Ram Madhav writes | Opposition has no answer for Narendra Modi’s 25-year record - The Indian Express

October 7 marks the completion of 25 years in office by Narendra Modi, first as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from October 7, 2001, to May 21, 2014, and then as the Prime Minister of India since May 26, 2014. It is a record that no other leader in a liberal democracy has ever held.

Unlike Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who secured mandates through inheritance politics, Modi climbed up the political ladder, waging and winning many battles. Nehru won three successive elections, while Indira Gandhi  won two — 1967 and 1971 — and lost in 1977. Rajiv Gandhi, who came to power after the assassination of his mother in 1984, could not retain it after five years in 1989. A B Vajpayee won two successive elections — 1998 and 1999 — but lost in 2004. Manmohan Singh also won twice in 2004 and 2009 but lost in 2014. Modi won three successive assembly elections in Gujarat and went on to win three successive general elections.

Modi’s phenomenal 25-year journey was not a smooth ride. He was the master strategist behind the victory of the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly elections in 1995. By then, he was already popular for his superb organisational skills displayed in the rath yatras of L K Advani (1990) and Murli Manohar Joshi (1992-3). The image of the hoisting of the Indian Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on January 26, 1993, amidst terrorist threats, by the Modi-Joshi duo, remained etched on the public psyche. He moved to national politics in 1997 only to return in 2001 to restore the sagging popularity and electoral fortunes of the party in Gujarat.

Any other leader would have collapsed under the severity of the challenges that Modi faced after becoming the CM. The massive rehabilitation and reconstruction challenge after the devastating earthquake in early 2001 was daunting. Soon after, there was the Godhra carnage and the riots that followed, which not only led to a huge loss of lives but also brought intense negative propaganda across the world. PM Vajpayee and Advani had to ward off calls, from within and without, for Modi’s resignation.

Modi’s response to this hatred and calumny was good governance and delivery. Soon, his transparent and development-centric governance model brought him laurels as “vikas purush”. Under him, Gujarat scaled new heights in development. The state’s GDP grew from a meagre $10 billion in 2000 to $151 billion in 2014. He won the 2007 and 2012 Assembly elections with an enhanced majority. Recalling the vicious campaign of vilification against Modi nationally and internationally, Advani once commented that “it showed how a leader with integrity, courage and competence could count on people’s support to beat back a personalised campaign of vilification”.

The viciousness continued even after Modi became Prime Minister . His response has been good governance and development, winning the love and trust of the people. He took the country’s GDP from $2 trillion in 2014 to $4.3 trillion today. The Opposition has no clue as to how it can challenge a courageous and self-made leader like Modi. Hence, they resort to shenanigans like attacking the election process of our great democracy in the name of “vote chori”. They forget their own track record. Indira Gandhi was found guilty of electoral malpractices in 1975. Narasimha Rao was accused of “buying” MPs to win a trust vote in 1993. Navin Chawla, declared “unfit to hold any public office” by the Shah Commission  for his conduct during the Emergency, was appointed as EC by the UPA government. He acted like a Congress agent, forcing CEC N Gopalaswami to send a 92-page confidential note to President Pratibha Patil citing 12 specific instances of Chawla’s bias in favour of the Congress party. The UPA government rewarded him by elevating him to the CEC post. The pot is now calling the kettle black.

The Opposition’s target is Modi. But they forget that Modi is a battle-hardened leader. These gimmicks are like the proverbial “lifting your tail in front of Hanuman”.