Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s Kerala visit kicked
up an unnecessary controversy by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United
Democratic Front (UDF) leaders rendering the man undue publicity. By raising a
hullaballoo by these leaders, it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and in
particular Mr.Modi who took advantage of the situation most. His visit to
inaugurate the 51st Sree Naryana Dharmameemsa Parishath in response
to the invitation of the Sanyasins of Sivagiri could have been treated as a
trivial matter, if not a non-issue. The political leaders, belonging to LDF and
UDF rightly boycotted the function to mark their protests over his presence at
the function. Though it was right on their part, by invoking widespread
protests and political mudslinging between BJP on the one hand and UDF and LDF
on the other hand actually helped in raising the stature of Mr.Modi. It also
helped BJP cash in on his much touted visit.
Right from V.S.Achuthanandan, A.K.Antony and Rahul Gandhi
representing Left and Right – declined to participate in the function attended
by Mr.Modi. That was their discretion and their conviction and ‘courage’ are
laudable. True. But by opening the Pandora’s Box the shrewd politician in Modi
gained much prominence among the majority community across Kerala.
Ever since the 2002 pogrom – the large-scale slaughter of a
minority community allegedly by the covert or overt support of Chief Minister
Modi. Mr.Modi has not yet apologized to the Quitbudheen Ansaris, Sakia Jeffreys
of Gujarat which gave him the image of a ruler whose hands are tainted with
blood of innocent victims. As long as he is not ready to sincerely atone for
his alleged sins the politician in Modi will find it difficult to wash his
hands off the blood of innocent human beings.
Why the Sanyasins of Sivagiri took the unanimous decision of
inviting Mr.Modi? It is for them to respond. Mr.Modi had no qualms in quoting
Sree Narayana Guru’s Oru Jathi Oru Matham Oru Daivam Manushiyanu (One Caste,
One religion, One God for mankind) and those so-called devotees and other
audience who listened to his speech in rapt attention and frequently clapped their
hands throughout his speech. In other words ‘it was like Devil preaching
scriptures’ others might have felt who are well aware of his tainted political
past.
Be that as it may, to make a mountain out of a mole hill by
the UDF and LDF leaders was absolutely unwarranted. Modi is after all an Indian
citizen and he has the freedom of speech and expression as long as it won’t lead
to chaos and he is vested with the right to travel across India. If Narendra
Modi has been raised to the stature of the supposed Prime Ministerial candidate
in the coming General Elections scheduled to be held in 2014, part of the blame
rests on the shoulders of the both leftists and rightists like Indian National
Congress and regretfully by the media. Modi drew more and more strength from
their gratuitous “political” utterances often crossing the limits. His ‘national
stature’ is partly because of his much trumpeted development programmes by
unrolling the red carpet to the business and industrial tycoons. The sorry
truth is that rural Gujarat especially the rural Saurashtra is still reeling
under poverty.
Modi’s Kerala visit and the resultant controversy helped a
lot in polarizing two major communities of Kerala which could tilt the scales
in his and his party’s favour with the approach of general elections.
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