Narendra Modi dedicated his victory to the people of Gujarat today afternoon, but he could have taken all the credit. Isolated and alone, and against all odds, he single-handedly led the BJP campaign and though the party ended up with 10 seats less than the 2002 tally, Modi made history by winning a third term. And, if a government that went to polls on the development plank saw seven of its ministers biting the dust, including the high-profile Urban Development Minister I K Jadeja, Agriculture Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma and Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel, the reason the party still came back to power is all because of Modi. Due to his autocratic nature, the BJP rank and file is in a mess in the state, with no leadership worth mentioning. More important was the absolute lack of support from the RSS. Peeved with Modi’s attitude towards Sangh Parivar members, including Sanjay Joshi, the RSS had in June decided not to extend any organised support to Modi. On Saturday, a day before counting, when asked about the election results, RSS chief K Sudarshan said the Sangh was not interested in the outcome in Gujarat. “Unlike earlier elections, we are not predicting who is winning or losing in Gujarat. Whatever has to happen will happen,” Sudarshan said. With the VHP’s international general secretary, Pravin Togadia, telling party cadre at a workers’ meeting in Ahmedabad in August 2007 to stay away from election work, it was thought that Modi’s fate was sealed. “The present Chief Minister thinks he is more powerful than the organisation itself. We cannot tolerate that and to discourage this kind of leadership we won’t support the BJP in this election,” Togadia had said. “Mind you, you cannot win elections without the support of cadre-based organisations like the VHP and RSS.”Togadia’s supporters, including his brother, campaigned in favour of the BJP rebels and Congress candidates. The lack of VHP support was very much visible. Unlike Modi’s 2002 Gaurav Yatra, when he rode on the well-oiled wheels of the VHP and Bajrang Dal, roadshows and huge public meetings were limited this year because the footsoldiers of the VHP and Bajrang Dal refused to join.In fact, when the VHP’s Acharya Dharmendra tried to broker peace and appealed to Gujarat VHP leaders and cadre to support Modi because he is a leader of the Hindus, the Gujarat VHP unit expelled him! By evicting the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, which had occupied an MLA quarter to run its state unit in Gandhinagar on December 30, 2003, Modi also invited the ire of the farmers’ arm of the Sangh Parivar. An angry BKS said that while Modi had come to power in 2002 with their support, it would be exactly the opposite in 2007.To add insult in injury, Modi’s government, as part of its successful power reforms, cracked down on more than 1.22 lakh farmers for power thefts. About 3,200 farmers were handcuffed and jailed too, which further drove a wedge between Modi and the BKS. Just before the elections, BKS president Praful Senjalia said farmers will vote to “throw Modi out”. A month before elections were announced, the BKS even launched a powerful movement against Modi in Saurashtra, organising rallies and campaigning in favour of BJP rebels and Congress candidates. That pro-rebel, pro-Congress wave was supposed to destabilise the BJP in its traditional bastion of Saurashtra. On the contrary, the BJP increased its tally from 39 in 2002 to 44 in 2007. The last-minute boost came from Sonia Gandhi who, with her “maut ka saudagar” expression, added new life to Modi’s campaign. Till then, he was canvassing on the much-hyped development plank, insisting: “I will prove to the nation this time that a non-emotional issue as boring as development can still work”.But Sonia changed all that. The rest is Modi.
