'Brand Modi' throbs abroad

New Delhi: The Gujarat government is using "Brand Modi" to bring in participants and investors to the next "Vibrant Gujarat" World Summit to be hosted at Gandhinagar in January. Officials in the 12 delegations that have either called on or are about to call on various countries claimed the mention of Narendra Modi, his tenure as Gujarat chief minister and the "buzz" he had generated on becoming the Prime Minister were calling cards in winning over new entrants and retaining the older participants. Those involved in the preparations listed three factors that could potentially work towards giving the January 10-13 summit a "somewhat different look" than what it had in the past, although they stressed the prime objective remained "doing business and bringing in investments". The first was a perception that "Modi is doing things". "The notions held abroad are that corruption is declining, governance is better and cooperative federalism has taken off. Investors are excited by the competition they see as developing between states to beat each other in getting investments, creating jobs and generally improving governance," a Gujarat official said. Second, aspects of Modi's persona and functioning have ostensibly "impressed" the target audience for "Vibrant Gujarat". "They feel Modi has managed to keep India in the limelight. Somehow, the Prime Minister's focus on nurturing and fostering the middle class is being watched closely abroad because this class constitutes a huge market," a source said. Third, the cachet that Gujarat itself carried. "Gujarat created a niche for itself through factors like ease of doing business, good infrastructure and minimal red tape," an official said. However, Gujarat has also been buffeted by social turmoil and political churns of late. For the past two years, the state has been shaken by the Patidar uprising for reservation in education and jobs; by Dalit protests against the violence unleashed by cow vigilantes, and by a leadership change that saw the exit of Modi's successor Anandiben Patel as chief minister and the installation of Amit Shah nominee Vijay Rupani. The Patidar and Dalit agitations were widely covered by top western newspapers and television channels and commented upon editorially. However, those who visited and wooed the international community claimed that "not a single person spoke about any of these occurrences". "Our reading is, they know that till Modi is Prime Minister, the Gujarat administration will not fall off the track. They also know that Left liberals rake up polarising issues just to take attention away from Modi's development agenda," a source said. On the upside, officials claimed Modi's tweets and blogs went a "long way" to "counter-balance" the "Left-liberal discourse". "His tweets and posts are straight and unambiguous. The PM comes across as someone in control of himself, as someone who will not say anything against an opponent," a source said. The source also claimed the "single-mindedness" with which Modi pursued the GST and bankruptcy laws left "nobody in doubt about his commitment to reforms". -The Telegraph, Calcutta