Modi blasts ‘Delhi sultanate’ to say "I'm available for job"

BJP’s controversial Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, stepped into the limelight and launched a blistering attack on the UPA government for its action against Baba Ramdev and his followers. Serving notice that he is not quite out of the race for the Prime Ministership in 2014 despite all the troubles he is having in distancing himself from the post-Godhra massacres of 2002, Modi attacked the “ Delhi Sultanate ” and said that “this is the beginning of the end of the UPA". [caption id=“attachment_20626” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Out of all senior BJP leaders, only Modi seemed to be upping the ante on the UPA in forceful terms. Amit Dave/Reuters”]  [/caption] Modi held Manmohan Singh responsible for the action against Ramdev’s followers, and claimed that the crackdown was the worst day in the history of India. “I would like to tell Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that you cannot escape by saying that you did not know. You are directly responsible for what has happened at the Ramlila ground in Delhi," PTI reports Modi as saying. He was inaugurating a new dental college in Ahmedabad. “The PM had said during the elections that he would bring back black money stashed in Swiss banks within 100 days of coming into power. But today it is two years and nothing has happened,” Modi said, adding: “Congress will have to answer 120 crore people of India about the use of violence on innocent people,” he said. It is interesting that of the three statements made by BJP leaders in the aftermath of the Ramlila action, only Modi’s stands out for the fire and brimstone effect. Party president Nitin Gadkari made an announcement about a 24-hour satyagraha and disappeared from view. LK Advani made a rambling speech on how the crackdown on Ramdev reminded him about the June 1975 emergency, called it “naked fascism”, and made an exit. Only Modi seemed to be upping the ante on the UPA in forceful terms. Speaking in Lucknow, where his party was holding a national executive meeting, Gadkari attacked both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh for the midnight swoop. “The crackdown by police came on the orders of the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. We strongly condemn it… The Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi must apologise to the people,” PTI quoted Gadkari as saying. But Modi chose a different tack. In attacking the “Delhi Sultanate”, he is subtly tapping into latent Hindu fears in the same way he used his “Mian Musharraf” references in the 2002 election campaign for the state Assembly, which he won with a thumping majority. In the 2007 Assembly elections, he turned Sonia Gandhi’s “maut ka saudagar” reference against her and asked whether hunting down anti-nationals was the wrong thing to do. Sonia’s reference to “maut ka saudagar” related to 2002, but Modi used it in the context of the encounter death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, for which a couple of police officers are now in jail. And a minister has been charge-sheeted. In his speech, Modi made references to the Navnirman agitation that began in Gujarat and eventually led to the fall of the Gujarat government of that time. With the late Jayaprakash Narayan also beginning his Sampoorna Kranti movement from Bihar, public agitation against Indira Gandhi began intensifying around mid-1974 and finally led to the imposition of the internal emergency in 1975 when all opposition political leaders were arrested. Narendra Modi probably reckons that with the UPA’s governance levels deteriorating rapidly, by the time the next elections are scheduled, the mood in the country will be for strong leadership and anti-Modi polarisation will be less of a factor. But Modi is also too much of a realist to believe that the secular media and politicians will allow him to leave 2002 behind. Which is why he is positioning himself to continue tapping into the Hindu vote – assuming there is one to be had at the next general election. However, before that, the Gujarat Assembly elections are due in 2012, and Modi needs to start building up his case over the next 18 months. Moreover, he has to reckon with the internal opposition in the party itself, where Sushma Swaraj has been busy building up a presence, and LK Advani hasn’t quite hung up his boots either. But Sunday’s speech is a reminder to the party that he is still around – and he can do the job of taking on the government much better than them.