The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was appointed by the Supreme Court, said in its report that it did not find any evidence to register an FIR against the 58 people, including Narendra Modi, listed in Zakia Jafri's complaint, came as a big shock to the Congress party for poltical reasons (vote bank politics) and also to the BJP, Narendra Modi's own party.

t would have given the Congress party some more fodder to bash Narendra Modi and BJP and push their fake agenda of  welfare of minorities (minority appeasement) just for vote bank politics. BJP's top brass of the party who are waiting in line after the era of Vajpayee and Advani to become the face of the party in the 2014 parliamentary elections were expecting SIT to indict him and in the process, kill the political ambition of a person who is being perceived as a very serious threat by the two leading lights in the party '“ Sushma Swaraj, opposition leader in the Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitley, opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha.

Zakia had filed a complaint against Modi, his ministerial colleagues, top police officials and BJP functionaries accusing them of wider conspiracy in the riots in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, had been killed. SIT chief R K Raghavan said the complainant will have an opportunity to contest the findings of the SIT report. "We have filed a report saying no evidence on the contents of the particular petition was available and we have recommended closure," he said. "We have done our duty to the best of our abilities," he said, adding the integrity of the team cannot be questioned in arriving at its conclusion.

According to SIT, no offence has been established against any of the 58 persons listed in Zakia's complaint, metropolitan magistrate M S Bhatt said in his order on Tuesday on a batch of petitions in which Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was among 69 persons killed in the Gulberg society carnage, had named Modi and 57 others for alleged criminal conspiracy in the 2002 riots.

This judgment definitely became a good reason for Narendra Modi to smile if not burst into laughter. There is no doubt that he is the most polarising person in the contemporary times of political India. The 2002 riots in Gujarat gave more than ample reasons to India to think about his agenda and his credentials. His detractors, mainly the Congress party worked very hard to keep this issue alive for a very simple reason '“ it gives them votes. I was also very apprehensive because I very strongly feel that any political party which has any agenda which does not have a direct correlation with the economy and the well being of the people is just plain and simple vote bank politics and a tool to fool the people. It is as simple as that.

The Congress party, which has governed India for most of the time since 1947 always gave the slogan of '˜Garibi Hatao'. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms  21.6 a day in urban areas and  14.3 in rural areas). According to 2010 data from the United Nations Development Programme, an estimated 37.2% of Indians live below the country's national poverty line. On the other hand, BJP also tried very hard to keep the issue of Ram Mandir alive to keep the '˜Hindutva' issue alive to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. The average age of the Indian population is very young '“ more than 50 % of India's population is below 30 years of age and they do not either have the appetite or the interest in these issues. This was very evident in the recent UP elections. The Congress party lost 8 out of 10 assembly seats in Rae Bareli and Amethi, represented by none other than Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and BJP lost the seat in Ayodhya '“ the epicentre of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The average Indian does not care either about any catchy slogans or the birth place of Lord Ram. They simply want a safe and prosperous India where they can live comfortably and enjoy their life. If it was up to them and not to the antics of the Congress party, terrorists like Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab would have been hanged a long time ago. It is a mockery of our system that the government has spent more than Rs. 25 crores on Kasab since his arrest. 

While the sycophants of the Congress party are busy glorifying Rahul Gandhi to be the next Prime Minister, BJP is struggling to find a leader who can lead them in the 2014 elections. Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley might be good enough to win their own seats but they do not have what it takes to lead the party in a general election. They are not Vajpayee and to put it mildly, they are not even Advani.

Is Narendra Modi the person to fill this void in the party?

Narendra Modi who was born on September 17, 1950 was a social and political activist from a very young age and was associated with RSS and ABVP, became the chief minister of Gujarat for the first time in 2001 and Gujarat's GDP grew by more than 10% during his first tenure. Since that time, he led BJP in winning two more elections and is the longest serving chief minister in India. Narendra Modi who also is a single man, has a MA in Political Science and is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. He only employs a personal staff of only three people. He is known to be a workaholic Chief Minister and an introvert. Modi is considered as the singular leader of BJP in Gujarat because of his election record and having an autocratic, almost insensitive leadership manner. He ordered the demolition of many Hindu temples that were built without proper government sanction which earned him the ire of VHP. He is described as an incendiary politician.

It seems that BJP is a big national party with no head. It also seems that the party has finally found the head in Narendra Modi. He has always said that he believes in Justice for all and Appeasement of none and this definitely has all the ingredients of a mass appeal. All the major political parties should always remember that conflict makes good politics but it does not translate into good policies and it is policies and not politics which makes or breaks a country. As Shakespeare said - Words matter but action is eloquence.
 
The Gujarat chief minister's future should be decided by the people not on the basis of recycled unproven allegations, but on the basis of what he has achieved as an administrator, his ideas and vision for the future, and his capability to achieve them. When the SIT has cleared him of the charges levelled against him by some sections of the public - particularly from the Muslim community - and by some human rights activists, fairness of criminal justice demands that the demonisation campaign against him should be discontinued and the sword hanging over his head should be removed. He has been cleared honourably and not conditionally. The state has made considerable progress under his leadership. This is acknowledged by independent-minded observers and even by persons who are not comfortable with him as an individual.

I have never been an uncritical admirer of Narendra Modi. Nor am I in the ranks of his perpetual demonisers. I have always sought to judge him as objectively as I can. I feel the time has come for him to come on the national political scene and do some serious governance and replicate the Gujarat model for India. The Congress party, which should get a new nomenclature from AICC to AICP (All India Corrupt Party) would use the elevation of Narendra Modi on the national scene to scare the Muslim community should be given a message by the members of the Muslim community itself that if they are safe and can prosper in Gujarat under CM Narendra Modi, they would also do just fine in India under PM Narendra Modi. Hindus and Muslims would do just fine if not manipulated and played by different political parties. It would change the political paradigm in Indian politics when Hindus and Muslims would join hands and stand behind Narendra Modi with a common objective '“ Prosperity and Safety of all Indians. I hope that I am not being naive and pray that my expectation is not a utopian dream. Yes, Narendra Modi is ready for Prime Time.

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