INDIA’S general election, with 814 million eligible voters, is the world’s biggest exercise in democracy and the governing Congress Party is battling the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for power. It is the BJP’s Narendra Modi who is ahead in all the opinion polls and is tipped to be the next Prime Minister.Narendra Modi has managed to go to the top by essentially projecting the image of Gujarat being a clean state which has undergone rapid development – despite the fact of it having only the twelfth biggest GDP per capita of Indian states. Even in terms of achieving growth – Gujarat has achieved a growth rate since 2004 which is only slightly higher than the national average in terms of GDP per capita. So much for the Gujarat growth model.While national polls show him to be on a clear path to becoming the Prime Minister the facts remain that such polls are notoriously unreliable – as has been proven in the past. Certain facts are undeniable though – to be a politician of caliber one cannot be a divisive figure. Narendra Modi has proven that if anything else, he is not a leader capable of achieving national consensus or harmony.Invective from his mouth has already appeared in many forms – his attacks on Indian opposition leaders need no overview here. Recently he appeared to attack so-called Bangladeshi migrants by saying if he comes to power such illegal migrants would be sent back to Bangladesh with their bags packed. This statement was sharply criticized by Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee who retorted by saying that if anyone speaks Bangla they should not automatically be classified as a Bangladeshi. She further stated that if he claimed that Bangladeshis would have to pack their bags on the soil of West Bengal the people of (West) Bengal would throw him out.Unfortunately while top Indian politicians like Mamata Banerjee have sharply criticized his comments, our government has made no effort to ask him to clarify his comments. While it may be true that some migrants from Bangladesh may exist – it is also true that many Indians also work in Bangladesh and repatriate sums back to India – USD 3.7 billion at the last count. In fact Bangladesh is the fifth largest nation in terms of remittances being sent to India – from 500 000 Indian citizens. Add that to the overwhelming trade gap we already have with India and one can safely say that we are responsible for creating a lot of jobs for Indian citizens – these are high level tertiary sector jobs and not low level jobs like being gardeners, guards, or maid servants. Even if some Bangladeshis work there illegally – most are working in jobs which probably don’t pay much. So our question to Mr Modi is -what exactly is the basis for your complaints? Economically they don’t have any justification. If they are intended for vote gathering – they are precisely the reasons for which Mr Modi has castigated Mamata Banerjee – thus making his statement a mockery. In the footnote of history he will go down as a divisive leader.The people of India want change and we hope Mr. Modi will not pursue politics of hate but to prove his competence he should be more balanced in his politics knowing India is larger than Gujarat.
