Gujarat BJP makes most of Time, with some editing

Time magazine's cover story on Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been cloned — 90,000 times over.

BJP mouthpiece Manogat has picked up the story that asked if Modi could lead India, carried in Time's Asia edition, translated it almost word for word into Gujarati for its March 25 issue, and made an exact copy of the magazine cover, with the Manogat title and the BJP logo superimposed.

Some BJP corporators and MLAs are so excited that they have posted congratulatory messages for Modi on billboards in major cities such as Rajkot, Vadodara and Ahmedabad, alongside a blown-up Time cover — though the local BJP unit in Vadodara insists it is not behind the idea. At the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation general board meeting on Tuesday, BJP corporator from Indrapuri Suresh Patel praised Modi "for winning the Time award".

Manogat proudly acknowledges the Time link in its latest issue as well as that it is reproducing all 2,000 words on Modi therein for its 90,000 subscribers. There's some editing though in the four pages that make up the Modi story in the 20-page Manogat, with a few inconvenient details omitted and some references to the BJP dropped.

Among others, every BJP councillor and office-bearer in local bodies gets a copy of Manogat.

If Time's cover said 'Modi means business but can he lead India', the Manogat cover, in a counter-blurb, asserts, "Ji ha Narendra Modi rashtriya kakshay pahunchvama safal raheshej ane Bharatni tasveer ane taaseer jarur badlashe (Yes, Narendra Modi will definitely be successful in reaching the national level and India's image will certainly change)."

Sources said Manogat originally planned to put the Mansa Assembly bypoll results, which the BJP was confident of winning, as its March 25 cover. The BJP's shock loss from there ironically left the field open for Modi.

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