Fall Of An Anti-Hero

This statement sums up the larger voice of dissidence in Gujarat and is likely to be reflected at the Mumbai meet. Not surprisingly, the dissidents have the support of all the senior state-level leaders, including former chief ministers Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta, former Union minister Kashiram Rana, state bjp chief Rajendrasinh Rana and even former state ministers like Jaynarayan Vyas and Gordhan Jadaphia, who were regarded as being close to Modi not too long ago.

Since Vajpayee's statement, the dissidents have sprung to new life with some even going public with press statements. Says Rana, a national executive member and emerging chief ministerial aspirant: "Mumbai will discuss the leadership issue in Gujarat and pay heed to the concerns of Vajpayeeji. It is a legitimate issue."

Mehta was busy calling a press conference to decry VHP leader Pravin Togadia's blaming of Vajpayee and Advani for the NDA's poor electoral performance. Modi loyalists—thinning in numbers by the day—have been clandestinely distributing pamphlets in Saurashtra, Keshubhai Patel's stronghold, against MLAs from the region and branding the dissidents as "anti-Hindu". Modi is aware of the rising discontent. His supporters have spread the word that the Gujarat cabinet will be expanded soon and MLAs will be appointed as heads of government-owned corporations and boards. But many of the MLAs are not impressed.

The dissent in Gujarat is not as much because of the riots as it is for Modi's autocratic style of functioning. Party sources claim that scores of MLAs have voiced their anger against Modi before Rajendrasinh Rana. Rana had himself complained of sabotage by MLAs owing allegiance to Modi in his election as MP from Bhavnagar.

Meanwhile, the Sangh parivar's farmer wing, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, has been making open statements demanding Modi's removal for his "anti-farmer policies and atrocities" over the power tariff hike. Analysts, however, fear that Modi may be delighted if he is removed for the NDA's national debacle, linking it with the Gujarat riots. This will earn him the support of the rss and the VHP. It will also help position himself nationally as the Hindutva icon who has been sacrificed on the altar of mundane electoral realities. Since the VHP had been maintaining that the NDA lost because it diluted Hindutva, it can't allow a public punishment for Modi for the Gujarat riots, which the VHP has been portraying as the revival of Hindutva pride. What is clear is that the next few days will be the most critical in Narendra Modi's political life.