'Gujarat is like the Germany of the 1920s'

'Gujarat is like the Germany of the 1920s'
Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad


The Congress party on Saturday said that it does not believe in exit polls.

The party's central media cell member and adviser to Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Desai, told rediff.com: "In Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh exit polls have gone wrong."

Rajiv Desai has been helping the Congress since 1989 in its media campaigns. To organise the media campaign for the Gujarat election, he stayed in Ahmedabad for a month.

"As per the BJP's expectations, the Hindus have not voted overwhelmingly, while 80% of the Muslim voters went to the polling booths," he said.

On the Congress's strategy for the election, Desai said, "When we sat down to fight Gujarat election, we decided to approach it in a cool and dispassionate fashion. Our message was only one: 'Congress is going to win'."

"We know that an anti-incumbency mood is prevalent in Gujarat. We believe that the Hindutva message has been restricted to less than 20 per cent of population, who form their [BJP's] hardcore base. We targeted the floating voters Gujarat and gently pushed them in Congress's direction," he said.

"For us Godhra was the part of anti-incumbency. It was a failure of governance. As far as we are concerned the Godhra incident and the aftermath is an example of the government's incompetence. We are a new Congress with a focus on development… Congress gave you the green revolution, TV and the computer revolution. Congress won three wars against Pakistan and Congress gave security to the country," he said.

Asked why the Congress avoided debating the Godhra issue, he retorted, "But why should we? Godhra was their election card. Why should we play their card? We are playing our own card."

When asked about Modi's popularity, Desai, an expert in mass communication, said, "His popularity is limited. In the past 7 years or so, Gujarat's economy has been completely destroyed. So there are no new jobs. I think the educated and uneducated unemployed youth are Modi's band of supporters."

"Modi is trying to do this Gujarat Gaurav Yatra business, but nobody is falling for that nonsense. After all, who is he? He was living in Delhi till recently," he said.

On BJP's media strategy he said, "I consider their campaign the fulmination of sick people. Gujarat may have reached the level of Germany in 1920s today. Like Germany there are lots of Gujaratis outside. You can't take Modi away from his message of hate and violence. Modi is a megalomaniac. He will destroy Gujarat for his own ego. It's very clear that within the BJP Vajpayee and Advani are considered incompetent."

This entire exercise in Gujarat is to make India a Hindu state, he said. "They want to repeat what Pakistan did more than 50 years ago."

Asked about Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's input in Gujarat, Desai said, "She is a very hands-on person. But she is not interventionist. She is not planning on day-to-day basis she leaves it to people she trusts."

Asked about the results, Desai said, "Gujaratis keeps their card very close to its chest. People are not confused. If the Congress does not win I'll be very surprised. If Modi wins, I am not worried. The worry is for the Sangh parivar."

http://www.rediff.com/election/2002/dec/14guj5.htm