Gujarat BJP makes most of Time,with some editing

Cover story is printed in mouthpiece Manogat,but a few details seem to be lost in translation

Time magazines cover story on Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been cloned 90,000 times over.

BJP mouthpiece Manogat has picked up the story that asked if Modi could lead India,carried in Times Asia edition,translated it almost word for word into Gujarati for its March 25 issue,and made an exact copy of the magazine cover,with the Manogat title and the BJP logo superimposed.

Some BJP corporators and MLAs are so excited that they have posted congratulatory messages for Modi on billboards in major cities such as Rajkot,Vadodara and Ahmedabad,alongside a blown-up Time cover though the local BJP unit in Vadodara insists it is not behind the idea. At the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation general board meeting on Tuesday,BJP corporator from Indrapuri Suresh Patel praised Modi for winning the Time award.

Manogat proudly acknowledges the Time link in its latest issue as well as that it is reproducing all 2,000 words on Modi therein for its 90,000 subscribers. Theres some editing though in the four pages that make up the Modi story in the 20-page Manogat,with a few inconvenient details omitted and some references to the BJP dropped.

Among others,every BJP councillor and office-bearer in local bodies gets a copy of Manogat.

If Times cover said Modi means business but can he lead India,the Manogat cover,in a counter-blurb,asserts,Ji ha Narendra Modi rashtriya kakshay pahunchvama safal raheshej ane Bharatni tasveer ane taaseer jarur badlashe Yes,Narendra Modi will definitely be successful in reaching the national level and Indias image will certainly change.

Sources said Manogat originally planned to put the Mansa Assembly bypoll results,which the BJP was confident of winning,as its March 25 cover. The BJPs shock loss from there ironically left the field open for Modi.

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Editor,printer and publisher of Manogat Surendra Patel,however,denies the Mansa plan completely. Defending the Time replication,he says: If such an incident happens,I have to take note.

While clarifying that there is no additional print order,Jagdish Bhavsar,media coordinator and one of three contributors to the publication,calls it a grand achievement for Modi. So far,only three Indians have made it to the Time cover.

Time has now nominated Modi for its Most Influential People list for 2012,quoting its cover story on him. Here the Gujarat CM will be competing with NDA colleague and bete noire Nitish Kumar besides Anna Hazare and actor Vidya Balan. Voting for this list ends April 6. No word yet on what the Gujarat BJP makes of this.

Dropped in translation

Time: Modi denies ever hearing from Ahsan Jafri,who was dismembered and killed in the Gujarat riots.

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Manogat: Shri Narendrabhai Modi had refused to listen to Jafri.

Time: Winning the top job in New Delhi wont be easy for Modi. Despite his successes at the state level8230; Modi is unpopular with the BJPs national leaders.

Manogat version mentions his unpopularity with BJP national leaders but skips the line saying winning the top job in New Delhi would be difficult.

Time: He gives the impression of an autodidact who has methodically plotted his journey from small-town boy to CEO of Gujarat.

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Manogat: He gives the impression of a person who has learnt the lessons of life on his own a person who methodically plotted the journey from a small-town boy to Gujarats chief minister not CEO.

Inputs by Tanvir Siddiqui amp; Gopal Kateshiya