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Nikita Sud I have in my hand one of the latest books on Hindu nationalism and Gujarat, which on cursory glance would appear to be the examination of a subject, many would allege, has become quite hackneyed. I also thought so till I decided to scan it from page to page. Authored by Nikita Sud, a University of Oxford scholar, and titled "Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and the State: A Biography of Gujarat", what impressed me particularly was the book's couple of chapters on how the state, over the years, has sought to consistently promote land liberalization, irrespective of the political class, and how this liberalization has become the cornerstone of the protagonists of market-based development, seeking to encourage entrepreneurs wanting to put up shop in Gujarat as a "preferred" destinations. Sud came down to Gandhinagar from London, where she is based, about a couple of years ago, when she was in the process of preparing the book. Daughter of a retired IAS ...

That’s how we used to call him. Comrade Shahid Siddiqui. It was the first half of 1970s. He was studying political science in Delhi College, while I was doing English honours in Kirorimal College in Delhi University campus. We used to look upon him as a future Marxist theoretician, someone who would, some day, replace EMS Namboodiripad. He used to talk like a Toofan mail – his style hasn’t changed even now. It terribly impressed me. He was our “leader” in the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), student wing of the CPI(M). I was his cadre, trying to understand what all he and other comrades had to say about a red revolution knocking at India’s doorsteps. He would take our study circles, teach us about pros and cons of Mahatma Gandhi. I remember how, sitting at his residence in Nizamuddin area, he told me to read EMS’s “Gandhi and the Ism”, adding a bit of his own interpretation. “In political science, Gandhi is an anarchist”, he declared. I wasn’t convinced, but didn’t care to contradi...

A few days back, I had the pleasure of discussing with one of the top Gujarat bureaucrats, who loves to remain faceless, in detail, about one of the most controversial acquisitions Gujarat government has been trying to clinch – gas network of Gujarat Gas Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the top MNC, British Gas, operating in south Gujarat. With a net worth of around Rs 4,500 crore, Gujarat Gas supplies around 3 million standard cubic meters per day of gas to lakhs of households and enterprises in and around three cities, Surat, Ankaleshwar and Bharuch. Known for his expertise in finance, I asked this bureaucrat pointblank: “Why do you at all want to acquire Gujarat Gas? Don’t you think that you are moving away from the established norm of what many believe should be an ideal state policy – of shedding economic activity and concentrate, instead, on social sector, in which Gujarat still lags? Why not, instead, allow a private player to clinch the deal?” The acquisition move had already become con...

HK Dash The other day, I was sitting quiet in my verandah, sipping morning tea, scanning emails. And, suddenly, my good old friend Neeraj Nanda came on chat. Right now, Neeraj edits a periodical, South Asia Times, in Melbourne, and runs a news portal, mainly targeting Indians in Australia. We know each other since our college days in Delhi University in 1970s. Neeraj, who migrated with his family to Australia decades ago after working in several papers in Delhi, wanted to eagerly tell me something about Gujarat, and as usual I was rather keen. “It’s about a roadshow your state delegation held in Melbourne. I got an invitation, decided to go, and took along with me a Gujarati trader friend and an activist from Labor Party of Australia”, he told me, and my eagerness increased: “Who led the delegation?” Neeraj replied “it was some Dash”, and I immediately identified the bureaucrat -- principal secretary, water resources, Gujarat government, HK Dash. An amenable babu, he led one of the sev...

He created flutter in May 2004. Attending a rebel BJP meet at a farm house off Gandhinagar, Purshottam Solanki, popularly Bhai among his supporters, called Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi "Hitler". Ironically, even today, Bhai claims he hasn't changed his views. Only, at that time he was on the side of those in the BJP who believed Modi was a bad guy. But now he is with those who say there is no alternative to Modi. A junior minister in the Modi government, I decided to call on Bhai a few days back at his residence in Sector 20 in Gandhinagar. The Gujarat High Court had just directed the state government to decide on sanctioning Bhai's prosecution for his alleged involvement in Rs 400 crore fishing contract scam. I talked to him about the scam. He, obviously, denied any involvement. Then I decided to remind him what had declared once, standing next to Modi's bête noire ex-CM Keshubhai Patel - that Modi was Hitler. "What do you have to say of it today? D...

He was addressed as “dinosaur” by late Congress chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhury, but Gujarat government officials recall him for being too much of a “simpleton”, who easily succumbed to all types of pressures, whether from the family, or bureaucrats, or politicians whom he trusted blindly. Whatever he has been, former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who has allowed his decades-old association with the BJP to lapse just a few days ahead of his 83rd birthday, July 24, will now attract attention on how he seeks to influence Gujarat’s polity, about to witness assembly elections six months from now. Despite being old, his supporters say, he is seen as “Keshubapa” by the economically better off and socially influential community of Leuva Patels, especially in the Saurashtra region, to which he belongs. I came in contact with Keshubhai in 1998, though I met him once earlier, somewhat briefly, in early 1994 when he was opposition leader in the Gujarat state assembly. In 1998, he led his part...

Medha Patkar It was a Sunday. I was preparing to drive down to Ahmedabad from my Gandhinagar residence on June 17, in the afternoon. Suddenly, I got a phone call from one of the most controversial activists of India, Medha Patkar. She said, she was in Ahmedabad, why not meet? I readily agreed. I may have talked to her several times on phone to find out what she thought on issues related with the Narmada project, but never had an occasion to meet her. She had come to Ahmedabad for the second time in a year to appear in an Ahmedabad court regarding a case involving assault on her during - what many in consider - her "unwarranted" visit to Sabarmati Ashram in 2002 to attend a gathering of Gandhians and activists to protest Gujarat riots. Organizers of the 2002 meeting, including well-known danseuse and activist Mallika Sarabhai, were quick to distance themselves from Patkar’s sudden appearance saying the meeting was in no way "connected with the Narmada cause with which Pat...