It's An Iron Hand In An Iron Glove

Blood Diamond The beleaguered diamond cutting and polishing industry (annual turnover Rs 80,000 crore) expected a bailout when Modi came to Surat to inaugurate an international exhibition of gems and jewellery on December 26. Instead, it got a dressing down. "When you were making huge profits, you gave nothing to the state. Now, when there's a crisis, you want help," Modi thundered. He then warned the industry against any layoffs.

Despite his expression of solidarity, 35 diamond workers or their next of kin have committed suicide since the meltdown began. The most recent incident: Haresh Ramani, 22, from Lilapur village, Rajkot district, killed himself on January 20.

This Is No Break When a delegation of shipbreakers from Alang called on him with a list of grievances, they were shown the door. The CM didn't want to hear them out. When a national newspaper ran a campaign on the appointment of a Modi favourite as the new Ahmedabad police commissioner, expressing the view that the city was not in safe hands, sedition charges were slapped on it.

Retaliation Begins At Home VHP leader Ashwin Patel was arrested on October 27 on sedition charges for circulating an anti-CM SMS. Other charges included forgery and inciting communal violence. It was a month before he obtained bail. Upbraiding the police, Justice Z.K. Saiyed of the Gujarat High Court said, "Have you read the section describing sedition?" Sunil Oza, now with the Mahagujarat Janata Party, was expelled from the BJP in 2007 after Modi suspected that he had leaked details of irregularities in the Sujalam-Sufalam irrigation project to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Says Oza: "It is plain and simple political terrorism practised by a chief minister with a dictatorial streak."

No Advice Please, I'm Modi Last September, bureaucrats heading state public sector corporations and then chief secretary Manjula Subramaniam tried in vain to dissuade Modi from diverting 30 per cent of profit before tax from PSES for social causes. Subramaniam even pointed out that funds could be sourced from unlisted PSES but listed PSES, where private investors have put in money, should be left alone. An adamant Modi went ahead, sending share prices dipping.

At the behest of the Modi government, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) prematurely redeemed its 20-year bonds. Priced Rs 3,600 each, the bonds had been issued 1993 and were to bring investors Rs 1.11 lakh in 20 years, though investors had the option to redeem them in the seventh, eleventh, or fifteenth year. But SSNNL did not have the right to unilaterally call back the bonds, so the government legislated in 2008 to allow premature redemption. Petitions challenging the validity of such a legislation are pending in high court.