Very interesting speech by Mr. Modi at the Tughlaq Magazine’s annual reader’s event.
Cho Ramaswamy’s introduction of Narendra Modi was an interesting twist to Sonia Gandhi’s Merchant of Death remark much to the pleasure of a cheering audience.
It was a speech that Modi delivered largely extempore without any prepared notes and interspersed with anecdotes and wisecracks at the Congress.
Few highlights that stood out worth commenting upon in Mr. Modi’s speech.
- He opened his remarks with a tribute to democracy and what makes Cho a true democrat. For someone who has been routinely bandied as a Hitler in the making it should strike even the most ardent Modi critic as important that he should have chosen to open his speech with a reference to democracy and not to Hindutva, not to BJP not to mundane politics but with a reference to that which is most paramount – a commitment to democracy.
- The next subject that Modi chose to comment on again was very interesting when he chose to highlight the importance of conviction and courage in being open to criticism not by those who despise you but especially those who are most dearest to you.
- A little known aspect of Mr. Modi’s work ethic also surfaces as well with an oblique dig at the mainstream media and its antipathy towards Modi for its praise of Manmohan Singh not taking a vacation in 3 years.
- Modi then went on to sound all the right notes on how he views the recent win in Gujarat as a burden and responsibility rather than as a trophy to be relished and enjoyed.
- More digs at the Congress on how “poor its arithmetic was” in its allegation that Modi had 250 pairs of clothes.
The?most important aspect of his speech surfaces a full 15minutes into the meeting when Modi goes on to exude why the Nation must adopt a Positive Attitude towards Change.?Very important given the overwhelming mindset?of negativism that dominates the public discource that seeks to justify entitlements in the name of social justice. Modi makes a great example of his life story and backward origins to defy this mindset that seeks entitlements by making the point that with convictions, courage and commitment anything was possible.
- Modi then goes on to talk about his social commitment for education to the girl child to improve Gujarat’s performance in this area and how over a span of 4 years Gujarat was close to 100% enrollment from a situation of 49% dropout with a target of 0% dropout by 2010.
Point to be noted, the ease with which Modi references social performance indicators in his extempore speech and the mindset which is performance oriented and metrics driven. A stark contrast with the typical Indian Politician who is high on rhetoric and emotion and low on substance.
- Modi then goes on to talk about the poor village to gynaecologist ratio and the high rate of mortality in below poverty line pregnant women and how his public-private partnership for pregnant women, along the lines of the Milton Friedman Voucher System for education, benefitted 1.58 lakh women and how atleast 6000 maternal/infant mortalities were prevented.
- Interesting tid-bit on how the entire bureaucracy opposed his Jyotigram scheme to fix rural electricity problems and how usolicited advise from the Congress conveyed the impossibility of making the scheme work. Modi then goes on to talk about how he borrowed 10 crores from the Co-operative sector to pilot the scheme in 45 villages to then go onto make it a success across the state in 1000 days – 23 lakh electricity poles, 56,000 transformed, 75,000kms of cable Modi reels off statistics to make the point that if it wills the creaking State Machinery can deliver. A snide jab at Karunanidhi’s extended and unaccounted for family follows 
- Another great example follows on how technology can be used to eliminate corruption with toll gates and cross border checkposts between Gujarat and Maharashtra with another Modiquet – “if you have the will you can win… against corruption”
- Some media bashing follows on how cliched the allegations of communalism had become and the ever changing definition of secularism.
Modi gives an interesting spin to the secualrism debate saying his model of development was inherently secular for it benefitted all making no distinction or discrimination of none.
- Another anecdote follows on how illegal immigration from Bangladesh in Assam was distorting the local labor market.
Modi makes a point of fiscal discpline on how Gujarat went from a revenue deficit to a revenue surplus and how he was not a tax and spend liberal with his track record of not introducing new taxes. Point to note for all those to the right of center on economic issues.
- Another anecdote on the profitibaility of the electricity board
Modi takes entitlements head on how Karunanidhi was doling out free color televisions in Tami Nadu and the Congress made a similar promise in Gujarat with his counter promise to crack down on tax evasion.
- Modi goes on to praise the maturity of the people of Gujarat for their rejection of entitlements and their faith in a government that stood for upholding the rule of law while taking a dig at the media for its rubbish on structural polarisation in Gujarat.
- Reference to a world bank study on recovery in Kutch after the earthquake with parallels to the Indian Ocean Tsunami
- More anecdotes on taking hard decisions in the financial sector even at the risk of taking tough action against partymen.
- Some chest thumping follows on rural broadband connectivity and a dig at the United States on denying him a visa. Modi elaborates on distant education using the broadband network.
Modi goes on to eulogise on how he intends to develop Gujarat with a scientific temper leveraging technology.
Very important point follows on role of Government in Wealth Creation. Modi articulates a clear philosophy of “Minimum Government and Maximum Governance”. Leave wealth creation to the Enterprenuer who is most capable of creating wealth, focus on Governance and make sure the opportunities to benefit from wealth are maximized.
Offstumped Bottomline: A lot of debate has ensued on this blog, INI and elsewhere on what Right of Center means and which political entity in India stands for Right of Center values and principles. This speech by Narendra Modi must rank as one of the most clear articulation of a Right of Center philosophy premised on “Minimum Government and Maximum Governance” that rejects subsidies, denies entitlements, stands up for National Security while being fiscally responsible and letting Enterprises the freedom to create wealth.
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[...] Offstumped wrote an interesting post today on Narendra Modiâ??s Chennai speech – Offstumped CommentaryHere’s a quick excerpt Very interesting speech by Mr. Modi at the Tughlaq Magazine’s annual reader’s event. Cho Ramaswamy’s introduction of Narendra Modi was an interesting twist to Sonia Gandhi’s Merchant of Death remark much to the pleasure of a cheering audience. It was a speech that Modi delivered largely extempore without any prepared notes and interspersed with anecdotes and wisecracks at the Congress. Few highlights that stood out worth commenting upon in Mr. Modi’s speech. – He opened his remarks with a t [...]
This is a benchmark for all other politicians. Talk substance, not rhetoric.
Just do what your job description says – work for the people (that includes all Indians, not a particular caste or religion) & your country.
Yossarin, I was going through the Congress website & saw there listed their achievements. I wonder how do they measure against their UPA common minimum program. You ever wonder too? I guess I’ll do some research on that.
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/02/narendra-modis-chennai-speech.html
My micro-kernels professor once said that people dont want to run operating systems, what they’re more interested in is running their applications, but they need the operating systems so they themselves dont have to deal with the hardware directly and that is why operating systems must be secure, transparent, efficient and thin.
Now I think that Minimum Government and Maximum Governance encapsulates part of the idea of secure, transparent, thin and efficient with regards to governments, since people are more interested in earning a livelihood with security/safety and they need a government to take care of tasks analogous to dealing directly with hardware.
It is interesting to see in each speech Modi talks about mass movement, public-private partnership. He derides govt, including his own, to emphasize the accomplishments of the people of gujarat.
In early 20th century, one gujurati, having returned from South Africa, started a mass movement and changed the destiny of India.
There is another gujurati in our midst who wants to start a mass movement i.e. a mass movement of progress. If given the opportunity, Mr Modi will absolutely change the trajectory of this nation.
I am sorry that the media chooses to brush him off as a national leader, yet finds solace in promoting someone like Mayawati, who would probably be unable to understand 95% of this speech, as the future leader of an aspiring superpower nation.
I think the mainstream media is moving away from vilifying him, and since that hasn’t worked, they want to try and ignore him,
Modi seems a very sensible person for a politician. The question is are the people ready to have a sensible leader?
[...] that we need. For those who are not having “high speed” broadband, here is the link to what Modi [...]
plz tell me where i can find Modi speech in text.
We need Mr. N.Damodar Modi as our future PM……No doubt if india has to change its course to become a super power we need some one like o him to fulfill our aspirations…..
Guys,
Listening to Mr.Modi gives me a lot of confidence that here is a leader who is interested in my welfare and security. His Minimum Government and Maximum Governance is a singular indicator of his mindset. Let this country become prosperous under his leadership. He seems to be a strong and determined leader who wouldn’t pander to any group or class to seek votes. A shining example is his staunch refusal to abide by his partymen’s demand to award amnesty to 2 lakh farmers for power theft. Any other politician would have sought to seek at least 6 lakh votes out of this(assuming each farmer has an offspring and a spouse). This should his integrity. And on the day when Congress announced free color TV for the poor in Gujarat he said he would issue notices to those who haven’t paid their taxes.
We have to get this man to become our Prime Minister.
http://www.counterpunch.org/wajahat02272008.html
Ayesha Siddiqa
“Yes, there is Modi in India. Yes, we have our extremists as well. But, let me tell you, extremists are very few and far between; they do not represent the perception of the common man in Pakistan. That crazy element of the society would be present in any society. The only thing that will put an end to this extremism is better relation with India in the South Asian region. A better structure of the region in the long run where people can relate to each other, where people believe in each other’s well being because they benefit from it, rather than thinking of war and conflict. ”
____________
“The average Indian of the middle class in India, when they look at India, or perceive India today, it’s like a young woman discovering her sexuality, and getting very excited about it. They’re so excited they don’t care how people perceive them.
The Pakistani wants to discover its sexuality yet it’s so scared. ”
So, you have those differences which sometimes create misunderstandings, yet that is a bridge we all have to cross.
A good one. I like your blog. Amazing to the right of the right!
[...] this call to action from Offstumped to the BJP, to put its promise of Minimum Government Maximum Governance to practice and promise to bring legislation that will give full autonomy to the BBMP to run [...]
[...] The Narendra Modi model of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance seems to be the template the BJP will [...]
Absolutely agree with Shishir’s comment…
“Just do what your job description says – work for the people (that includes all Indians, not a particular caste or religion) & your country.”
Anyways nice article indeed !!!
BTW check out http://jobsearch.co.nr
Its a jobsearch engine for India optimized to deliver the right jobs.
[...] To fully win this DharmaYudh the BJP must capture the imagination of a Young India with new ideas and new thinking on issues. Specifically it must highlight how the successful Gujarat Model of development championed by Narendra Modi can be emulated and replicated at the National Level. It must also do by highlighting how such a model development would be differentiated from the UPA’s brand of Communal Socialism and Vote Bank Politics. It must also higlight how such a model of development philosophically differentiated from left of center politics by explaining how it will “Minimize Government while Maximizing Governance“. [...]
[...] in sound “Right of Center” economic principles of creating an Ownership Society based on a Culture of Responsibility, Mr. Modi’s package: [...]
[...] shallow and subjective opinions making it rather ironic for Mr. Desai concludes his piece calling Mr. Modi’s “intellectual equipment” limited. [...]
You must have seen this: http://www.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyid=242902
[...] election about recognizing that challenges to this “longevity”, when they come with an uncompromising toughness of Mission and an unconventional Vision by a politically incorrect Narendra Modi, are further tyrranized by intellectual accusations of [...]
[...] election about recognizing that challenges to this “longevity”, when they come with an uncompromising toughness of Mission and an unconventional Vision by a politically incorrect Narendra Modi, are further tyrranized by intellectual accusations of [...]
[...] #3 After the 2007 election victory, Narendra Modi delivered a seminal speech in Chennai – YouTube Video of the speech and Offstumped commentary transcribing parts of the speech [...]
He is the greatest leader in the history of this country…..I hope with all my heart that one day he will be the PM of India…he will turn India into a super power…
long live MODIJI…
jai hind!!