My Hide and Seek With Modi

My Hide and Seek With Modi

Although Rath or the chariot is a primitive mode of transport, it still plays a role in shaping 21st-century politics. Rath yatras have been a part of the BJP’s success story. The first rath yatra undertaken by L.K. Advani in 1990 launched the Ram Temple Movement and established the BJP as an organization pursuing Hindutva as its ideology. Advani’s rath yatra was followed by many others in the party at the central and state level. The rath yatra became a medium to mobilise party workers and create a buzz about the party’s policies and programmes. Recently, the party launched one such yatra preceding the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha elections. The nomenclature of this event, Gujarat Gaurav Yatra, reminds me of the one undertaken by PM Narendra Modi 20 years ago with the same name. Modi was the CM of Gujarat then and his yatra was launched in the aftermath of the Gujarat pogrom and before the Vidhan Sabha elections held that year. I had covered the inaugural of Modi’s Gaurav Yatra and have a memory of it, which in the hindsight I find amusing. The incident also tells that Modi never forgets his detractors and is not hesitant to overtly express his dislike for any person or organization.

A day after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002, I was sent to Surat, which was burning because of a communal flare-up, by my editor at Aaj Tak. Other journalists from Delhi were also airdropped at cities like Ahmedabad and Vadodara. The riots spread across many districts of Gujarat and hundreds of people were being killed every day. As the violence escalated, the army was called in. Gujarat became a big national story and all national and international news organizations deployed their journalists in the state. Modi was the CM then, and most of the channels blamed him for failing to contain violence. Aaj Tak was especially critical of the way the government was handling the violence. This didn’t go down well with the BJP, various saffron organisations, and CM Modi himself. It became difficult for Aaj Tak journalists to work from the grounds. The workers of VHP and Bajrang Dal mobbed them wherever they were seen and were accused of being pro-Muslim. A few reporters were beaten up and their cameras were damaged. Those were the days when there were few regional channels and people generally watched the news on national channels. The continuous negative coverage by Aaj Tak, which emerged as one of the top channels, pinched the BJP. Four months after the riots, Modi resigned as the CM in July and Vidhan Sabha was dissolved. The next polls were due in 2003, but they were pre-poned to December 2002. Although Modi was targeted by the media, the opposition and various human rights organizations for the Gujarat riots, he also became a poster boy of Hindutva. Modi has a knack for converting adversity into opportunity, and he strategized to capitalise on his new image. Consequently, the BJP kicked-start its political campaign in the form of the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra from Phagwel in the Kheda district. There was a reason for choosing this location in central Gujarat. The tiny town was known for its temple of Bhathiji Maharaj. Bhathiji was a local hero who died protecting cows from the Pathan invaders. As per the legend, around 175 years ago, Bhathiji, a native of Phagvel, left his marriage ceremony halfway to save the cows and was beheaded by the attackers. Since then, he is venerated in the region. Another reason for picking Phagvel was that it fell in the parliamentary constituency of Modi’s rival Shankersinh Vaghela. It was planned that the yatra would cover all 182 assembly constituencies of Gujarat, including the riot-affected areas.

On the morning of 8 September 2002, Modi arrived there in a helicopter from Gandhinagar and showered petals atop the temple. After worshipping in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple for around half an hour, he addressed a gathering of around 50,000 people in the adjacent ground. Modi took potshots at Sonia Gandhi over her Italian origin in his Hindi-Gujarati mixed speech. He alleged Gujarat was insulted by the Nehru family by sidelining leaders like Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai. He then embarked on a truck which was given the shape of a rath. Rajnath Singh, who was the general secretary of the party, was invited to flag off the yatra. There was a portal beside the driver’s seat from where one could reach the roof of the rath. Modi climbed upon the roof and began waving his hand to the cheering crowd of the BJP workers. As the rath moved ahead, a bus of SRP (State Reserved Police) personnel escorted it. To get a better shot of him, I along with my cameraman Atul climbed on the top of the SRP bus using the ladder which was attached at the back. Now we were at the same height as Modi. He was on the roof of his rath while we were on the roof of the bus following him.

Other local reporters had left as soon as the rathyatra began and I was the only TV journalist who was still following it. While my cameraman Atul got engrossed in taking shots of Modi, I started narration holding the boom mic in my hand. The sound of my narration caught Modi’s attention, and he looked towards me. And then his eyes caught the logo attached to my mic which read–Aaj Tak, Sabse Tez. Modi’s expression changed. I assume Modi got reminded of all the negative coverage that my channel had done by looking at the logo. His emotions reflected on his face. He was smiling while waving at the crowd, but after looking at the logo, he looked annoyed. From his body language, I could make out that he didn’t want me to take his video. He immediately went down from the roof through the portal and sat beside the driver, continuing to wave at the crowd.

We also climbed down and rushed towards the rath. I pushed my mic from the window of the rath and asked a few questions. But he ignored me and continued waving at the crowd. I started my narration again with Modi in the background. Noticing this, Modi went out of my camera’s frame and once again climbed on the roof of the rath. I wasn’t willing to give up easily and again climbed up on the SRP bus and continued my narration while standing on its roof. Seconds after I reached the roof of the bus and started my narration, Modi went down again and this time he looked more enraged. By now we were convinced that Modi didn’t want to come to Aaj Tak’s camera and that was why he was avoiding us. But I was told that Aaj Tak was making a special show on Gujarat Gaurav Yatra and we needed abundant shots of Modi. We too swiftly jumped off the bus and ran towards the rath, where Modi had resumed waving at the crowd. We began walking along with the rath while taking his shots. This time, after noticing us, Modi called a policeman who was walking along with the rath. He whispered something in his ears, after which the policeman rushed towards the back of the SRP bus.

A few seconds later, Modi once again climbed up on the roof of the rath. We rushed back towards the SRP bus to get his shots. As we reached the back of the bus to climb the ladder connecting the roof, we were shocked. The policeman who was called by Modi was standing on the ladder and disallowed us from using it. While I was arguing with him, an inspector approached us. Pulling me away from the bus, he smiled and said in Gujarati –

“Bhai, bahu thai gayi taari reporting. Awey Ghare jao ne bhai.”

(Enough of your reporting, brother. Now go home.)

Our coverage ended there, and I headed to Ahmedabad to file my story.

Modi won that election with a whopping majority of 127 seats, which was ten seats more than the last elections. His winning streak continued for the next two elections in 2007 and 2012.