Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s three-day fast failed to send positive message to the people, including the majority and minority, on ‘sadbhavana’ and created confusion among the BJP workers over the primeministerial candidacy of Mr Modi and senior leader L.K. Advani.
If his fast has divided the BJP-led NDA between the Janata Dal(U) and rest on Modi’s prime-ministerial projection, it has also shown that he would be stumbling block in creating an alternative to the Congress-led UPA at the national level.
The Shiromani Akali Dal can back him but the Shiv Sena may not remain in the NDA if the BJP tries to keep both, Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, together in the front.
On the other hand, the prospective allies such as the TDP, the TRS, the BJD, the INLD would find it difficult to work with Modi who has been known for his authoritarian style in the BJP and outside.
While Modi’s refusal to don a skull cap has hurt the sentiments of minorities, his efforts to become
a 'secular' for power position at the Centre, surprised Hindutva hardlines. AICC has deliberately played down the fast which was described by Modi’s critics as a 'stunt', “image building exercise”.
According to the Congress insiders, he sat on the fast to gain sympathy ahead of the state Assembly polls. “He (Modi) should announce who would be the Gujarat chief minister if he wants to be projected as a primeministerial candidate?” they asked.
In Lucknow, a prominent Shia cleric, Kalbe Jawwad, termed all those, including Muslims, who attended the fast by Modi, as 'gunahgaar' (culprit) of riots.
“All those attending the fast with Modi are equally culprit of Gujarat riots. We will observe a fast on the coming Friday to save the country from such people,” Kalbe Jawwad said. Jawwad also compared Mr Modi with Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab.
“Will the people of the country forgive Kasab and Afzal Guru if they observe the fast,” Jawwad said adding Mr Modi could not be forgiven. He said his 'deeds have also put a blot on Hindutva'.
Nitish Kumar plays down fast politics
JD(U) stalwart and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday diplomatically downplayed the three-day fast by Gujarat chief minister Narendra odi of the BJP and its larger presumed import within the NDA, disassociating the JD(U) from the event and keeping his cards close to his chest.
Kumar, projected by the JD(U) as a better choice for the NDA’s prime-ministerial candidate than Mr Modi, described the latter’s much-hyped 'Sadbhavana Mission' fast in Ahmedabad, attended by several Bihar BJP ministers and leaders, as the national party’s internal matter in the context of Gujarat. Answering journalists’ questions at his weekly “junta durbar”, Kumar gave the impression that Modi’s fast and the congregation there of the entire BJP leadership had nothing to do with the BJP trying to project a prime ministerial candidate.
“Every individual, leader or chief minister has the freedom to organise a personal or public programme of his choice in a state,” said Mr Kumar, attaching no more importance to Modi’s fast than it being an event of and for Gujarat state. On being asked about the statements of Bihar’s JD(U) leaders on Modi and the BJP-JD(U) coalition government in Bihar, Mr Kumar said curtly: “But there is no alliance with BJP in the state you mentioned”.
In fact, Kumar, who had snubbed Modi during the BJP’s national executive meeting in Patna in June 2010, took care not to utter both 'Modi' and 'Gujarat' even once as he answered questions about signs of growing differences between the two NDA allies over choosing a prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls. Two days earlier, when he was asked about Modi starting his fast, Kumar had dramatically raised his hands and joined them at his forehead without saying a word.