Modi maligned

Author: Editorial
Publication: The Statesman
Date: January 30, 2003

There can be only limited and very technical validity to the All India Democratic Women's Association's outburst against Narendra Modi's suggestion that instead of the traditional gold and ornaments farmers offer drip-irrigation apparatus as dowry when their daughters marry. Dowry is indeed prohibited by law, but to run away with the idea that Modi's comments amount to promoting the practice, and linking that with a decline sex ratio of girls in the population of Gujarat, is indicative of how hysteria and opposing political ideology can hinder reasoned thinking. Modi was addressing a gathering of farmers and talking to them in the idiom and imagery which they would understand. Legal or illegal, the practice of dowry persists - social evils are rarely eradicated by legislation. By recommending drip-irrigation systems as dowry the chief minister was merely adding a local emphasis to some genuine advice. Gujarat is a water-scarce state, despite which its farm output is considerable. The Saurashtra region is the country's largest producer of groundnut, a major source of edible oil in which self-sufficiency is yet to be attained.

The groundnut output has been particularly hard hit by the water shortage and increased use of drip-irrigation could make a vital difference. By according the apparatus the same status as jewellery Modi was doing no more than trying to get a practical message across. And an important one at that. Left wing organisations like the AIDWA would probably say that he was addressing a bunch of kulaks, without realizing that some of the benefits of drip-irrigation can actually trickle down to the peasants whose interests they profess to project. This newspaper prides itself in its consistent condemnation of Modi's brand of politics and deems itself duty bound to do so in future too, but that does not mean it must applaud irrational attacks on him. This was one of those rare occasions when Modi strayed into sense, as well as one of the many instances when ideological differences created fuzzy logic. If only our Leftists could, perhaps just once in a while, lighten up!
 

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