All hopes of Narendra Modi being declared as prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday were dashed. The saffron party’s 33rd foundation day function at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad was more of an election campaign rally targeting Congress leadership than an event where concrete steps to the way forward were announced.
It was one more event for the Gujarat chief minister to show his strength and popularity. State BJP chief RC Faldu garlanded Modi as ‘dev durlabh’ – even hard to find by god. Not to be outdone, national president Rajnath Singh crowned Modi as ‘Yashasvi’ – eternal successful.
In his welcome address, Faldu showered praise on Modi. “All workers have worked hard for the success of the party which has not allowed the Congress to come back to power since 1996. But hard work shines more as we have a leader like Narendra Modi,” he told the audience.
Singh explained at the outset why he was addressing the rally first. “I was asked to address the rally in the end. But I think Modi is the most popular leader in the country. He has provided a model of development recognised not only at national but at international level. He is Yashasvi and he should address the rally last,” the BJP chief said.
“When the Congress termed him (Modi) as Maut ka Saudagar (merchant of death - during the 2007 assembly polls), people of the state gave answers to them. Now it has termed him Yamraaj (god of death) - people of the country will also teach them a lesson in parliamentary elections in 2014,” Singh asserted. He also slammed the UPA government for its failure on price rise, slowing economy, diplomacy and corruption.
Addressing party workers, Modi said, “BJP is not founded for power. It is founded for the welfare of the citizen of the country. For party workers, country comes first and then the party.” “People in the Centre are using constitutional authorities to destabilise BJP governments in various states. But this will not continue forever,” the Gujarat CM said. “You cannot compare the character and ideology of existence of BJP and Congress. They are not going to change,” he added.
