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Editors' Choice

23 August 2005
The Times of India

Brothers in Arms (Editorial)

 

Why Advani Thinks Modi is an outstanding CM 

BJP president L K Advani says Narendra Modi is the party’s best chief minister.  He has showered praise on Modi for overseeing development in Gujarat.  Beyond the obvious political over tones in praising Modi when he is under siege from within the state unit, Advani’s remarks reflect a tendency to see governance merely in terms of economic indices.  When a Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) survey rated Gujarat as No 1 for economic freedom, Modi and his party interpreted it as applause for the state government.  For a short while, the Congress too fell for Modi’s game and even censured the RGF.  Both the Congress and the BJP missed the point that data used for the ranking was pre-2001, that is before Modi gained office.  That apart, the parties concerned failed to recognise that the concept of economic freedom doesn’t bother much about individual freedoms but instead focuses on how business-friendly a government is.  This obviously suits the core constituency of the BJP.  But what is governance if it fails to safeguard individual freedoms?  The Modi administration has the dubious distinction of being rapped on the knuckles repeatedly by the Supreme Court for derailing justice in riot cases.  There is evidence pointing to the collaboration of the administration in subverting investigation.  Gujarat under Modi has done well to attract investment.  But what’s new about it?  Gujarat has always been so.  However, this access to capital and the apparent industrial well-being have not helped the state to address issues like a skewed sex ration low levels of literacy and falling standards in primary health.  Why then Advani’s pat for Modi?

Individual freedoms ought to be central to the idea of governance.  The right to faith, justice, food, education, employment, and of course to own property and do business has to be part of a holistic idea of governance.  Economic indices need not necessarily reflect the state of these rights in a polity.  A state can bean economic powerhouse but fail its citizens.  Gujarat is a prime example of such an anomaly.  If development does not encompass all sections of the society, it will result in the disruption of social peace.  The politics of exclusion will widen this divide.  It will further not just the discontent in a society but also erode institutions.  Advani and Modi could well believe that bad politics can be compensated for with good economics.  They are wrong; the two go together.

 

 
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