Modi146;s slip is showing

So which is the real Narendra Modi? The all-conquering Hindutva hero, certified by those-who-know as the second most popular leader in the c...

So which is the real Narendra Modi? The all-conquering Hindutva hero, certified by those-who-know as the second most popular leader in the country, man of the muscular rhetoric, poised8212;according to the prescient8212;to ride the crest of the great Hindu tidal wave that will sweep Gujarat and then everywhere else?

Or is he the skittish chief minister, jittery on December-eve, in desperate search of the 8216;safer8217; constituency, finally homing in on the apparently hard-to-lose traditionally 8216;Hindu8217; seat in Maninagar in the heart of Ahmedabad? With less than a month left to go to the polls in Gujarat, these are the two images in the fray. The second is fast overtaking the first.

It is not difficult to see why. Only recently, Modi was forced to echo his senior party leadership8217;s assurance that Godhra and its aftermath will not be exploited at the hustings. Governance, they chime, will be the issue instead.

This is precisely where the problems lie. You see, if Godhra and after is taken out of his CV, Modi has nothing or less than that to show for his tenure as chief minister. As this paper has reported, on all criteria of governance, Gujarat wears an extremely unhealthy pallor. Over the past few years, growth has shown a dramatic decline, both in the agricultural as well as the industrial sectors; although fresh investment appeared to have risen, in actual terms of project implementation the trend has been negative; and there is a frightening deterioration in the state8217;s fiscal balance. Irony is, Gujarat has received one of the most preferential treatments from the central government 8212; it is the country8217;s top recipient of central largesse in terms of loans and advances in per capita terms. No, the BJP8217;s self-proclaimed Chhote Sardar can only posture and preen on the 8216;strength8217; of his government8217;s terrible inaction during the bloodletting in the state. It has nothing else to its 8216;credit8217;.

Of course, as the polling date draws nearer, Modi can sight other reasons to worry as well. Like the inner party conflict that threatens to hobble his campaign for the state. The Modi versus Keshubhai Patel saga continues, and the matter of known Modi-baiter Haren Pandya being denied his preferred ticket may yet snowball into something more bitter. Then, there is the latest faultline that seems to have opened up within the saffron ranks and which may have some impact on the ground in Gujarat.

The VHP has now hoist L.K. Advani on his own petard: it has dubbed him 8216;pseudo-secular8217;. Clearly, Modi is an embattled general as he heads to do battle with the Congress. He may well have to fall back on the Congress8217;s incoherence to see him through.