Narendrabhai is India’s future! Narendra Modi will rekindle hope, pride and confidence among all Indians: Kanchan Gupta | We were both at a loose end of sorts. I, having walked out of my job after a bitter row with my editor over an article critical of Sonia G, was trying to set up a parliamentary research system for BJP, a project which was dear to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani. Task had been assigned Jaswant Singh and my job was to assist him. Project failed to take off for reasons which are not relevant here. I was drafted to help with headquarters work, including election campaigns, and assist Vajpayee with his parliamentary work. At the time of elections and when Parliament was in session, there was work to do; at other times, there was little or nothing to do. A short walk from my office, across what then used to be a sprawling lawn, at 11 Ashoka Road, the BJP headquarters, was the office of Narendra Modi – Narendrabhai to all, from the chaiwallah to senior leaders – who had shifted base to Delhi after Shankersinh Vaghela’s revolt rocked Kehsubhai Patel’s Govt in Gujarat. First time I had met him was during Murli Manohar Joshi’s Kanyakumari to Kashmir Ekta Yatra which he had organised. It was a brief meeting but I had fond memories. After that he had got engrossed with Gujarat politics which kept him busy till he moved to Delhi. Now he too seemed to have little to do, though I can’t recall an occasion when I saw him doing nothing. Those days the party headquarters would function like any professionally run office. Advani, who was party president, would arrive any time between 9.30 am and 10 am, work non-stop, holding meetings, reviewing State unit programmes, dealing with long queue of visitors, till 1.30 pm. He would go home for lunch and be back at 3 pm, to work till 5.30 pm. All of us based at the headquarters had to follow the same routine. Narendrabhai would arrive sharp 9.30 am – the joke was you could set your watch by his time of arrival – and head straight to his office. He would invariably be neatly turned out in a crisply ironed half-sleeve kurta and sparkling white churidar pajamas, hair combed and beard trimmed. He had a white Ambassador car, one of three luxuries he allowed himself. Other two were mobile phone (a rarity those days; he had an Ericsson, later Motorola with an unfolding antenna which raised a lot of curiosity) 386 laptop that weighed a ton. He lived in outhouse of a party MP’s bungalow – a single room that had a light and a fan, and a window opening into a side lane. In his office, Narendrabhai would work on his desktop (our official issue was standard black-and-white screen monitors, CPUs with tediously slow processors, even slower dial-up Internet connections for which we would have take special permission from Jana Krishnamurthy) and was not fond of unannounced visitors. The message quickly went around and nobody would dare barge into his office, a courtesy extended to only Advani till then. I was privileged to have his permission to drop in whenever I wished to, which I would do quite often. Arun Jaitley and Arun Shourie would regularly address media those days. My job was to scan morning papers, come up with issues and prepare talking points and draft statements. Arun Jaitley would drop in on his way to court and finalise the day’s menu. Work done I would walk across to Narendrabhai’s office for a chai, chat. He spoke very little, but listened with great attention. And when he spoke, it was to bounce off ideas with which he would be brimming. In those early days of computers, Internet it was amazing how much he knew, much of that knowledge culled from reading journals, surfing Net. I had made a difficult transition from typewriters to computers, fascinated by effortless ease with which he navigated his way through information highway. I don’t think he ever used typewriter; for him transition was likely from a pen to keyboard. We would all have lunch at chummery: roti, dal, rice and a sabzi. Narendrabhai ate with us, sharing humble meal. Some of us would complain about bland, tasteless daily fare; I never heard him complaining. During the crisis precipitated by Vaghela’s rebellion, two words had been coined and gained currency: Khajuriyas and Hajuriyas. Khajuriyas were rebel MLAs who were whisked off to Khajuraho; Hajuriyas were jee-hazoor loyalists. Months later, if memory serves me right it was after an episode involving flattery influencing a key decision by leadership that had left many of us feeling dejected, I casually asked him: “Narendrabhai, we are neither Khajuriyas nor Hajuriyas. What does that make us?” There was a flicker of a smile on his face as he replied, “We are Majuriyas… our work is to toil for party.” That was not a stray comment, as I was to realise over the years, but a mantra, a belief which he continues to practice. After NDA Govt came to power, I shifted to PMO and later to Cairo as Director of Maulana Azad Centre. By the time I landed in Cairo, Narendrabhai had returned to Gujarat as CM, immersed himself in reconstruction work, rebuilding large parts of State after the calamitous earthquake. But before he and I could settle down in our new jobs (his, a high assignment; mine, a lowly Govt task) came grisly attack on Sabarmati Express and the violence that followed. From distant Cairo I could only track the violence, and Narendrabhai’s handling of the situation, through Foreign Office telegrams that came twice a day with updates. My Ambassador, kindly SJ Singh, tasked me with dealing with Arab media which had gone berserk, running wild stories (a great deal wilder than what Teesta Setalvaad could ever think of) on violence. It was a challenge, not least because I knew no Arabic & editors, columnists and writers I had to deal with knew no English. It took more than persuasion & logic but we were able to blunt the hostile edge of reportage and commentary, and after a while neutralise hostility altogether. Though dealing with media was not part of my remit, I did it for three reasons: For India’s image, for BJP & NDA Govt it led, and for Narendrabhai. Would I have taken on that task had Narendrabhai not been the CM of Gujarat? That’s a question I would put off for another day. In summer of 2004, NDA lost general election & exited office. I resigned from my post in Cairo, returned jobless, homeless, family in tow, to Delhi. I got back to writing for The Pioneer, now edited by Chandan Mitra, one of the early big pieces I wrote was when the US withdrew its visa to Narendrabhai, denouncing that decision. Then, as now, there were few in media willing to openly defend Narendrabhai but that was never a deterrent for some of us, including Swapan Dasgupta and Chandan Mitra, curiously all of us expatriate Bengalis. Till 2002 I had passing interest in Gujarat. Since then it has been a passion to follow developments in Gujarat primarily for three reasons: Narendrabhai, his governance model & tremendous delivery of growth, development in that State. Over the past decade I have possibly visited, seen more of Gujarat than WB. And I am of firm conviction that what has been achieved in Gujarat can be achieved by India. You could well ask why this firm conviction. Here’s why. I have had good fortune to work with Atal, a ‘Majuriya’ whose vision & toil are reflected in his record in office. NDA’s success story bears witness to Atal’s leadership. India has suffered grievously over past decade & India Story faded away. Slide needs to be halted. Aspirational India’s dreams need to be realised. This nation deserves far better than what it has received at hands of hugely corrupt Congress-led UPA regime. India deserves visionary leader. More important, India needs leader who can break, make that demolish, status quo, free India from Delhi Establishment’s evil vice-like grip which brought this great nation to such a sorry pass. This nation is starved of hope; hope needs to be rekindled as also pride in being Indian. Having seen Narendrabhai lead Gujarat, give wings to dreams, aspirations of Gujaratis, infusing hope & confidence in all Gujaratis, I believe he can do for India what he has done for Gujarat Narendrabhai is BJP’s choice for Indian PM’s job. If his soaring, giddying popularity is any indication, he is also India’s choice. Narendrabhai is India’s future!
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:57:48 +0000