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Vajpayee puts Modi on notice

By Harish Khare

The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in New Delhi on Wednesday. — Photo: Sudershan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 27. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, is believed to have done a bit of plain-speaking with the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, on the State Government's inability to bring the month-long violence under control. Mr. Modi was making a "presentation'' to Mr. Vajpayee and the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, on the kind of efforts his Government had made to put in place the relief and rehabilitation measures.

Mr. Modi is said to have done a hard-sales pitch on his own behalf, reeling off figures to suggest that Gujarat was limping back to normality and that incidents of violence were few and far between. This was the first time that Mr. Modi had found the time to travel to New Delhi to brief senior leaders.

Mr. Modi himself gave the impression that both Mr. Vajpayee and Mr.Advani were happy with him and satisfied with his performance and that Mr. Vajpayee had given him "guidance'' on how to go about bringing Gujarat back to normality.

The officials, however, in the PMO have a different impression of the interaction.

After meeting Mr. Vajpayee, Mr. Modi told mediapersons that there was "no talk of change of leadership'' in Gujarat. On the contrary, the Prime Minister had acceded to the request that the Centre share half of the State's financial burden of compensating victims of the recent violence, he added.

The plain-speaking is believed to have been administered after the officials withdrew. Mr. Modi had to do a bit of explaining on the large-scale transfer of police officers he had ordered as well as why the riot-victims were still reluctant to move out of relief camps.

Though it seems that Mr. Modi has got a reprieve of sorts, he has, nonetheless, been served notice that he must clean up his act. In fact, he must have heard from the Prime Minister a "note of distinct disapproval" about his handling of the post-Godhra situation.

It seems that even Mr. Advani has told Mr. Modi that ways of running the State would have to change. Mr. Modi is said to have promised to make changes at the senior level in the police and civilian hierarchy.

The opinion among the Prime Minister's aides is unanimous that any talk of "Hindu consolidation'' yielding electoral dividend for the BJP, was simple foolishness.

The comprehensive drubbing the BJP has received today in Delhi's civic polls — the typical middle class electorate, which is deemed to have applauded the anti-minority violence in Gujarat — has sobered up the Hindutva hot-heads.

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