'Narendra Modi will win Gujarat elections'

The renowned economist, who refuses to visit his home state, feels that the Congress has no vision or strategy

LONDON: If Lord Meghnad Desai was to vote in the Gujarat elections next month, it is certain that he would not be casting his ballot in favour of Narendra Modi and the BJP.

However, there is no question in his mind that Narendra Modi will win the election thanks to the booming Gujarat economy and the lack of any real opposition.

“Irrespective of what I think of Modi, he has no opposition in Gujarat,” Lord Desai told DNA in an exclusive interview at his home in London. “Congress has no credible candidate and is hoping that the split in the BJP is enough, but it is not. Congress has no vision or strategy,” he said.

“Gujarat has gone so right-wing that it is very difficult to find a secular opposition to Modi, and Congress seems to have given up on the state,” added Desai.

Lord Desai, a renowned economist who had completed a doctorate by the age of 22, refuses to visit Gujarat — his home state — since 2002 because he doesn’t approve of what is happening there.

“I have not been to visit my brother in Ahmedabad or Baroda, where I was born, as a form of protest. I don’t want people to think that Gujarat is normal.

It is not just the anti-Muslim policies of the government, but also the way artists, journalists and all liberal voices are silenced and beaten up.

A lot of bad things are going on there culturally, but most people don’t care about the small-scale violence that Hindutva brigade indulges in daily,” explained Lord Desai.

The 67-year-old Labour life peer retired as the Director of the Centre for Global Governance at the prestigious London School of Economics in 2005 and is now Professor Emeritus there.

He puts the successful growth of Gujarat’s economy down to the entrepreneurial traits of the Gujarati people and not due to Modi.

“Gujarat’s achievements are not because of Modi. The economy would have grown no matter who was in power. Gujaratis have been running a liberal economy for ages, long before Modi, and once the reforms came the economy could only grow.

The Ambani story is a typical example of how Gujaratis behave — planning laws and rules will not stop them,” he said.

While he called the Gujarat chief minister “efficient”, he doesn’t expect him to do well in national politics.

“Gujarat has been communalised over 25 years — a long campaign carried out by the BJP — which makes it very unique. Modi has a very bad reputation abroad and rightly so, and it is very unlikely that he will get a national post, the rest of India would not accept him,” said Lord Desai.