Did Modis machismo prevail ultimately?
I had the opportunity to extensively travel in Gujarat in December 2006 as a part of a team of economists, trying to understand the ‘growth story’ of the state. The reverence or contempt that the commoner had for Modi was extraordinary, but with a crucial difference. The former opinion outnumbered the latter many times over. Even Jayalalithaa, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister, to my mind, did not attract such extreme reactions from the common man during her first term. Again without taking sides (which is indeed very difficult when it comes to Modi) one could see that the administration was kept on its toes. For instance, when it came to the floods in Surat in August 2006, locals recalled with gratitude as to how Modi personally stayed in Surat to supervise relief operations. Similarly, whenever we met any businessman in Gujarat, one could see the sense of relief in handling an administration that was relatively clean by Indian standards. Surely, it is remarkable that despite an ac
