Will Narendra Modi's obsession with Gujarat prove counter productive for India?

MNS chief Raj Thackeray slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, accusing him of acting like the "Prime Minister of Gujarat". NCP leader Sharad Pawar has also accused Modi of behaving in a partisan manner. While allegations between political adversaries are quite rampant during the heat and dust of the elections, the charge of Modi favouring his state of Gujarat has come up prominently even after he took the oath to the Prime Minister's office.

From India to the United States, references to Gujarat have hogged the limelight almost every time the PM has addressed the crowd. Narendra Modi's major election plank was the much touted Gujarat development model. He criss-crossed the country addressing lakhs of people, selling the dream of transforming the country in the lines of the work done in Gujarat. The people of India also gave a decisive mandate, based on the hopes given by the BJP's PM candidate. However, after becoming PM, it was expected that Modi would like to project all parts of the country. But in speech after speech, apart from harping on the 'Jan Dhan Yojana' and 'Clean India' mission, the rest has been an extension of what he used to say as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. This often translates into sharing anecdotes about how he ensured that girls attended school in Gujarat to the success of the power sector in the state. Some are reading this as the state of Gujarat being granted the status of first, among equals.  

Allegations about the PM's favoritism towards his home state peaked during the Chinese President's visit to India. The visit commenced from Ahmedabad, much to chagrin of  many. After Modi showed his pet project of the Sabarmatri riverfront to Xi Jinping, it was time for some business, and here again, Gujarat came came up top. The Chinese city of Guangzhou and the Indian city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state signed an agreement for closer cooperation in fields such as environment and health. An agreement to promote better ties between Gujarat and Guangdong, China's richest and most liberal province, was also signed. Of the two industrial parks promised to be set up in India by China, one will be located in Modi's home state of Gujarat. Overall, Xi's visit failed to generate any concrete path to the resolution of the border dispute or India's trade deficit with the dragon. But it certainly put Gujarat in the spotlight, with pictures of Xi and Modi hanging out by the Sabarmati river circulating wide and far. 

Even in the US, Narendra Modi continued on his drivel of promoting Gujarat. In several engagements, the state was mentioned, whereas other important states failed to get even a cursory mention. It is obvious that Modi being still relatively new as the Prime Minister, wants to leverage his past standing as the chief minister of Gujarat to continue to resonate with the masses. But this has given rise to the question if this "brand recall" by marketing wizard Narendra Modi will help or harm Brand India in the long run. While the jury is still out on that, Modi proudly displaying his love and obsession for the state is an unchartered territory for any Prime Minister. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, no Prime  Minister in the past has played up his regional identity as the head of the state. So Nehru didn't go out of his way to promote Kashmir nor did Manmohan Singh bat excessively for Punjab or Assam. 

Narrow regionalism was confined to the prisms of railway ministers and grants doled out by the Planning Commission. But perhaps for the first time, a PM has been accused of aggressively pursuing the agenda of his native state. In many ways, it is a watershed moment in Indian politics and a possible indicator to the way politics may pan out in the future. As regional leaders slowly gain in prominence to gain a major role in national politics, federal India may be the ultimate sufferer. As Modi settles down and ticks the checkboxes against what he want to achieve as PM, will he tone down on his Gujarati asmita? That is something that still remains to be seen.