Gujarat to be referendum on Modi and development

AHMEDABAD: It is the wish of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi that the December elections should be a referendum on 'him' and the issue of development, according to Modi's political science teacher and a well-known political commentator.

The two-phased assembly elections in Gujarat are a 'plebiscite' on his rule as the issues this time are totally different from the one in the 2003, fought in the shadow of Godhra train attack and the carnage that followed it, said Professor Pravin Sheth, a former Head of Department of Political Science, Gujarat University.

The issue in the 2002 assembly elections was 'Hindutva' while it is "development" in the coming elections to be held on December 11 and 16 for a new assembly with 182-members, Seth told here on Thursday.

A well-known columnist in language newspapers and author of 'Caste and Communal Time Bomb' and 'Images of Transformation: Government and Narendra Modi', Sheth, who also happened to be political science teacher of the the controversial Chief Minister, said that as against the last elections, the current polls will be fought on the issue of 'development'.

"It is a kind of plebiscite where people will exercise their opinion on the performance of Modi. Hindutva does not seem to be an issue this time. The Chief Minister claims that his government has done exceptional work during his six years of rule and the Congress on the other hand calls it just hype and nothing else," he opined.