Modi bats for Muslims on CNN interview: Is he telling the RSS to pipe down?

New Delhi: Yeh toh bada jumla hai. Unhone (Narendra Modi) bilkul aag par pani dal diya hai”, a Muslim entrepreneur from Western UP told me, requesting anonymity. He is also closely involved in Muslim politics.

“Since the time excerpts of his interview to CNN televised in the afternoon everybody in the community is talking about it, either in person or through other means of communication. This has been taken very positively”, he added.

In an interview to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Narendra Modi said that the al-Qaeda would fail if it sought to spread its terror network in India because Muslims here would live and die for the country.

“My understanding is that they are doing an injustice to the Muslims of our country. If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional. Indian Muslims will live for India. They will die for India. They will not want anything bad for India.” When questioned further by Zakaria on why so few among India’s roughly 170 million Muslims have joined al-Qaeda’s ranks, Modi suggested the issue was one of a wider fight for principles, rather than a question of nationality: “This is a crisis against humanity, not a crisis against one country or one race. So we have to frame this as a fight between humanity and inhumanity. Nothing else.”

Did Modi really believe in what he said? Or is this an attempt to reign in fringe elements and send a message to all concerned in the Sangh Parivar about how public discourse could be guided? Or because there is a change of heart and as Prime Minister he realises that he had take care of all sections of society and win their trust? Or he was simply guided by electoral and economic exigencies? Is he making a course correction after the BJP lost badly in the by-elections it fought on a ‘Love Jihad’ plank?

The truth may lay somewhere in between. As Prime Minister he has to generate confidence among Muslims citizens of India that they will be treated with dignity in his regime, where an equitable justice system and ensuing growth opportunities will check attempts by terror outfits to recruit misguided youths.

He also may be reaching out to the Muslim community ahead of the Haryana and Maharashtra polls. Elections in Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and possibly Delhi will follow shortly. Modi’s personal intervention ensured that rescue and relief work in J&K is mobilised at an unprecedented scale. But all that good work was getting lost in the cacophony of issues raised by some extremist elements in saffron ranks. He had to get things back on track for sake of governance and for the better political prospects of the BJP.

It is a fact that as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi had contained and banished likes of Praveen Togadia and Babu Bajrangi. He would know from his experience, that if he is to leave a lasting impact as Prime Minister, he will soon have to contain loony elements within both the BJP and Sangh Parivar.

He had realised the hard way that no one invests in a turbulent state. A riotous situation leads to flight of capital. It took him some years after the 2002 riots to convince investors and providers of goods and services that they could fearlessly invest in Gujarat. He also had to be very innovative and energetic in providing an industry and business friendly climate in the state.

So far,  Modi has succeeded in convincing the Japanese pledge to pledge $35 billion worth of investment while the Chinese have pledged $20 billion dollars. India, no doubt, is a big market, but if he wants to make it the next big industrial hub in Asia, he has to ensure that terror activities are contained and there is social harmony.

So Modi used the CNN interview to his maximum benefit, for both a domestic and international audience. This is also his first media interview since becoming Prime Minister.

Incidentally, in July 2013, it was an interview with another foreign news agency Reuters, that created huge controversy over his puppy analogy. The way Modi has conducted himself in the CNN interview (from the excerpts shown so far)  relating to the Muslim community and terrorism in India, it is clear that he has learnt his lessons and crafted them to come out as a statesman, than just another head of the government.

In one stroke, he has charmed even the most bitter of his critics. The members of the Muslim community have long felt disturbed over the constant questioning of their patriotism. The ‘Love Jihad’ hypothesis and the absurd logic by elements of the Sangh Parivar and BJP had further vitiated communal situation in Uttar Pradesh, a state that Modi now represents in Parliament. But his statement has changed the situation, at least for now.

Syed Yahya Bukhari, President of the Jama Masjid United Forum said “this one is indeed a big statement. Muslims are as much part of the nation, as anyone else. This is a move, which needs to be appreciated provided he remains consistent in his belief and talk. Yes there have been issues against him relating to the 2002 riots but time is a great healer. It heals even the deepest of wounds.”

“It felt very good to see that he has now started applying balm. I hope that his regime internalises his message. Now since he has indicated that he is a sympathiser (hamdard) of the Muslim community, may I urge him to reign in fringe elements in his party who make all kinds of provocative statements and second, if he can get innocent Muslims released from jail. The guilty should be punished but he spares the innocent, he will have built a permanent goodwill in the hearts and minds of Muslims”, Bukhari said.

Yahya Bukhari has a running feud with his brother Shahi Imam Ahmed Bukari. In the last elections Imam Ahmed Bukhari had openly supported Congress while Yahya Bukari had tacitly supported the Aam Admi Party.

Convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani felt that this statement was befitting to the position of Prime Minister.

And for the Urdu media this is a huge story. Hasan Shuja, owner and Editor-in-Chief of one of Shahafat, one of the largest circulated Urdu dailies, said he appreciated the statement.

“He reflected the reality but someone at the top had to say what Modi did, to generate confidence, and the feeling of participation in the community. He however, also had a word of caution. “The Muslim community has for long been cheated by the political leadership, cutting across party lines, with fake promises. Modi’s test will lay in walking that talk. He could begin with health and education, the two areas which needs urgent attention.”

The BJP leaders see this in continuation of what he had said in party’s Patna rally in the run up to the elections, his maiden speech in Parliament, his Independence Day address and an inclusive approach for proposed development of Varanasi.

In two sentences Modi has extended kind of a confidence building measure to the Muslim Community that hundreds of half baked plans couldn’t.