Modi writes to Anna Hazare as a fast friend

Invoking the “divine Shakti” and “Maa Jagadamba”,Modi wished Hazare “supreme health and long life so that many like me would benefit from your guidance”. He said he had respected Hazare for “decades”,and top RSS leaders “invariably discussed” Hazare’s “rural development activities so that it could be emulated”.

“Before I entered politics,I was full time RSS pracharak,” Modi wrote. “At those time,national leaders of the RSS who came to attend our meetings invariably discussed your rural development activities so that it could be emulated. It has tremendous impact on me.

In the past,I also had the good fortune of meeting you.”

“On the eighth day of fasting in the Navratri,I am inspired to write to you early at 5 o’clock in the morning,” began Modi.

“When you were sitting on fast in Delhi,same time,I too was fasting on the occasion of Navratri,the period that symbolizes the embodiment of Divine Shakti. Indeed,I was pleased that by the grace of Maa Jagadamba,I happened to be a co-traveller in your crusade albeit indirectly.”

Modi said he had sought blessings for Hazare at the Kamakhya temple in Assam. “When you were fasting,naturally I did pray to Mother Kamakhya about your health and I’m sure that the divine power has been kind enough to bestow her blessings on you,” he wrote.

“Yesterday… I got the encouraging news of your expressing kind words towards Gujarat and me.

“I am fortunate and grateful to get your blessings.

“I and my state of Gujarat are indebted to you for the courage and conviction you showed in saying good words for me and my state. In this show of courage,you exhibited commitment to truth and a soldier-like conviction. And because of this,your opinion has been universally accepted.”

Modi asked Hazare to bless him so that “your praise shall not make me complacent and commit mistakes”.

But he “feared that you will be subjected to vilification. A certain group inimical to Gujarat will not miss this opportunity to malign your love,sacrifice,penance and commitment to truth. They will try to tarnish your name because you spoke well of me and my state.

“…On the occasion of Navratri,I pray to Maa Jagadamba that no one sullies your fair name.”

Modi wrote that anyone who has spoken well of Gujarat in the past has been targeted — he named former Kannur MP A P Abdullakutty,who was expelled by the CPM for praising Modi; Amitabh Bachchan,who was “attacked” after he promoted Gujarat Tourism; Gandhian Gunvant Shah,who spoke of the “atma-gaurav” of Gujarat; Maulana Ghulam Vastanvi who was “silenced” because “he praised the development of Gujarat”; and Maj. Gen. I S Singha,General Officer Commanding of the Golden Katar Division,against whom “there was a demand for disciplinary action” after “he praised the development of Gujarat”.

“Respected Annaji,Gujarat’s six crore people do not want that the same group should sadden you. I am still afraid that,this group will put you in trouble. May God give you strength,” Modi wrote.

During the day,Gujarat-based activists and Gandhians dashed off critical open letters to Hazare arguing that there had been no rural development under Modi.

Danseuse and activist Mallika Sarabhai,who led parallel protests in Ahmedabad during Hazare’s fast,expressed “deep shock” and threatened to dissociate herself from the “movement” if Hazare did not withdraw his praise.

“Your endorsement (of Modi) is appalling and we will be forced to distance ourselves from the Lokpal movement unless it is irrevocably retracted.

“Mr Hazare seems to have been taken by the Vibrant Gujarat PR that the Modi government has been propagating. But the Gujarati people and activists working here know there is a different story,” Sarabhai wrote.

J S Bandukwala,retired professor at MS University and Gujarat state president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),recalled the 2002 riots and expressed shock that Hazare had described Modi as “worthy of emulation”.

“…I am horrified,especially after my own description of Hazare as a second Mahatma on national TV. Corruption is a serious issue… but to minorities the fear of a repeat of 2002 is far more deep. I hope and pray Hazare is better advised by the likes of Swami Agnivesh,before he asks people to follow Narendra Modi,” Bandukwala said.

By late afternoon,seven well-known activists with the Gujarat Lok Samiti issued an invitation to Hazare to visit Gujarat,because,they said,his statement about Gujarat’s rural development “requires a thorough correction”.

“…The development crazy Narendra Modi has done great harm to the rural areas…,” the Samiti,led by 94-year-old Gandhian Chuni Vaidya,popularly known as Chunikaka,said.

Activists Rohit Prajapati,Trupti Shah,Prof Ghanshyam Shah,Fr Cedric Prakash and Nandini Manjrekar too were critical of Hazare’s endorsement. Anticipating that Hazare may not have an email address,some activists asked the other civil society members on the joint committee — Shanti Bhushan,Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal — to pass on their message to him.