Into My Parlour

Is this another face of Narendra Modi? Though his critics still have misgivings, the Gujarat chief minister's heady mix of culture and commerce has made many Gujaratis stand up and take notice. The state's nine-day long Navaratri festival, beginning September 26, will feature a major global investor meet. It will conclude with an ode to Mahatma Gandhi at his birth place Porbandar on October 2. The mix of celebration, business and patriotism has been branded as 'Vibrant Gujarat'. Many top Modi aides believe they have pulled off a marketing coup.

Navaratri is bigger than Diwali for Gujaratis. But never before has it been packaged as the 'cultural ambassador of Gujarat's catholicity' and positioned as the 'longest dance festival in the world'. It is now being equated with the beer festival of Germany and the Rio de Janeiro carnival. Modi, after his European trip, is certainly thinking global. The National Geographic has been invited. So has the Discovery Channel. The red carpet is out for the BBC and travel writers from all over the world have been roped in. And come they will, if not for anything, to check out how safe Modi-land is.

The canvas is wide. As many as 68 lakh e-mail invites have been sent across the globe. There are huge hoardings advertising the event at London's Heathrow and New York's JFK airports. How many visitors actually make it is another matter. The government hopes that by the end of the festival, the state would have erased its negative image. And Narendra Modi would be the cultural ambassador and the ceo of Gujarat Inc.

The opening at the sprawling Kankaria Football Grounds in Ahmedabad with a 'maha aarti' in the presence of deputy prime minister L.K. Advani will be followed by a 'maha garba'. Laser shows and fireworks will blaze at the stroke of midnight. Dances and songs from the different regions of Gujarat and the country will be showcased. Guided tours to places of tourist attraction in the state have been arranged. Exhibitions of traditional dresses and khadi fabrics have been put up in Ahmedabad and Surat; seminars are planned.

Amid the hype and hoopla, the main event is the three-day Global Investors' Summit. As many as 150 potential industrial projects, proposals for which have been put together by professional consulting agencies like Crisil and Care, will be discussed.

Asked about the extent of investment expected, Modi simply exclaims: "The sky is the limit." Adds chief secretary P.K. Laheri, about the number of investors expected: "You will see that at the summit, but the response has been overwhelming." The meet has been well publicised. The chief minister, the minister of state for industries, the chief secretary and top IAS officials held press conferences for four consecutive days and made high- profile presentations on new policies for minerals, industries and tourism.

Modi is indeed taking the meet very seriously. "Industrial growth cannot be seen in isolation, it has links with the rural economy, urban development, environment and social infrastructure. All have to progress simultaneously and in tandem," he says. For instance, Modi explains, Gujarat has the longest coastline of 1,600-km and many ports, but no academic course in marine engineering. "There are several such mismatches, which we wish to correct to have the right synergy," he says.

Positive sound bytes from Gujarat. Given the level of Gujarati propensity to bounce back, perhaps, even making the right noises can kickstart things.