Congress defends its ad praising Narendra Modi, calls it sarcastic

Saturday 28 January 2012

Defending its advertisement which praised Gujarat Chief Minsiter Narendra Modi for his contribution in developing the state, the Congress on Saturday said that it was meant to be sarcastic.

“It’s a sarcastic comment on Narendra Modi. He has been ridiculed in the advertisement. His predecessors did a better job,” Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said.

The Gujarat Congress scored a certain self-goal in an election year by praising chief minister Narendra Modi in a Republic Day advertisement issued in local newspapers. A two-page special supplement paid for by Congress describes him as a “master organizer and an astute election strategist”.

It listed the Vibrant Gujarat summits and other carnivals, often described by Congress leaders as a ‘tamasha’, as his achievements and credits Modi for raising the height of Narmada dam.

More still, it credits Modi for striving to turn Gujarat into a vibrant state. The pull-out, ‘Gujarat: Prarambh Thij Pragatisheel’ (Gujarat: progressive since beginning) gives a graphic account of contributions by all chief ministers, including Modi, to drive home the point that the state’s progress is due to its enterprising people.

“Our attempt was celebrate the enterprise of Gujaratis, not any individual. Hence, we have compiled contributions of all CMs irrespective of their political parties who held offices since 1960, when Gujarat was born. A false propaganda is being unleashed to misguide the people of the state,” Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said in a statement on Friday, struggling to explain the gaffe.

The advertisement also speaks about developmental works carried out under other non-Congress chief ministers, including Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta of the BJP.

The blunder sent senior Congress leaders scampering to identify all those who cleared the draft. Gujarat state assembly polls are scheduled to be held in December and the laudatory words used for Modi only underlines the sinking feeling among party cadres and reinforces the general impression that the Congress is in no position to stop Modi, already by far the longest-serving chief minister of the state, from scoring a hat-trick of wins.