With the 2014 Lok Sabha at the doorstep, people of Indiaare determined to vote to punish and change the Congress-UPA’s regime of scams, loot, and repression. Takingadvantage of this genuine anger, there is a carefullyorchestrated campaign, seeking to project Narendra Modias the next Prime Minister and the solution to all the woes.Is Modi really the answer to the crisis? Or in fact, doesevery vote for Modi take the country and the people astep deeper into the abyss of the same crisis of corruption,plunder, and repression?

In 2004, there were 2 big reasons for the BJP-led NDA’sdefeat: people’s anger at (a) the Modi Govt’s 2002 Gujaratgenocide and (b) NDA Govt’s Feku ‘India Shining’ Campaign,which was a cruel joke on farmers’ suicides, risingunemployment and steep prices caused by the ongoingneo-liberal policies.

A decade later, how come Modi, the man responsible in abig way for BJP-NDA’s defeat in 2004, is being projected asthe hero and saviour? Can the BJP-NDA and Modi’s ‘GujaratModel’, which India recognised and rejected as ‘Feku’(empty boasts) in 2004, claim to offer a crediblealternative to the Congress-UPA regime, which has presidedover scams, steep prices, farmers’ suicides, joblessnessand repression? Surely what the country needs is not areplacement of the corrupt, pro-corporate UPA regime withanother corrupt, pro-corporate, communal fascism? Surely,any real alternative has to be an alternative in terms ofpolitics and policies and NOT just faces?

Let us take a closer look at Modi’s campaign and the factson the ground, to see if indeed Modi can offer anyalternative or solution to the Congress-UPA’s policies.

In the NaMo campaign, the chief minister who presidedover a horrific genocide in 2002 is being painted as themessiah of ‘good governance’ and ‘economic growth.’ Sothe Modi image makeover project has a two-fold slogan:Forget 2002, Forget the rapes, murders and fakeencounters, Forget the state machinery’s role in 2002, andParade Modi model of ‘growth’, ‘development’ and ‘goodgovernance.’ The message is, if we want ‘governance’, weshould concede that communal violence or fake encountersor corporate land grab are irrelevant questions.

Given the crafted image makeover and PR exercise -powered by the infamous international PR agency APCOWorldwide and the likes - and sustained corporate mediablitzkrieg to promote ‘Brand Modi’, it becomes importantto take a look at the real FACTS beyond the orchestratedHYPE.

As we sift the facts from the hype, we can see that Gujarat’sperformance on all criteria has not been in any way betterthan that of other states, and moreover, Gujarat’sneoliberal development model has displayed all the

BJP’s Track Record on Corruption BeyondGujarat: In Karnataka too BJP’s track record of runninggovernment is marked with crude robbery of the naturalresources like iron ore. The story of Bellary Brothers (G.Karunakara Reddy, G. Janardhnana Reddy, and G.Somashekhara Reddy) is all too well known.A report by theKarnataka Lokayukta estimated that while the cost of mining(using subsidised transport and other facilities andbeneficiary royalty structure) was merely Rs 427 per tonne,the sale price for exported ore was Rs 5000 to 7000 pertonne. This amounted to a staggering profit of 80 - 90% forthe Reddy brothers. The state government got royalty of amere Rs 27 per tonne, and since large percent of iron ore

was illegally mined andexported the stategovernment did noteven get a token royalty.Two of the Reddybrothers have been inthe Cabinet of BJP’sstate government in

Karnataka and the third one has been the chairperson ofpowerful Karnataka Milk federation. All this has been doneunder the Chief Ministership of Yeddyurrapa in Karnataka. Apowerful dissent in the country against corruption and loothad forced Yeddyurappa to quit as CM after the Lokayuktaindicted him and his two sons for taking bribe to favour themining company. Before the Lokasabha elections, not onlyYedurappa but all the three Reddy brothers are being warmlytaken back in BJP and Yeddyurappa is being offered Loksabhaticket from BJP in Karnataka.

So, the ‘Modi model’ is no different from the Manmohan modeleither in its economic essentials or in corruption index. Why,then, is Modi a more preferred hero for thecorporates at this juncture? There is growing publicanger at the steady exposure of the corporate-politics nexus

Shweta Raj, President, AISA, JNU Ashutosh Kumar, Gen. Secy, AISA, JNU 14

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that led to a haemorrhaging of the country’s resources andassets. The face of Manmohan is a spent and discredited forcewhich can no longer avert the surge of mass anger and protests.So corporates need a fresh and tougher face, which can divertpublic anger away from the real impact of the pro-corporatepolicies. And here lies Modi’s Unique Selling Point (USP).Equipped with the communal ideology and organisationalnetwork of RSS and proven track-record of 2002 pogrom, Modiguarantees a cocktail of hatred and violence against minoritiesas a key diversion tactic, to sustain a pro-corporate, repressivegovernance model. Post 2002, taking cue from the US-sponsoredIslamophobia and so-called ‘war on terror’, a series of fakeencounters were scripted to build up Modi’s image as a ‘Hindunationalist’ hero being targeted by so-called ‘Muslim terrorists’.Each fake encounter reinforced the idea of Muslims as thesupreme threat to the social/national order, who were rituallyvanquished by Modi’s police force, over and over again.

In simple words: NaMo projects Muslims or Christians as theenemy, so that people’s anger can be deflected from corporateloot and plunder or pro-corporate policies, to some minoritycommunity. Similarly Modi’s best political pals include ShivSena and MNS in Maharashtra, who unleash violence againstpoor migrant workers and students, while remaining silent oncorporate plunder and farmers’ suicides in the same state!That is why communally divisive politics is extremely usefulfor the corporates too. Communal violence and hate-speech,then, is not an embarrassing aberration or a thing of the past,it is at the heart of the Modi model of governance.

True, we do not want Congress to misuse the genuine concernsover secularism to hide all its sins. But at the same time, wecannot allow the BJP to misuse the genuine concerns overcorruption, to hide its own sins! Nor can we allow the BJP andits allies to use hatred and violence (against minorities, migrants)to hide the genuine issues of pro-corporate policies that aredevastating the people.

Let us recognise and defeatModi’s heady communal-corporate fascist cocktail!Let us defeat Congress-UPA’sregime of pro-corporate plunderand repression!Let us vote for alternat ivepolicies, not faces and fakers ofany hue!

India 2014 : Defeat CorruptCommunal Corporate FascistGameplan - I

Who has Modi Hired for His IMAGE-MAKEOVER?On 19 November, 2007, Times of India carried the following piece:

Modi’s image builders have dictators on client list.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/specials/Modis-image-builders-have-dictators-on-client-list/articleshow/2600140.cms)

Adolf Hitler was a brilliant propagandist. Narendra Modi toobelieves in the power of image. This is probably why the chiefminister hired a US lobbying firm which has serviced clients likeformer Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and President-for-life ofKazakhstan Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev.

This Washington-based firm,APCO Worldwide, was hired byModi sometime in August thisyear, in the run-up to animportant Assembly election, toimprove his image before theworld community. Among itsrecent clients are MikhailKhodorkovsky, a formerCommunist youth leader-turned-Russian billionaire withmafia links.

The firm has a distinction of taking contracts of boosting images ofleaders who fell out of favour of their followers.

On the face of it Apco Worldwide’s brief is to build and sell BrandGujarat to the international community. But according to sourcesModi, who was denied visa by the US earlier because of the tainthe earned in the 2002 riots, wants his image to be improved sothat he gets to visit the US in future....

The Gujarat government will pay APCO 25,000 USD per month forthe Modi image building exercise.

Sources in the government said Modi thought of this image-building exercise during his visit to Switzerland earlier this year.His government shortlisted some seven national and internationalfirms, without floating tenders of which two were shortlisted.Even though it quoted a sum that was three times more than others,Apco was picked for the job. The reason given was that Apco hasa better team. Apco has former senators from Republican andDemocratic parties working with it.”

What has been the main purpose of this sustained PR exercise?

EPW editorial of 20 April, 2013 notes the following: “It is apparentthat this was to project Narendra Modi as the undisputed leaderof the opposition to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliancegovernment for the 2014 general elections. In this the campaignhas been successful. It has managed to overcome the immediateobstacles – within the RSS’ family and the existing and potentialallies – to pose a stark choice to India’s political class: thoseagainst the Congress have to be prepared to deal with Modi orrisk political irrelevance in the post-2014 Lok Sabha...

What has been the main message of Modi’s PR campaign? Behindall the carefully outlined speeches and choreographedperformances, Modi is telling India’s dominant classes –industrialists, urban professionals and the rural rich – that hecan successfully overcome the obstacles to higher economicgrowth, itself a code word for faster circulation of capital andhigher returns on investments, by “managing” democracy as hehas done in Gujarat through a combination of communal terrorand sops to some sections. Modi’s promise is that he will do thismuch better than what the Congress has managed to do in thepast decade.”

distressing effects on people’s lives and the economy that havebeen felt in the rest of the country.

On ‘Growth’ indicators: During the five years (2006-11), Gujaratwas outstripped by Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Bihar

and Odisha (Economic Times, 26 Dec2012). In terms of per capita income, in2011 Gujarat (with Rs 63,996) ranked 6th

after Haryana (Rs 92,327), Maharashtra(Rs 83,471), Punjab (Rs 67,473), TamilNadu (Rs 72,993) and Uttaranchal (Rs68,292). But Gujarat has higher per capitadebt than UP or Bihar.

On Investment indicators: Despite themuch-touted Vibrant Gujaratprogrammes, it is interesting to note thatforeign direct investment is not the

highest in Gujarat. Maharashtra leads this list while Gujarat isfifth. Vibrant Gujarat summits have not yielded as much as theState government would like others to believe. According to thegovernment’s own “Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State, 2011-12”, the promised investments in 2011 were over Rs.20 lakh crore,but only about Rs.29,813 crore was actually invested. In thesame year, out of more than 8,300 memorandums ofunderstanding (MoUs) signed, only about 250 became a reality!( Frontline, 8 March, 2013)

Quality of Industrialisation: The industries that haveflourished the most in Gujarat are all highly hazardous: poisonouschemicals! Gujarat has India’s highest number of pollution hotspots with groundwater contaminated in 74 out of its 184 tehsils.During 2012-13, over 60,000 small and medium enterprises haveshut down in Gujarat.

Per capita income in the state is half of its urban income,indicating huge urban-rural inequality.Therefore, it is clear that Gujarat is NO ‘special’ performer underModi, when it comes to ‘economic growth’. A highly urbanizedGujarat has always been home to India’s largest business andtrading community, which has always been ‘enterprising’ in itseconomic ventures, even before Modi became chief minister!

And What are Gujarat’s Social Development Indicators?In social sector spending as a proportion of public expenditure,Gujarat ranks a lowly 19th among India’s 21 major states.

In 2011, Gujarat ranked 11th in the Human Development Index.In crucial indicators like education and health, Gujarat haswitnessed a DECLINE in ranking to 9th and 10th positionsrespectively in a group of 19 major states. Education, health andnutrition indicators are dismal, especially for women andchildren. Dropout rates in schools are high at 58% compared to

the national average of 49%. For dalits the dropout rateincreases to 65% and for tribals, to 78%. In higher educationGujarat’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 17.6 is lower thanthe national average of 20.4 and much below equallyadvanced states like Tamil Nadu (38.2) and Maharashtra(27.4). In health, Gujarat ranks 10th in the rate of decline ininfant mortality. Moreover infant mortality is significantlyhigher among girls than boys. In Life Expectancy Gujarat comes8th (with the average longevity of 62.15 years), below evenBihar’s 62.85 years. 45% of urban children and 60% of ruralchildren are not immunized.In rural areas, 60% of childdeliveries do not happen in institutional conditions. Inhealthcare delivery system, shortage of doctors at primaryhealth centres (PHCs) is 34% and shortage of specialists likepediatricians and gynecologists at community health centres(CHCs) is 94%! Infrastructure itself has not yet been built -21% of sub-centres, 19% of PHCs and 11% of CHCs do notexist. In tribal areas, 70% of X-Ray technicians and 63% ofpharmacists are not posted, while there is a 100% shortageof specialist doctors. In the Global Hunger index, Gujarat ispart of the bottom 5 states in India, and globally, performsworse even than countries like Haiti. Malnutrition is severeamong children (47%) and women; higher than the all-Indiaaverage. 80% of children below 4 years and 60% of pregnantwomen are anaemic in Gujarat (a virtual anaemia epidemicthat Modi laughs off as a case of ‘beauty conscious girls’starving themselves!).

Jobless growth has been the norm in Gujarat - NSSO datashows growth in employment for the period 1993-94 to 2004-05 was 2.69 percentage per annum, whereas for 2004-05 to2009-10 it came down to zero. Atul Sood, in a recent collectionof essays, Poverty Amidst Prosperity: Essays on the Trajectoryof Development in Gujarat, notes that Gujarat “witnessed notmerely jobless growth but also the lowest share of wageincome in total income, one of the highest use of contractworkers in organized manufacturing and rising trends ofcasualisation of workforce. ” This apart, 5 million livelihoodshave been lost in Gujarat owing to development projects:accounting for 10% of the population. Labour rights arevirtually nonexistent.

In the case of the much vaunted Sardar Sarovor Dam Project,a large part of the canal network is pending, water has notreached the farmers of “parched parts of Kutch andSaurashtra”, on the contrary, water of around 3.7 Billion CubicMeters is diverted to industry and select urban localities!(http://nca.gov.in/news_index.htm) Is it fair for a Project, builtand pushed ahead in the name of needy farmers and villagesof Kutch and Saurashtra to divert waters, on a large scale, tocorporates, urban municipalities and cities in Gujarat? Notjust this, Modi Government has decided to exclude 4 lakhhecatres of land from the Command Irrigated Area of SSP andreserve the same for corporates, SEZs, SIRs etc.

Allowing Corporate Greed to Cause Irreversible Damage toEnvironment: All environmental regulatory norms areroutinely violated for few corporate with disastrous impacton environment and necessary resources like water. Thechemical-industrial hub that has developed in the last 10years as a result of a flowing Narmada canal in the vicinitystarted discharging its untreated waste into the Mahi river.None of these new industrial plants, anywhere in Gujarat,meets the Gujarat Pollution Control Board’s [GPCB] norms.Yet they have a free hand. As a result, most of the rivers in the

State are heavily polluted. Three cities of Gujarat, Vapi,Ankaleshwar and Vatva, figure in the Central Pollution ControlBoard’s list of the top 10 most polluted cities in India, with Vapiranking first. The private ports and SEZs in the coastal regionsare examples of open violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone’snorms. Unofficial estimates say that about 600 villages willabandon agriculture in the next five years. The obsession withpromoting industries, even at the cost of local economies andecological sustainability, barely makes for a development modeland only points to the structural nexus between the Modigovernment, corporate giants, and real estate honchos.

The story in the agrarian scene is that of reversal of land reformsprinciples. The defenders of Modinomics take pride in the high-speed corporatisation of Gujarat’s agriculture. The directoutcome of this agricultural model is the further marginalisationof the most poor section among the agricultural community.The legislative changes like allowing non-local, non-farminggroups to enter the rural land market are solely aimed atpreparing field for the big corporate houses to rob the marginalfarmers of their right to land. The direct outcome is the fact thatthe average size of marginal land holding is becoming smallercompared to the national average and the largest sizecategory(above 20 hectare) has gained in terms of average size.Over time, the access to land to the Scheduled Caste and Tribeshave worsened in the state. Leasing out and selling of land bythe marginal farmers in the face of an aggressive corporatedriven policy where the marginal farmers find it impossible tohold on to their source of livelihood and continue in farming isthe reality of agricultural situation in Gujarat.

Promoting Privatised Infrastructure: The dominantcharacteristic of Gujarat model of infrastructural developmentis encouraging private investment in port, rail, road and power.While this has allowed private conglomerates to strengthentheir own profitability in other sectors, it has predictably createda situation where this pattern of infrastructural developmenthas neglected providing access to human habitation. Even today3380 human habitations are not connected with road in Gujarat.

What about corruption and corporate land grab?CAG audit reveals that Modi’s Government has done in Gujaratwhat Manmohan Singh’s did at the Centre: extend unduebenefits to corporates at huge costs to the public exchequerand loss of livelihoods. The 2010-11 CAG report tabled inGujarat assembly on 30 March 2012, has estimated bunglingof more than Rs 16,000 crore in 2010-11. It had also pointedout irregularities of Rs 26,672 crore in the Modi governmentin the last nine years. (DNA 31 March 2012) To take just oneexample, the CAG has observed that the Gujarat StatePetroleum Corporation, supposed to be Modi’s special prideand joy, has suffered huge financial losses due to cost overrunat KG basin block where production has not commenced evenafter spending over Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion). Besidesirregularities and cost overrun at KG basin project, the auditorhas also noted that GSPC has suffered financial losses in gastrading activities on account of undue favours extended toModi’s most favoured industrial house, the Adani group. TheCAG report notes, “During 2006-09, GSPC sold gas to Adanigroup at a price which was much lower than its purchaseprice. This incurred loss of Rs 70.5 crore (Rs 705 million).”

In land allotment too, CAG noted a Rs. 580-cr. loss to stateexchequer as Modi govt. favoured corporates like RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL), Essar Steel and Adani Power Ltd, Ford,L&Tetc. (The Hindu, 4 April 2013).

Why did Ratan Tata say, “YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU ARE NOTIN GUJARAT?” The Gujarat government allotted 1100 acresof land to Tata Motors Ltd to set up the Nano plant nearSanand at Rs 900 per square metre while its market ratewas around Rs 10,000 per square metre. Further, Modigave Ratan Tata a soft loan of Rs 9,570 crore at a negligibleinterest of 0.1 per cent to shift the Nano project to Gujarat.Repayment of this ‘loan’ was deferred for 20 years. In all,the Modi Government has offered over Rs 30,000 crore insops to Tata Motors. In other words, for an investment ofRs.220 billion by the Tatas, the Gujarat government givessops worth Rs.300 billion.

Land was allotted to Adani Group for the Mundra Port &Mundra Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Re1 per square

metre. Infact, onMarch 1, 2012,Gujarat revenueminister conceded inthe Assembly that“The Adani Group hasbeen allotted14,305.49 acre(equivalent to 5.78crore square metres)land in Kutch fordifferent companies.The land has beenallotted at a priceranging from Re1 toRs 32 per sq mt,”

(DNA 1 March 2012). Similarly land has been handed overto real estate developers like Raheja at dirt cheap rates,whereas the public sector Indian Airforce was asked topay a MUCH higher price for land!

Armed with the 2009 Gujarat Special Investment Region(SIR) Act, Modi govt. has began invading every nook andcorner of Gujarat for grabbing farmland, pastures, forestland. Villagers surrounding Jamnagar are protestingagainst the allotment of 610 acres of gauchar land toReliance Group for a SIR. Similar protests are breaking outin many parts of central and south Gujarat like Dholera,Vagra, Karjan, Navsari etc against Modi’s aggressive landgrab drive.

Predictably, Modi tried his best to block the appointmentof a Lokayukta in Gujarat for a very long time. Particularlywhen he was facing allegations of massive corruption andirregularities in at least 17 scams!

Who is Controlling Gujarat’s NaturalResources - Any Need to Guess? Saurabh Patel,an MBA from USA and richest man in the Gujarat ministry,is the (next/first) most important man in the cabinet.

But moreimportantly,he is abrother-in-law of VimalAmbani,

cousin of Mukesh Ambani, and predictably holds theportfolios of... guess what..?Energy & Petrochemicals, Mines & Minerals, CottageIndustry, Salt Industry, Printing, Stationery, Planning,Tourism, Civil Aviation and Labour & Employment !!!2

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