why they love him
a. Because they trust his words. They know, if he says it, he will DO it.
b. Because development is tangible and they have experienced it.
c. Because he has reached the heart of every citizen in Gujarat not with publicity but in spite of unending media vilification.
d. And last but most of all because they need a leader with an iron-like will. They have had enough with moderate, indecisive, non-conclusive, sloppy, faint-hearted slogs. Gujarat is not blind to his errors but they would rather choose an erroneous man with power and vision than the one with no agenda or identity.
This I believe is the real cause of his victory. India is changing and so are Indians’ expectations. They want quick decisions. They want emphatic stands. ‘Chalta hai’ attitude bogs them down.
And if you doubt anything that I have said here about development, his charisma or people’s love for him, I have a few honest instances to enumerate. The instances mentioned here are my personal experiences and no suni-sunayi kahani.
24 hour power supply
I went to my village in North gujarat before a couple of years. And in the hot summer afternoon the electricity went off. In dismay, I couldn’t help but scream ‘NOOOOO!’ But my cousin who lives there consoled me, “Don’t worry, it will be back in 2 minutes. Our village has participated in Jyotigram, so no problem”, he said. I didn’t believe him but he was right. Within two minutes the fan started tweaking and blew hot air all around. Then I learnt that the Gujarat govt, ruled by Modi, had started with Jyotigram Yojana under which any village could get 24 hr electricity by paying some upfront amount. And 24 hrs meant 24 hrs.
Earlier the connections for village homes and bore-wells or pump-sets in farms were same. The fields needed 3 phase electricity and providing that much power 24 hours was not possible. But under Jyotigram, villages could get a different connection which would provide them 24 hr power for the village and for limited hours in fields. Hence nobody slept in dark. This was the first way in which Modi reached the common man.
Government servants were made accountable
My uncle was the Sarpanch (Mukhiya) of our village till last year. At that time Modi started with Krishi Rath whereby he and the entire revenue department of respective district from the District Collector to the gram sevak everyone got together and heard the problems faced by the villages, as represented by the Sarpanch. My uncle too went to meet the Krishi Rath at the district headquarter and made his appeal of a pending amount that the govt was supposed to disimburse to our village since a decade. The note was taken and the meeting was called off after several such appeals. My uncle came home from there by the afternoon hoping for an answer within a week. But to his utter surprise and shock withing two hours the District Collector himself came to our house (Sarpanch’s house in this case) asked for the exact details with absolute politeness and kindness- something that Sarpanchs are not used to by the Collectors. The officer promised to deliver the amount within a stipulated time and again uncle was not sure of whether this would happen. But it DID. Within a week the amount pending since a decade was delivered to the gram panchayat’s doorstep. This is why the entire village and my uncle a life-time Congress supporter salute Modi.
Prevention rather than damage control
In another similar instance, on one such sultry morning our door bell rang at 7:00 am and the servant came rushing to inform my parents that some pili-batti wala saahib i.e. some govt officer has come over. Dad went down and it was the Deputy Commissioner of the Ahmedabad Municipality who also happened to be dad’s friend. Dad was surprised to have him home in these wee hours and on inquiring about his purpose, dad found out that there was a danger of Plague in the city, due to excessive rains and stuff and they (the municipality) had been asked to check every part of the city personally and report directly to the CM. And hence in order to complete his work within the time frame they had started working since 6 in the morning and the commissioner did not have his tea yet. Now that he was cleaning up the area around us, he thought of taking a short break and coming over for tea. That was a Class I officer of the Indian bureaucracy at our door step. Ahmedabad never got caught up in plague and we were probably saved without direct efforts.
Helping the marginalised
A two year old child of my grand-mother-in-law’s best friend, who is economically backward, was detected with a severe heart problem. The child required to be operated upon and regular medicines. Under a scheme of Gujarat govt any child within five years who develops such deadly diseases is treated for free. And our relatives child WAS treated and that too without any cost and the child is well off now. Other states might be having such schemes but it is the implementation that has won the Gujaratis.
These are a few instances of his work. Of people’s love for him, I have many more to enumerate like the one of the old man who has finished all his social and economic obligations but wants to live just a few more years because he wants to see Modi work; or from that dholi who had put down his dhol since the day Modi filed his form for elections and vowed that he would play the dhol ONLY if Modi won. And he let go of his earnings of the entire marriage season for his vow. Modi won and he played the dhol!!
I can still hear that dhol playing. And anyone who can’t or who finds it difficult to separate it from media and congress rantings needs to clear his mind and ears. The message is loud and clear. Work wins.
Adding this video for those people who feel Modi works for a particular section. PLEASE check this out!
Popularity: 100% [?]
December 26th, 2007 at 2:55 am
Gujrat Election - Modi’s Hinduism and Muslims
——————————————————————————–
Question: Why the person like Modi got elected again by the people of Gujrat ?
Answer: Because today “the people of Gujrat” have firm belief in Modi, his policies, his actions and his words.
But, it also means something else to the innocent people who were “burned alive” and “innocent lives which were destroyed before the birth” under the rule of the same administration, where Mr. Narendra Modi was holding the most powerful position in the state of Gujrat.
What has happened today, Dec 23, 2007 is not a matter of surprise because
Those who believe in the message of hate have won again,
those who believe the Modi version of hindu faith won again, and
those who believe in killing innocent lives have won again.
Can a society be such a heartless ?
Can modi version of Hindu faith be such a crual ?
Does the Gujratis or Gujrati society as a whole social organization, believe that burning or killing the Muslims and their children is an act of their victory ?
“THIS IS A QUESTION TO A SOCIETY OR THE PEOPLE WHO MANDATE THE MODI AND APPROVE THE ACTIONS OF NARENDRA MODI” -
Do you approve the acts of Modi, the person who endorses the burning of the Men, the women and their children alive, because of their religious faith ? In a country which claims the protection of all the faiths, a country which claims the respect for all the faiths.
Do you approve that the looting of the wealth of the neighbour is an act of pride ?
Do you approve that the insulting the women or making comments on the women is the matter of pride or Is it a social norm of the society ?
Shouldn’t the law of land be respected ???
Why not, “the Law” be given the highest position in this social structure?
Why the law enforcement agency is unfair towards Muslims as even today innocent Muslims are behind the bars and there is no justice for them as they have not been proven guilty yet ?
How can such a system could provide the fair justice to everyone ?
Insha Allah(By the will of Almighty, the greatest power of the universe), I hope a better time will certainly going to come in future when “THE LAW OF THE LAND” will be respected by all
and “JUSTICE” will be served by “THE LAW OF THE LAND” AND NOT BY “THE LAW BREAKERS” .
December 26th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Hey Minal,
Its a great help to read this article. I am also a truly, deeply, madly Modi fan. Only thing is due to my nature of work I am not able to follow up his work during his tenure. I take him as a honest and dedicated man. But your article gave me many evidences to support my belief. Sometimes when i have debate with buddhadev sir I do not have much evidences to support it. Today you gave me some of the evidences.
Keep it up. If possible write more about him and his future plans for gujarat if possible.
December 26th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Dear Indianmuslim,
This post is about the work of Modi. Not hindus and muslims. If you wish to discuss that, let me know I have hundreds of points to discuss.
And as far as the ‘law’ goes- Modi is not proven to be a criminal. So for heaven’s sake don’t tell me there is no law.
And when you say the “”innocent people who were “burned alive” “” you mean the victims of the Sabarmati Express too, right??
And remember one thing firmly- it is only here that you can ask for justice and hope to have it. The “neighbours” you have mentioned would not even provide that hope. And if your sympathy for them is so overriding, how about shifting to the neighborhood?
And yes, I hope for the same as you. LET THE LAW PREVAIL. But let it prevail right from 1947, not just from 2002. Let it prevail from the Sabarmati Express and not just the aftermath.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Great post. And great blog.
Wish I could live in Gujarat forever!!
December 27th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Hey Kartik, thanks for the appreciation. And yeah you could very much live in Gujarat forever. It is pretty huge-hearted to house everyone who wants to be here!
December 27th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I havent read the entire post, but i dont even want to. All I know is Modi sucks because he is anti-Muslim and that means he is anti-human and that proves he is not worth living, he is worse than any animal.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
A person who takes decisions, even if they go wrong sometimes, is far far far better than a person who just sits and does nothing. When chandrababu naidu lost, I was wondering why people rejected him, even though he did so much. But Modi’s case is different. Both Naidu and Modi have made mistakes and have their shortcomings, but they tried to do something useful. If you take TN (I’m from TN), it is “statement” politics. Not a day passes by, without the so called “super” leaders issuing statements, accusing each other and blaming everyone and everything but themselves. Same is the case in many other states too. I wish we had a CM like Modi, sigh.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Assem,
I really don’t know why am I replying to someone so undemocratic as you. someone who is so fundamentally fanatic that he can’t even listen to the other side of the story. But somehow I can’t resist and hence am replying.
A- Modi is not anti-muslim. if he were, by now hundreds and thousands of muslims would have emigrated from Gujarat. With the kind of majority that he had, he could have done almost anything he wanted. He has not done it. Neither have his reforms been ONLY for Gujaratis other than Muslims. Muslims too got the light and water when it reached every village. So let your bigotry not make you insane.
B- Muslims are not the only humans ever born- “he is anti-Muslim and that means he is anti-human”– Get logics correct. The ones who were burnt alive in sabarmati express and in the numerous communal riots before that were as much human as the one who died in the riots.
C- Meet lakhs of gujaratis and Indians whom he has provided basic amenities of life and then think of making ridiculous statements like “he is not worth living, he is worse than any animal.”
I hope, you read this at least. And in case you can’t even get yourself to read this much, you need not bother to comment here any further.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Hey vijay,
couldn’t agree more with you.
Thanks for understanding my version of modi’s administration and yeah welcome to lifeZamZing!
January 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
This is a good post Minal and I am going to refer to it on my post on Modi.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Well, that would be simply fabulous. Hopefully it will help people see Modi beyond 2002!
January 18th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
hey minal had been to ur blog before ..from nita
u have removed ur pic from ur about me post so i cant confirm that
wow we think quite alike im adding u to my roll lest i forget
January 20th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Hey prax, thanks for reminding me about my pic. have put one up. And me is humbled for u have added me to ur roll. Seems me is getting famous
anyways I am happy that there are people who think like me!
Whether it is your first time or second- Welcome to LifeZamaZing!
January 20th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
hey thanks for the kind words
u have a great smile, if my memory serves me right
February 1st, 2008 at 4:30 am
Very very nice post Minal. Nicely written. I really like the way you write, in a very articulated way..
Coming to the post -
Frankly, i didn’t know that Modi was doing so much for Gujrat. Your right, Media paints a biased picture of him..
I’m really impressed that things move so fast at even the lower levels of administration…I read your complete post patiently…:-)
But, What happened to the Muslims in 2002 wasn’t right either! One of your comments read something like “He is not proven to be a criminal..”. Even Bush isn’t a proven criminal either, but Iran was destroyed…. Who was behind that.. well its a known to all of us…
Modi has probably done some good to the state with a hope of winning elections. And he did ! After all, politicans are not saints, they have their own whims and fantacies. If you see Chandrababu Naidu, he developed only Hyd, bcoz of his love for IT. Of course he lost the elections primarily because he did not care to develop the rest of the state. And agriculture and farmers being the main occupation of ppl there, he was bound to loose!
It’s great that Modi is doing so for the state, but can’t wash his hands off what had happened.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:30 am
One more thing, he might not be anti-muslim, but that 2002 incident happened!
March 13th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Yep!!! I too have heard abt him so much particularly from the industrial sector.
But I have not been able to comprehend his walk out from a recent Devils Advocate show. Would you mind throwing some light on that?
If I am not wrong, I think you have strong views on Hindu Muslim unity, the carnage of 2002 (including the train episode). I think it would make an interesting read if you write something on that too.
July 15th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
[...] who lives in Gujarat has written an interesting post on why she thinks Modi won. Her post basically writes about the development in Gujarat that she has seen first hand. She writes about [...]
July 25th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Perhaps this will give you another perspective:
http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/dec/rvw-sharma.htm