Vibrant Gujarat 2013: Of Modi and the Ambanis

Walking the talk
Reliance Group chief Anil Ambani may have hogged the headlines by showering praises on Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the 2013 Vibrant Gujarat Summit, putting his father Dhirubhai Ambani and Modi in the same bracket as Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; 'Lord of men' and so forth. But, one delegate had an interesting query: "Despite all that, why was it that Modi hugged only Mukesh (Anil Ambani's elder brother) after he spoke, not Anil?" Perhaps it was because Mukesh had committed an investment of Rs 1,00,000 crore in Gujarat over five years.

Different yardstick?
As a political reporter, I can't stop wondering about one thing. Anil Ambani has for long been considered a good friend of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. And, even a rookie follower of Indian politics knows that MSY's biggest political bete noire is Narendra Modi. In fact, MSY expelled party MP-cum-journalist Shahid Siddiqui for having interviewed Modi. Now, with Anil Ambani paying Modi all those tributes at the inaugural, is a reconfiguration of their friendship on the cards?

SME peptalk
Even his opponents concede that Modi has a great knack of branding/marketing himself, his work and so on. On the second day of the Summit, Modi had a word of advice for small and medium entrepreneurs: "Create the 'Made in Gujarat' brand." Recalling how a decade ago people would never question the quality of Japanese products, Modi said: "People would buy a pen by just seeing 'Made in Japan' inscribed on it. The company's name was irrelevant." The same could be achieved if Gujarati entrepreneurs do not compromise on quality and have zero defects in their products, declared Modi. "Go, capture global markets," he goaded them.

Options open
Politics can often be the art of subtle deflection. Narendra Modi's prime ministerial ambition is an open secret and his political attacks have always been aimed at national Congress leaders, not local satraps. Having scored a hat-trick in winning State elections, he is now being informally touted as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 General Elections. India Inc's who's who descending on Gandhinagar for the Summit, in fact, were also seen as hedging their bets given this possibility. Modi, however, bowled a political googly at the valedictory function of the Summit. "I invite you all to the seventh edition of Vibrant Gujarat on January 11, 2015," he said, repeatedly, as if he had no intentions of moving out of Gujarat. The speech was also peppered with mentions about his plans for the next few editions of Vibrant Gujarat and events such as Agritech Asia. Was that a clever ploy or mere hedging given that the 2014 polls can go either way?