The Sangh Parivar may soon have a brand new ideologue in Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He seems to be finding a way out of the much-talked differences between a pro-globalisation Bharatiya Janata Party and a pro-Swadeshi Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It was his rehashed globalisation, articulated, ironically, with almost Swadeshi and even Gandhian overtones that held the audience at the 15th Indian Cooperative Congress at New Delhi in rapt attention.

He outperformed all the speakers, including Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar who shared the dais with him. Modi celebrated the Indian society, cooperatives, globalisation and the Gandhian idea of withdrawal of the state, all at the same time.

He began by arguing that in Indian culture, societal initiatives were always considered superior to state action. He reminded the audience that Vinoba Bhave, the noted Gandhian, had considered non-state action as the most powerful (Asarkari asar kaari hai). “My motto is maximum governance with minimum government,” he quipped.

Placing it in the ambit of non-state activity, he said that the cooperative movement should be looked upon as system involving a spirit of cooperation and not as a part of state laws relating to cooperatives. “The movement encompasses our social vision,” Modi said.

He then argued that globalisation was not a hindrance, but an opportunity for India. “If we work with a spirit of cooperation and make use of latest technology such as computers, we have everything to gain in the present era of globalisation. No corporate house can challenge Gujarat’s cooperative dairy movement,” he asserted and added that he was working on a scheme to give all rights of water to be provided by the Sardar Sarovar project to farmers’ cooperatives in his state. “We have successfully provided Gujarat farmers water through a participatory irrigation scheme where they use water cooperatively,” he said.

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