Ahmedabad, June 12: Is chief minister Narendra Modi gearing up for a bigger role in national politics?
While Modi has maintained a silence over this issue, it seems that heis finally gaining acceptability within and outside the BJP. And advertisments emphasing a secular appeal for him have appeared in Bihar papers ahead of his visit.
In what could be the biggest sign of this so far is the fact that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who had distanced himself from Modi publicly, has accorded status of state guest to him, indicating that the Gujarat CM has been able to win the support of his Bihar counterpart.
Modi, along with former deputy PM LK Advani, will be the state guests of Bihar when he visits the state capital to attend BJP’s national executive meeting to be held on June 12 and 13. Interestingly, similar status of state guest has not been accorded to other BJP CMs taking part in the BJP meet in Patna.
Kumar’s decision is seen as a major shift in his thinking as he had earlier distanced himself from Modi for his alleged role in the 2002 communal riots.
Due to Kumar’s reservations, Modi was forced to keep away from campaigning in Bihar ahead of 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Even in May this year, Nitish had reportedly said that there was no need to invite Modi for campaigning before Bihar assembly polls in November. Meanwhile, a day before Modi was to reach Patna for the BJP meet, the Gujarat government published full-page advertisements in various English, Hindi and Urdu newspapers in Patna, claiming that Muslims in Gujarat were prosperous and enjoying a better life.
The advertisement states that Muslims in Gujarat enjoy better education, employment opportunities, financial stability, health facilities and infrastructure. It also gives some facts and figures about Muslims’ literacy, education, employment, health & economy in Gujarat.
-Agencies