• While the Election Commission might have sent a ‘stinker’ to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and judges like Khare, Verma and Sachar might have similarly strongly criticised the CM, and even the PM may have warned the “poor” Gujaratis that only God can save them (‘If you against Modi Government...’), nothing can undo the gross damage Modi has done to Gujarat’s election process through his fiery and communally disturbing speeches in Godhra and other places, calling upon fanatic and frenzied crowds to “hang” Afzal Guru. He justified the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, whose case is sub-judice at the Supreme Court level (‘Modi thumbs nose at SC...’).

Thousands and thousands of persons, almost all of them eligible voters in the forthcoming Gujarat polls, who attended the Modi election meetings and shouted back “kill him, kill him”, would obviously remain unaffected in spite of the EC stinker, the judges’ reactions and the PM’s warning. The fact is that the damage is already done. No action by the EC or reactions of dignitaries can restore status quo ante. Things will change only if the BJP publicly disowns and opposes Modi’s communal stances.

— Sameer Kumar

Mumbai

Hardsell Gujarat

• Coomi Kapoor is wrong in her perception, ‘Modi vs BJP that the party would lose in the future if it sticks to Moditva. It is the other way round. The BJP has suffered losses because it had put its three most important national issues — Ram Mandir, Article 370 and the Common Civil Code — in the backburner. Vajpayee tried to put on the Muslim skull cap along with the dhoti and this spelled the party’s doom. The hard reality is that Muslims and Christians will never vote en bloc for the BJP, even if the entire BJP top brass were to start wearing caps or crosses. The BJP should adopt Moditva with full ferocity if it wants to come to power and save the nation.

... contd.