WITH Patels, Kolis and farmers turning against Narendra Modi, will the beleaguered chief minister now try to woo Muslims with the assembly polls just four months away?

Well, two developments earlier this week at least indicate that after keeping the 750,000 state government employees in good humour by accepting their three major demands, the shrewd strategist will next appease the five million minority community members in a desperate bid to stick to his throne.

The Modi-controlled Gujarat BJP executive which ended its two-day meeting on Thursday has passed a political resolution which states that the ruling party had no grudge against Muslims, triggering a speculation that the saffron party adopt a ‘soft Hindutva’ stand in the November battle of the ballot.

The state unit spokesman also clarified that the BJP was not an anti-Muslim party. The resolution and clarification, indeed, came after an article in the official magazine of the state government praising Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah stirred up a hornet’s nest.

The serious article by a respected Gujarati writer had described Jinnah as a great secularist and a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity, and said that he had many friends among Hindus. The opinion expressed in an official publication of the government controlled by a pro-Hindu party instantly drew brickbats from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

While the firebrand VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia who hates Modi’s guts took strong exception to the report in a saffron monthly, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav questioned Jinnah’s secular credentials.

The shocked BJP high command also quickly sent a clarification washing its hands of the controversy by saying that the pro-Jinnah views were those of the writer.

However, when L.K. Advani had praised the Muslim leader to the skies for his secular thoughts during and after the BJP leader’s visit to Pakistan two years ago, the eulogy angered the Sangh Parivar and led to his resignation six months later.

Modi, who heads the information department which published the controversial article, seems to have expressed his support to his mentor Advani by giving his go-ahead to the pro-Jinnah write-up. No wonder, the chief minister, through the article and the party’s political resolution, has indicated that he wants to mend his ways with riot-ravaged Muslims just in time for the assembly elections.

Rath Yatra tension

TENSION mounts in Gujarat, especially in Ahmedabad, every year whenever the traditional annual long-winding procession of three Hindu deities is taken out through the narrow, labyrinthine lanes and bylanes of the communally sensitive city.

But the July 16 ‘rath yatra’ comprising three gigantic chariots pulled by 1,200 burly men, 98 trucks depicting the Indian culture, 16 caparisoned elephants, 30 overzealous gymnastic groups, 20 musical bands and some 2,000 saffron-robed ‘sadhus’ may witness not only Hindu-Muslim clashes but also terrorist strikes.

At least this is what the intelligence sleuths have told the Gujarat police pointing out that this is the election year and miscreants can spark trouble any time during the 12-hour snail-paced procession.

Not wanting to take any chances, as many as 10,000 anti-socials have been temporarily dumped behind the bars and 8,000 armed policemen have already been posted in every nook and cranny of the 25-kilometre explosive yatra route passing through many Muslim residential colonies.

In fact, on the D-day, the city will look like an army camp with about 20,000 gun-toting policemen on their toes, with strict vigil being kept from 30 watch towers and 300 rooftop points at various strategic places in the city which has witnessed bloody violence on the procession day in the past.

Tailpiece

THANKS to incessant rains, several villages in Gujarat have been flooded and hundreds of people are marooned. The state government has 200 fibre boats but they are just not enough to rescue villagers trapped in remote places. As if woken up from slumber, the disaster management authority has ordered 23 lightweight mechanised boats from a reputed American company.

But now it is learnt that the life-saving boats cannot be airlifted and will be sent by a cargo ship. This means the consignment will reach Gandhinagar only after one month by which time the flood waters would have receded. Perhaps, the administration believes in the saying, ‘better late than never’.

source by khaleejtimes.com