Modi rocks, even in the Himalayas!

During a visit to China's countryside outside Beijing last week, one found many places on the highway which had warning signboards which said 'Rockfall site'. The most fragile hill slopes were, however, properly treated with a plaster binding and tightly covered with a steel mesh which would have checked a landslide. Also met during the trip, two Nepalese journalists who were all praise for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and had heard some of his inspiring speeches on YouTube. A devout Hindu and chief editor of a leading Nepalese daily, one of them had felt blessed when he came to India some years back for the 'Char Dham' yatra, the route of which now lies devastated in the Uttarakhand flash floods.

Had met Modi for the first time in Ahmedabad sometime in mid-1999 at the official bungalow of the then mayor of Ahmedabad. Was struck by the number of rings this persona non grata for the Keshubhai Patel regime was wearing on his fingers. The meeting with Modi was arranged by Anil Balooni, officer on special duty to the governor, late Sundar Singh Bhandari. The conversation was off the record. What came out amply clear was Modi's frustration at the state of affairs in Gujarat and his inability to do anything about it. Except, vent his exasperation before the media and give them leads about what was going wrong in the Keshubhai regime, in the hope that they would write something against a non-performing chief minister.

Have been more in touch with Balooni, now a BJP leader in Uttarakhand, than with Modi. Called him up to inquire about his well-being after the devastation. He had by then spoken to some trapped Gujarati pilgrims and said: "Pilgrims are saying they won't be in this sorry state if Modi was the chief minister of Uttarakhand." Indeed, nature has been kind to Gujarat during the last 12 years or so that he has been in power. Quite unlike the three years of acute drought, two strong cyclones and an earth-shattering earthquake that Keshubhai had to face, which eventually cost him his job. During the decade of good rains in Gujarat, the only time his disaster management was seriously tested was in the 2006 Surat floods when the city was submerged for three days and he was roundly booed by marooned Surtis as he waved out from a speed boat. Even in 2012, a few months before the last assembly elections in December, his opponents were hoping that an impending drought would mar his chances of becoming CM for the fourth time - till the heavens showered a late monsoon and handed him his third successive political landslide win. People in Gujarat have come to believe that nature's recent kindness is because of what they see as an illusionary halo behind their chief minister.

Was reading about L K Advani loyalist Sudheendra Kulkarni calling Modi an 'autocrat' and BJP chief Rajnath Singh as someone 'foxy' and under "astrologically induced delusions" (of becoming PM). Actually, Modi's popularity among people is because of his autocracy. And no prizes for guessing who is the fox and who are the rabbits in this Modi-Rajnath-Advani triangle. As for astrology, the stars seem more on Modi's side. To make sure his Himalayan ambitions do not crumble, some say he constantly performs some tantrik rituals to neutralize his adversaries. And, of course, the rocks on his fingers are still there.
Sh