A file photo of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Modi

Why do you think Narendra Modi is the best prime ministerial candidate for the BJP?

Narendra Modi’s emergence on the national scene has been a phenomenon. It is not only the urban middle class, and the youth and the students who strongly support him, the rural masses across India also want him because there is no alternative before them.

Rahul Gandhi failed to voice the people’s aspirations and failed to even emerge as a leader. Going by the way United Progressive Alliance-2 has functioned — with endless inflation, price rise and corruption — people of the country want change. Mr Modi has become the symbol of change with his strong, decisive, development-oriented leadership.
There is a countrywide craze for Mr Modi. Such a craze was not seen even for Atal Behari Vajpayee. We (BJP) have to convert this into votes.
Mr Modi’s unprecedented popularity is greater than that enjoyed by any other Indian leader. The 2014 Lok Sabha election will be somewhat like a presidential election, as in the US.

The BJP’s Bihar unit was the first to pass a resolution calling for Mr Modi’s projection, and then you yourself passionately tweeted to galvanise the BJP. What is the special bond between Mr Modi and Bihar?

Since the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar broke only because the BJP named Mr Modi chief of its national election campaign committee, there is raging public anger in the state with the Janata Dal (United)’s decision. The people of the state wanted both: that the JD(U)-BJP government to continue, and that Mr Modi should become the Prime Minister. People are angry because the JD(U) used Mr Modi’s elevation as the reason for making the Bihar government unstable.
The BJP’s Bihar state resolution reflected the people’s anger at the JD(U)’s betrayal, and the state-wide mood in support of Mr Modi. My tweets were aimed at building positive pressure in the party to remove the ifs and buts that were coming in the way of the inevitable.

Do you think the NDA will see expansion under Mr Modi?

Mr Modi has never raised any controversial issues in his speeches. The Congress and other so-called secular parties are deliberately creating an anti-Modi bogey. They want the 2014 polls to be fought on the issue of secularism and communalism rather than on crucial issues such as economic policy and corruption. But with more and more Muslims coming out in support of Mr Modi, he has no acceptability problem.
The expansion of the alliance will depend on how strong the BJP emerges in the polls. If the BJP touches or crosses the 200 mark, the so-called secular parties will join the NDA because they are fighting the Congress in their respective states.

Many see Mr Modi’s rise to the top as spurring greater communal polarisation across India.

Polarisation of society has nothing to do with Mr Modi’s rise. Neither Mr Modi nor the BJP had anything to do with the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and earlier in Bihar.
Frightened by Mr Modi’s rise, and unable to control the law and order situation, the JD(U) and the Samajwadi Party blamed the BJP. This also suits the Congress as it seeks to escape from crucial issues and create a fear psychosis among Muslims for their bulk votes. But the Muslims today, especially the new generation, see through these old political tricks and want development for all under a strong government.

What do you have to say about the charge that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is keen to implement its Hindutva agenda through Mr Modi?

The RSS has always been there with the BJP. The party’s tallest leaders, including Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, came from the RSS. Mr Modi has never mentioned any Hindutva issue. His Gujarat government and other BJP state governments have done great work for Muslims. It is the pseudo-secular and ultra-left groups that speak of RSS being behind Mr Modi’s elevation.

How is Mr Modi a better prime ministerial candidate than BJP chief ministers like Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh)?

Each leader is unique. The question of popularity is not settled by how many times one has become the chief minister. If so, then the Congress should project Sheila Dikshit as its prime ministerial candidate instead of Rahul Gandhi, who has no experience but under whom the present Prime Minister is ready to serve. Today, no other regional leader within the BJP has a pan-Indian appeal that can match Mr Modi’s.

Where do you stand in the political quarrel between the Bihar model and the Gujarat model of governance?

There is no conflict between the two models. Suitable features can be, and have been, borrowed by one model from another. Mr Modi has never said his Gujarat model is the best and that it can be replicated across the country.

What about Gujarat’s democratic traditions under Mr Modi as the state Assembly is in session for barely a couple of weeks in the year, and there was so much bitterness over the Lokayukta’s appointment?

Of late, fewer days for Assembly sessions has been the trend in most states because, unlike the Centre, states have fewer bills to pass. The Lokayukta issue arose from legal points and relations between a corruption-free government and the governor.

What do you think of jailed Gujarat police officer D.G. Vanzara’s resignation from the Indian Police Service, and his accusing Mr Modi of betraying trusted officers implementing the BJP government’s “policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism”?

At a time when anti-Modi sentiments arising from unproven allegations against him are fast diminishing, this is another plant by the Congress to defame Mr Modi. Mr Vanzara came out with baseless allegations only when Mr Modi is on his way to the top. This is a Congress ploy to implicate Mr Modi before the Lok Sabha polls. The special investigation team’s probe and judicial trials have found nothing against Mr Modi.