It's Gujarat Versus Goa

It’s Gujarat versus Goa, folks.

Both LK Advani and Narendra Modi hail from Gujarat. Both are in the running to be the next prime minister of India, after we say bye-bye to Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi in a few months. Which reminds me: Even Gandhi was from Gujarat.

I have visited Gujarat. It is very far removed from being a “vibrant” place. Rather, it seems at every step to be a tyranny backed by widespread public hypocrisy. You cannot get a drink in Gujarat – while the average Gujarati is happy to claim that his state reports the highest per capita consumption of whiskey in India. A doctor I met said that the highest incidence of liver cirrhosis in Gujarat was among police inspectors. Surely, this is not a “model” for the rest of India? Leave aside the communal violence the state is so famous for. This is a corrupt police state.

Yes, Ambani, Mittal and Tata have endorsed Narendra Modi – drawing Jug Suraiya’s ire. They say he is a great administrator. Their clearances to set up business came through in a matter of days. Thousands of MoUs to set up new businesses were signed in Gujarat recently. So what?

Are the people happy? Are the people free? Is there social harmony? Is there, indeed, a “body politic” based on a common recognition of the same rules? Or is this just a laboratory experiment in Hindootva? We are Hindoo chauvinists, yes; but mind you, we support private enterprise. Big deal. No matter what Tata, Ambani and Mittal might say or do, I find the “Gujarat model” despicable.

My vision of a free India is based on Goa, not Gujarat. Here, the ordinary man is Free. There is harmony between faiths, between cultures. There is a year-round, permanent holiday atmosphere. There is a bar every 25 yards. There are casinos too. Alcohol is a big part of Goa’s civilized culture. My only complaint is about the criminalization of ganja smoking. But in Goa the open public politics allows me to campaign against this repressive legislation. And, as I reported a few days ago, the average Goan is richer than the average Gujarati. He is happier too. He is freer. He is more secure. Not only that, the politicians of Goa are not above the people: rather, they are very much ordinary people. The ordinary Goan is politically aware as well as politically active. It is unthinkable that in Goa a local politician would ever acquire a halo the size of Narendra Modi’s. Or that the police would close all bars.

Advani and Modi are championing the “Gujarat model of Hindootva.”

I am holding up the “Goa Model of Liberty.”

Think deep my fellow countrymen. You have an important choice before you.