So why has Modi blotted his own copybook at a time when, thanks to his efficient, no-nonsense administration, his generally forward-looking policies and the backing of big business, he had succeeded to some degree in making people forget the stain of 2002? Justifying Sohrabuddin’s death in an encounter and playing to the gallery by twisting Digvijay Singh’s remark to claim that the Congress branded all Hindus as terrorists is vintage Modi demagoguery. Even the Election Commission has taken note of his inflammatory remarks and sent him a notice. Modi’s controversial speeches were meant to assuage the disgruntled members of the Sangh Parivar who have turned against him. A recent pamphlet to leading journalists in Gujarat had pilloried Modi for his anti-Hindu policies, citing detentions and arrests of thousands of Hindus, including VHP workers, for their role in the 2002 riots. He has also been criticised for not supporting the police officers jailed for Sohrabuddin’s killing.

The Congress, which even in 2002 decided to adopt a soft Hindutva line in a communally very divided state, calculated that flogging the chief minister’s sorry communal record was not going to pay electoral dividends this time either. The fact that many accused of complicity in the riots are today with the Congress has, in any case, blurred black and white distinctions between the killers and protectors. The party preferred to focus on exposing Modi’s claims on the development front.

Campaigning on the platform of development is a tricky business, as was demonstrated in 2004 when Vajpayee’s much touted ‘Shining India’ campaign came a cropper. Modi may have made major improvements on the electricity and water supply front, but it is always difficult to satisfy the rising aspirations of voters. Modi is a shrewd strategist, having handled several poll campaigns for his party when he was BJP’s general secretary, including masterminding his rival Keshubhai Patel’s victory. He knows that the traditional anti-incumbency mood will work against him and to counter this has denied tickets to a sizeable number of sitting MLAs. He personally oversees even minor details of the campaign and even writes his own speeches.

... contd.