BJP would be in trouble if it shuts its eyes on the attacks on members of Christian community in Orissa, opines RK Kutty `Sonia provoked me' so said Narendra Modi when he was called by the EC to explain his position on his remarks over Sohrabbuddin's killing recently. Sohrabuddin was done to death by the Gujarat police in an encounter and the case is in the Supreme Court. Celebrated lawyer in Supreme Court KTS Tulsi was defending the state of Gujarat in this case. The very day Modi thundered in an election rally, justifying the killing of Sohrabuddin, KTS Tulsi told the electronic media that he would withdraw from the case.
Narendra Modi, despite many odds stalked against him, has pulled up his third consecutive victory in Gujarat and will be on saddle for a good 5 years. Now, he also emerges the unquestionable authority in the BJP, a party which was already facing rough weather both internally as well as externally. The party was desperately hoping for a comeback and for that one more victory in Gujarat was absolutely necessary. The party leadership therefore gave a free hand to Narendra Modi in the elections in Gujarat. He works like an autocrat. There are only his men at all levels, committed, loyal Sanghis who brief and update him always on latest positions. It works almost like the committed cadre based party- the CPM of West Bengal. Modi might have taken a leaf out of Jyoti Babu's success story of leading the state consecutively four times. And the business/ industry community in Gujarat is more than happy, as Modi's power means a riot-free Gujarat.
When the election campaign started, Modi was giving more thrust on various developments the State had achieved during the BJP rule. People too were praising and glorifying him all along. But then what made him to shift the track and came up with the communal agenda was unclear. On the contrary, the Congress party too was campaigning vigorously. Earlier, some of its State level leaders were making tough verbatim against Modi. But soon it died down as many leaders started campaign, including the UPA Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi. Lately, Sonia Gandhi from the Congress side and Narendra from the BJP side were the two hot pursuants. Ever since Modi uttered his remarks on Sohrab killing which was in contravention of the RPA on which a petition was filed with the EC by social activist Teesta Setalvad, Modi perhaps felt the heat and turned for his defence, accusing Sonia Gandhi for provoking him. This clearly shows that Modi is a split personality. It seems exactly as a leading national daily published in its frontline photo feature `One man, two faces' (a sober, pious outward Modi and a red hot, robust inner Modi). Later on, the BJP's national leadership too came in defence of Modi, accusing Sonia for using words like `Maut ka Saudagar' in her election speech. Another accusation of some of the BJP stalwarts against Sonia was that she is anti-Hindu. It seems the BJP cannot think big and come out of its petty, narrow fundamentalist agendas, even after it learned hard lessons from its 2004 defeat on the same ground. Most of the allies of the BJP, like the TDP, DMK, TMC, National Conference & the JD (U) thereafter deserted the party only because of the errant ways of Modi. Now, except JD(U), which itself is a divided house (acrimonies are going on between the party's stalwarts -George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar), no other party opened its cards in support of LK Advani who is being projected as the PM candidate should the NDA (united as hitherto fore) face the 2009 election. The BJP national leadership must note that the victory of Modi in the latest Assembly polls is the victory of `Moditva' and not `Hindutva'. They would be inviting further trouble for them at the national level, if they shut their eyes on the terror/mayhem now unleashed by its fringe elements like Bajrangdal and VHP in Orissa where members of the innocent Christian community are targeted. About 10-15 Churches have been burnt/destroyed and couple of people too lost their lives. Naveen Patnaik, an ally of the BJP, handles things so casually when the VHP marauders were taking law into their own hands. LK Advani is maintaining his stoic silence over the attack on Christians in Orissa. And that exactly would be the reason Indian electorates would never allow another comeback to the fundamentalist ideologues at the Centre.
