Narendra Modi appears soft and sauve at NDC, impresses other chief ministers

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi appeared a different leader at the National Development Council meeting with positive criticism of the 12th plan and accusing the Central government of policy logjam, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Dec 27, 2012, 19:42:32 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi appeared a different leader at the National Development Council meeting with positive criticism of the 12th plan and accusing the Central government of policy logjam.

“Significantly lowering the growth target in the 12 plan will further add to the mood of despondency and pessimism in the country and cast increasing doubts on the sustainability of the Indian growth story," he said, in reaction to planning commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s suggestion to lower the growth target for the plan to 8%.

A senior Congress minister described Modi speech as constructive and saw his aspiration to become Prime minister.

"Unlike past NDC meetings, Modi was not sarcastic and was soft and decent," the minister said.

Another Congress minister said that Modi’s criticism should be seen in positive light and the government has taken his suggestions in a positive note. Some other chief ministers in hushed voices praised Modi.

But, his body language indicated that he wanted to project himself as a leader above petty party politics and was serious about development of the country.

He did not use harsh words in his speech and later avoided staunch attack on the Central government while speaking to reporters but described the 12th plan document as an example of “intellectual bankruptcy” in the Central government.

Many chief ministers including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav congratulated him for his third term as Gujarat CM.

Knowing well that he would be in the limelight and questions related to be being NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate would be asked, Modi remained indifferent to such suggestions. “I will call you if I have to say anything on this,” he said.

There was difference of opinion among chief ministers whether Modi should be Prime Ministerial candidate.

Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, rejected Modi as PM candidate whereas Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and NDA ally, remained evasive on the issue. Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chauhan said it was an internal issue of BJP.

Modi blamed the Central government for high inflation and claimed that the government decision to cap subsidized LPG cylinders to six a year would add to miseries of middle class and the poor.

He also urged the Central government to treat the state governments as partners in development and to learn from their success stories prompting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask Planning Commission to review innovative steps of the states to give fillip to solar energy sector.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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