What Modi learnt from his early Gujarat days BJPs Ahmedabad office used to be in crowded Khadia, a place where violent agitations were common. But sometime before Narendra Modi entered the scene, the office was shifted to Khanpur, a central place with five newspaper offices operating out of the area. That was the first change. The second change, in hindsight, was Modis entry. The Gujarat unit was then led by Shankarsinh Vaghela, who had been hand-picked by RSS from its fold. Modi, then 36, was also brought in from the RSS ranks as his assistant in 1987. Modi took over as the partys organizing secretary. Nobody considered him a threat: after all, he was a novice with no political connections and no constituency of his own, someone supposed to merely issue press releases signed by other leaders. But Modi was ambitious, and a fast-learner too. Soon, he introduced a system of daily baithak, encouraging BJP leaders to discuss the political situation and chart out strategy over endless cups of tea brewed by a Malabari Muslim across the road from the office. In 2-3 years, Modi was speaking a different language, coining new slogans. You hear some of the same slogans even now, said Manish Vyas, a senior journalist, who has closely watched Modis rise through the years. One of his organizational ideas was turned into a slogan for party workers. A simple slogan that had connect: one booth, 10 youths. The idea was to select volunteers and train them long before an election, and give them pride of place in the local community. He used this booth mantra extensively in this election. He has refined the concepts and manner of delivery but many of the old slogans are essentially the same, Vyas said. Modi also learnt a lot during BJPs long battle against politician Abdul Latif, who was into bootlegging and whom the police described as Dawood Ibrahim stooge. Latif sprung a surprise, winning from three municipal seats at one go, giving BJP an opportunity to turn him into a whipping boy, while focusing on the criminalization of politics. BJP politicians, subtly guided by Modi, basked in bashing Latif until he allegedly absconded to Pakistan in 1995, and was subsequently arrested in 1996 and shot the next year when he reportedly tried to escape on his way to jail. And from this background was born a leader who would be exiled out of Ahmedabad, only to return to become CM of the state and finally emerge the Prime Minister of the country. This is an excerpt from news story from another media house.Please click to read full story directly at source timesofindia.indiatimes/india/What-Modi-learnt-from-his-early-Gujarat-days/articleshow/35694218.cms
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 01:38:05 +0000
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