Let me be frank, I never liked Modi. And between Buddha and Modi, I shall always prefer Buddha. However, it is only because I have a disliking for bearded face.

But going back to the performance I feel that the people of Gujarat should not defeat and drop Modi. It is unfortunate that Modi did something so blatant communal that media wishes to keep that alive for the whole of his and his party life. But at least in rural Gujarat the people opposing the government and the party can live a normal life. It is not possible in West Bengal. Comrades will not permit that, as I mentioned in the entry based on a professor’s report.

I consider Outlook’s Mehta, not a Modi-fan reported a very balanced opinion. “No public figure in living memory has been as vilified and reviled as our Narendrabhai. You can loathe him or love him but you cannot ignore him. He seems to possess a degree of self-confidence and self-belief, which terrifies even his own party. Is it all hot air and bluster, the vanity of a man who knows that eventually time and history will catch up with him?”

And one thing for sure, Modi is brave. He has distanced himself from RSS. He doesn’t care about Kesubhai or Togadia. The former appears to be casteist Patel and the later too much communal. Buddha can’t distance himself from CPM cadres or Jyoti Basu or Subhash Chakroborty even knowing well that they work against his policies and plans. Mehta confirms, “The ease with which he has demolished the parivar in Gujarat, a parivar which includes stalwarts like Togadia and Keshubhai, leaves even his enemies speechless. So, this “textbook fascist” is a mystery man not available to easy deconstruction.”

But my views of Modi is based on my visit to Gujarat last year and the picture of growth that it presented wherever we went. Mehta also has this point. “I have no doubt Mr Modi has blood on his hands, that he masterminded, facilitated and relished the carnage of 2002. However, if we are honest, we also have to admit the existence of another Modi, the one who has presided over and calibrated the Gujarat economic “miracle”. The statistics, especially those from independent sources, cannot be wished away as manufactured. Indisputably, he has delivered development to Gujarat. The only question is how much is fact and how much is fiction. Even if 50 per cent of the claims Modi makes are fact, it is a substantial achievement.”

West Bengal is a dismal story so far the growth and prosperity are concerned. The state that was once one of the best has gone to the bottom of the list in all development parameters.

I wish Modi wins just to prove that media can’t influence the wills of the people and bring a dynastic party with a local sycophant to head the government.