BLOG: Banyan Tree
Gujarat’s 4-point program is important for India too.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: As political temperatures rise in India, the distance to 2014 suddenly seems shorter. Coming May would be critical for India and the world, when a likely change of guard at the helm is slated in the form of general elections. There are still ten months to go for this jamboree, but contenders are already baying for each other’s blood.
One of the many incidents of mud-slinging is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s visa controversy. And this time the episode refuses to die down after media reports had said that 65 Indian members of Parliament (MPs) wrote to the US President Barack Obama urging him not to grant visa to Modi. “We wish to respectfully urge you to maintain the current policy of denying Mr. Modi a visa to the United States,” the MPs belonging to 12 parties wrote in identical letters to Obama. The move came on grounds of human rights violations in Gujarat with Modi as chief minister.
The main opposition party BJP reacted by saying that this whole episode was the handiwork of the dirty-tricks-department of the ruling Congress Party. In turn the Congress has blamed the BJP for cooking up a trivial conspiracy to remain in the news. ‘’Otherwise what difference does it make if Modi gets visa or not,’’ Congress claimed. They added that the BJP was interested in keeping the issue alive and that Modi has already been to the US before and if he does not go what difference would that make now.
Difference it may not make, but today Modi is an important factor in the scheme of things in the western world too. If you see international relations today, it is generally driven by commercial interests rather than pure vanilla diplomacy. It may be recalled that member countries of the EU and the UK have been welcoming to Modi, clearly driven by investment interests. Surely they do not want to leave an impression of negative posturing against somebody who is seen as the opposition’s candidate for PM. Currently, Modi’s Gujarat has all the trappings of an investor friendly state. Of late, even the US view India’s commercial interests as being far more exciting than the military-strategic interest approach paradigm.
Under Modi, Gujarat’s four point program is crucial for India’s well being too.
First, the state administration has continued to dismantle India’s license raj, an anachronistic system of issuing permits that erodes business confidence and breeds corruption.
Second, industries in the state had been revitalized from agriculture to manufacturing by improving irrigation, supporting small-share farmers and attracting new factories of companies, including General Motors Co. and Hitachi Ltd.
Third, Gujarat has more than quintupled power-generation capacity by investing in more-efficient grids and building Asia’s largest solar field.
Fourth, Modi has always been at the helm to lobby for business and infrastructure investments.
In fact, the state does so well that it has posted a 10% growth rate repeatedly. Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, reacted to this performance by saying, ’’if we had Gujarat’s growth rates …we would have been a lot healthier country than we are right now”.
With Modi becoming BJP’s pick to lead the 2014 election campaign, coupled with the waning popularity of Sonia Gandhi’s ruling Congress Party, it’s an often discussed point that Modi could easily apply the Gujarat model at the national level. The benefits would be huge, even if Modi does not succeed in implementing the new model fully.
Despite Muslims, a minority in India, who hate this bearded Hindu leader for his failure to stop riots that targeted their community in 2002 (which left over 1000 dead), Modi’s popularity among the middle class has only grown. He had been steadfast to the principle of minimum government and maximum governance—a Thatcheresque approach which had contributed to her popularity.
Moreover, Modi has taken advantage of the innovative spirit of Gujaratis and did not make the mistake of coming in the way of the people. Also, his life story itself has all the ingredients of a pot-boiler—a son of a railway platform tea stall owner who made it big, which is so different from the entrenched dynastic ruling style of the Congress party relentlessly battered by incidents of corruption charges.
But, yes, Modi could be seen as one of the polarizing factors in the Indian polity, and many politicians here do oppose his rise and may have taken this step to project him as someone unworthy of an US visa which under a clause says anyone who has “directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom” is ineligible for the visa. But mind you, the decision on issuing a visa is for the host country to take and getting it is not a right but a favor granted to someone who wishes to enter a country.
Eswar Prasad Tolani, Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University, sums up Modi, saying: “Nevertheless, (he is) a leader with a clear vision, strong political will, and broad political support (and) is capable of effecting change.”
Visa or no visa, it is not going to shore up Modi’s vote bank, nor would he become less electable, but Indians shouldn’t let the cloud over the visa episode that linger over Modi blind them to the dire need for change at the Center.
(Rajiv Theodore is a journalist based in Delhi. An alumni of St. Stephen’s College, he likes cooking, traveling, and contact sports.)
To contact the author, email to editor@americanbazaaronline.com