NEW DELHI, 15 September — The chief minister of the riot-ravaged state of Gujarat earned a reprieve yesterday after his Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said he will retain office if the party wins in upcoming provincial elections.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s state came again under the limelight at the UN General Assembly Thursday when Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said the recent riots in Gujarat showed growing Hindu extremism in India.
Venkaiah Naidu, president of the BJP, which also governs Gujarat, said Modi would hold the same office if the party returned to power in assembly elections later this year.
Naidu came to Modi’s defense after Gujarat’s former BJP Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel recently hinted the days of his successor were numbered due to the riots, which erupted following the killing of 58 people in a train on Feb. 27 in the western state.
“There’s nothing in Patel’s statement that suggests there are differences in the (BJP) party,” Naidu said during a visit to the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.
“Patel only referred to the process of election of leaders of legislative party and there is nothing wrong in it,” Naidu said, quoted by Press Trust of India.
Modi and his government have been roundly blamed for turning a blind eye to attacks on Muslims in riots that raged for more than two months.
More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed and tens of thousands turned homeless after bands of right-wing Hindus pillaged Gujarat towns and cities, in some of India’s worst communal rioting since independence in 1947. Meanwhile, Modi changed gears on the second leg of his “Gaurav Yatra,”(Pride rally), yesterday, shifting focus to the socially disadvantaged Dalits.
From speaking of honor among the upper caste Kshatriyas in Kheda district while inaugurating the rally on Sept. 8, Modi switched to promising the Dalits in the village of Jhanjharka in Ahmedabad district that the quality of their lives would improve if they voted his party back to office.
Said Modi: “Last time I had chosen Phagvel (village in Kheda) to pay tribute to the legendary Bhatiji Maharaj, who laid down his life fighting against cow slaughter. There I had talked about a permanent ban on slaughterhouses.
“Now I have come before you to speak about revolution among your community,” the chief minister told a gathering of some 60,000 Dalits in Jhanjharka village of the Dhandhuka region.
“If I return to power, I will make it sure that all steps are taken to upgrade the standard of living of your community. This will include ensuring and implementing your right to education, subsidizing higher education and providing medical and sanitation facilities.”
He then promised that such benefits would not be limited to Dalits but all poor people in Gujarat.
Modi had dissolved the 182-member assembly on July 19 and had requested early polls. But the Election Commission refused to concede his demand saying the state was yet to recover from the sectarian violence.
With polls now expected by the end of this year, the Gaurav Yatra effectively marks the launch of the BJP’s election campaign.
