Reprieve marks Modi return

With enemies like these, who needs friends? Not Narendra Modi who has managed to emerge as the 8216;8216;great survivor8217;8217; 8212;...

With enemies like these, who needs friends? Not Narendra Modi who has managed to emerge as the 8216;8216;great survivor8217;8217; 8212; despite rubbing almost every one the wrong way in both his party and the Parivar back in Gujarat.

The first person to come to the 8216;8216;rescue8217;8217; of Modi 10 days ago was former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. His June 13 television interview in Manali, blaming the 2002 Gujarat riots for the 2004 Lok Sabha debacle, ensured a flood of support for Modi from the RSS, VHP, even the BJP.

Both BJP and RSS leaders have since said that the Gujarat Chief Minister8217;s removal was imminent before Vajpayee8217;s interview. Complaints against Modi8217;s 8216;8216;style of functioning8217;8217; from various quarters within the Sangh Parivar had reached a crescendo and he was to be removed after the Gujarat Assembly session ended. But once Vajpayee linked Modi8217;s removal to the riots 8212; a move seen as diluting Hindtuva 8212; Modi suddenly found friends among erstwhile enemies.

If Vajpayee helped him then, Keshubhai Patel is helping him even more today. Patel8217;s comments against Modi to the media in Ahmedabad yesterday and on arrival in Mumbai today has further strengthened 8212; not weakened 8212; Modi8217;s position, sources said.

A senior BJP leader said the party8217;s top brass was livid with Patel for venting his anger to the electronic media all of yesterday and today, even after the BJP parliamentary board had taken the decision not to remove Modi 8216;8216;at this juncture8217;8217;. Though nobody knows when 8216;8216;this juncture8217;8217; will pass, the understanding was that Modi would be removed, sooner rather than later.

But Patel8217;s move over the past two days is being seen as 8216;8216;open defiance8217;8217; of the party leadership8217;s decision and 8216;8216;whenever there is such defiance, the party closes ranks8217;8217;, a BJP leader said.

Modi8217;s supporters also feel that the whole crisis has taught him a lesson and he will now 8216;8216;mend his ways8217;8217;. As a BJP national executive member, who did not wish to be named, put it: 8216;8216;It is like if Tendulkar or Gavaskar gets dropped when they are being reckless, they learn from the scare and go on to make a century. Modi will now become much less arrogant and try and change his intolerant image.8217;8217;

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Whether Modi is capable of doing that or not, the BJP national executive which was slated to be a trial for the Gujarat strongman has, at least for the moment, turned out to be a triumph, both Modi supporters and detractors concede.