Modi, industry have a sparring bout

There was a discernible effort by noted industrialists and former CII presidents Rahul Bajaj and Jamshed Godrej, to cosy up to Modi in their introductory remarks, but they slipped a bit and happened to ask their guest about the law and order situation in Gujarat.

This being a sensitive chord, was enough to put off Modi, who sat through their short speeches unmoved by the compliments paid to him by them and later retaliated in full measure when his turn came.

To begin with, Godrej lauded Modi for having answered every question at Mumbai in even though some of them happened to be “highly provocative.” He recalled that some people “reacted very strongly” and went on to say, “You were right Mr Chief Minister when you said the meeting has been hijacked for the media.”

And later Bajaj said that he was reluctant to chair the meeting because of the Mumbai episode. Thereafter he switched to law and order and cited this as the main impediment in attracting investment in UP and North-East.

He hoped that the “events of early 2000” would not be repeated in Gujarat. Switching to Hindi, he recalled the close relationship which his grandfather Jamnalal Bajaj shared with Mahatma Gandhi and underlined that “my family is Gandhian.”

Modi responded by saying that he was unaware that the focus of the meeting would be law and order. Accusing CII of grave injustice to Gujarat, he asked his hosts to call another meeting on the issue and invited their “pseudo secular friends” too and offered to answer even the most pointed questions from them.

Taking an apparent dig at the industrialists, he said that it was a pity that in Gandhi’s country one had to carry out raids to detect income tax and special drives to check power theft.

He recalled how the talk of violence in the state had become such a misnomer that Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit told him during her visit to Ahmedabad that that contrary to her family’s misgivings about safety in Gujarat, she found it perfectly safe to move about alone. This led to a muted clapping from amongst the audience though not everybody was clapping.

Modi disclosed that his Cabinet would attend courses at IIM, Ahmedabad to improve delivery and governance. He promised most conducive and secure environment in his state for industrial development and investment and claimed that the state had attracted Rs 8,000 crore worth foreign investment in the past eight months.

He vowed to “convert red tape into red carpet” and underlined that “I mean it.” Describing Gujarat as the land of opportunities, Modi listed bio-technology, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, agro and food processing, engineering ancillaries, mineral-based industries, readymade garments, IT enabled services, international trade and the services sector as potential areas for investment.