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In Gujarat, Advani dwarfed by Modi
Dinesh Kumar writes from Ahmedabad
LK Advani may be the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, but in Gujarat he stands dwarfed by BJP's future PM-hopeful Narendra Modi.
In fact even for Advani, Modi is the icon to emulate in the country rather than the other way round. "If we come to power we will give this country governance akin to what Modi has been giving Gujarat", has been Advani's promise in all his road shows and speeches since he started campaigning last Sunday.
Nowhere was Advani's dwarfed image more pronounced than at the first and only jointly addressed rally held here last night when Modi spoke for 34 minutes compared to just three minutes by BJP's PM-hopeful.
Even those three minutes came across as being "allocated" by Modi just before the Election Commission-imposed the 10 pm deadline. Compared to Modi being heard with rapt attention and greeted with spontaneous cheers and laughs during his speech frequently punctuated with mimicry and jokes directed at both the Congress and the Gandhi family, Advani was heard with comparatively little enthusiasm by a largely attended crowd. Much to his embarrassment perhaps, the only time Advani received a spontaneous cheer from the public was when he mentioned Modi by name.
Advani would have certainly noticed, but it is difficult to say whether he felt slighted. But going by the content of his speeches, Advani seems to be riding piggyback on Modi in his constituency rather than depending on his own stature as a PM-hopeful and a senior leader of the BJP. Party workers and supporters have amply demonstrated that in Gujarat, the BJP is entirely synonymous with Modi.
On Monday night, Modi was in his element cracking jokes against the Congress and the Gandhi family much to the delight of many flag-waving BJP supporters, who seemed to laugh at almost anything that he said.
Modi walked up to the dais at 9.23 pm, waved to a cheering public, then caught hold of the mike and personally shifted it to the middle of the stage before beginning his speech without standing on any formalities.
Just as he started speaking, he paused to ask the "police-wallo" to move to one side so that he could get a glimpse of his supporters standing on that side. That brought cheers from the public. After a further few minutes into his speech, he again paused and asked that the specially placed podium be removed so that it did not restrict the public's vision. That brought him more cheers.
This time there was no Volley Ball net to field any shoe throwing enthusiast, but there was a 30-feet cordon between the dais and the audience. But soon after the rally, hundreds of enthusiastic supporters climbed over the barricades and rushed towards Modi to greet him leaving the several plainclothes policemen nonplussed. Advani was largely ignored.
The only jarring note was that the only rally to be jointly addressed by the two BJP leaders was boycotted by a majority of the media following a scuffle between a cameraman and a member of the public, who took exception to the obstruction by several cameras placed in front of the squatting public.
Modi was eight minutes into his speech when Advani arrived. By then he had just started to speak about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent visit to Gujarat. Modi greeted Advani and gestured to him to take a seat. The crowd got quickly impatient and started asking Modi to continue. The public cheered as he again took to the mike and this time he continued to speak for 25 more minutes before finally handing the mike to Advani. All that Advani, Gujarat's only non-Gujarati speaking candidate, was able to say was that he would make the 21st century into the Indian century. Only his mention of Modi evoked a loud cheer from the public. As far as the public was concerned, Modi could have continued to speak for the remaining three minutes and Advani would not have been missed.
For, the nation-trotting Advani has not addressed a single rally elsewhere in the state other than in his constituency.
Advani's spate of road shows, many of them in Congress-dominated areas, has attracted more curious onlookers and bystanders than enthusiastic supporters. The din and cacophony around Advani has been more the making of party workers than by members of the public who are being remarkably stoic during these elections.
Advani's only "genuine" supporters visible at these road shows seem to be women, mostly housewives. In Modi's Gujarat, Advani is just another BJP candidate and it seems that Modi's name will get votes for the desperately seeking PM-hopeful |
