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Elections but new themes

The context in Gujarat in 2007 is certainly different from that of 2002 and Chief Minister Narendra Modi is doing his best to shift the emphasis from his earlier image as a Hindutva icon to one as an earnest economic reformer. As the State prepares for the general election to the Assembly in December, the polarising issues of the Godhra carnage and the anti-Muslim pogrom that dominated the 2002 poll campaign have receded to the background. Sensing that anti-Muslim rhetoric cannot win two elections in a row, Mr. Modi is now talking of a “vibrant Gujarat” with the focus firmly on infrastructure and investment. The strong man demands that he be judged only on the basis of his performance in the last five years and his promises for the next five. Yet there is no mistaking that beneath the slogans stressing development is a reliance on the Hindutva card. Mr. Modi is no longer as popular as he was in 2002 with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Although it is unlikely that these outfits will take their anti-Modi campaign to a pitch where the Congress will be the real beneficiary, the Chief Minister knows that a Hindutva plank without their support will fall apart. To add to his problems, the dissident camp in the BJP led by former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel is getting better organised and more strident.

The two-phase polling in the State will present a real challenge to the Election Commission. About 5,000 internally displaced persons, victims of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002, live in dispersed camps. Notwithstanding the shift in the BJP’s electoral strategy, Muslims in Gujarat remain traumatised by the riots and their aftermath. The ECI has promised to provide photo identity cards to all the displaced persons and to enable them, and other members of the minority community, to vote without fear. It is imperative that elaborate security arrangements, similar to those in 2002, are put in place. In this context, the decision to keep out of election duty those officials who have cases registered against them or have been indicted by courts or have acted unfairly in the last election is a salutary precaution.

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