Bad food from good bahu

Smriti withdrew her statement late in the evening, but her words had had quite some impact on the State BJP. Even five hours after Smriti’s statements, the leaders were found fumbling for the politically correct words to react intelligibly to this bombshell. They first kept saying they were yet to confirm the exact words Smriti used, then insisted it was for the party’s national leadership to comment, and finally sought to dismiss Smriti as a rank outsider poking her nose in the state party affairs.

BJP’s Gujarat in-charge Om Mathur, who rushed from Navasari to Ahmedabad following Smriti’s statements, described her action as indiscipline. ‘‘It’s no less than utter indiscipline. She’s brought dishonour to the party and a popular CM,’’ he said.

State party chief Rajendrasinh Rana said she was a ‘‘nobody to comment on Gujarat’’ and that the party was ascertaining if she spoke in her personal capacity. ‘‘It’s for Gujarat’s people and the BJP’s national leadership to decide if Modi continues or resign,’’ said Rana, who’s considered close to former CM and Modi’s rival Keshubhai Patel.

For former union minister and Surat MP Kashiram Rana, Smriti’s statements were doubly embarrassing as she spoke in Rana’s city at a time when he was present there. ‘‘I’m yet to understand why she had to say all this, and why she chose Surat. Anyway, it was very bad,’’ he said.

Despite all the furore, Keshubhai, who’s been demanding Modi’s resignation for quite some time, maintained his now-characteristic silence. ‘‘He’s fully aware of everything that happened and said he’d not comment at this moment,’’ said an aide. After his numerous pleas for a change of guard in Gujarat government went unheard, all Keshubhai’s been doing to show his displeasure these days is to skip important party meetings and maintain a stoic silence.

Till Smriti’s withdrawal of the statement and even the next day, the state capital was abuzz with speculations about who used Smriti as a mask. ‘‘There’s as much involvement of the Gujarat BJP in Smriti’s action as the Vajpayee-line moderates in the national BJP,’’ claimed one of the BJP MLAs from Saurashtra, unhappy with Modi’s ‘‘despotic style of functioning.’’

Exporting Gujarat to London

As part of the government exercise to attract foreign investment in Gujarat, Water Resources Minister Narottam Patel and Agriculture Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma held a series of interactive sessions with NRIs and NRGs in London last weekend, and apprised them of the progress made by Gujarat in various sectors in the last three years.

During their UK tour, the two ministers, accompanied by State Transport Secretary Ravi Saxena, also met religious leaders of the Akshar Purshottam Swaminarayan and Sanatan Dharma sects, besides followers of Dada Bhagwan. They briefed the Hindu religious leaders on the progress made by the Modi Government in the State.

An official statement here said the ministers told the groups of London-based NRIs/ NRGs and religious leaders how Gujarat had made rapid strides during the last three years — in the fields of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, groundnut, castor, vegetables and horticulture farming. Gujarat accounts for 21 per cent of India’s total export in these products, they informed.

The visiting ministers told them that after its success in bringing about the White Revolution in Gujarat, the government was now fast moving towards a Green Revolution. They appealed to NRGs to invest in a big way in the State.

Taking a Dandi to the BJP

With the recent spurt in murders, rapes and suicides, Gandhi’s Gujarat today seems to have accepted violence as a part of life. The state’s politics has also been showing a clear absence of Gandhian ideals. But such growing desensitisation of the people may be shaken, however briefly, by an event the Congress party’s organising to commemorate the historic Dandi March by the Mahatma.

On the 75th anniversary of the march, several thousands of Gandhians from across the country and even abroad are going to re-enact the famous procession from Ahmedabad to Dandi on March 12, 2005.

The march is said to be a pet idea of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, whose Sadbhavna Movement is organising the event. Sonia’s entrusted Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sunil Dutt with ensuring a smooth and successful procession in BJP-ruled Gujarat.

‘‘Re-enactment of this march will help prevent the Mahatma’s sacrifices from being slowly forgotten,’’ said Dutt. He said efforts were on to get all those who walked with Gandhi during the 1930 march to participate in the 2005 march, which will end on April 5 like the real march.

The event is also being actively supported by the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation and Nehru Yuva Sangathan. Dutt estimated that nearly two lakh people would participate in this march.