They include almost all the symbols of pre-liberalisation India: vote banks, caste-based leaders, Gandhians, Leftists and politicians who rely on freebies.
In addition, Modi invites aesthetic disdain. When beautiful people like Mallika Sarabhai and Aditi Mangaldas sneer at the Modi dispensation, they do so with all the condescension that Old Money reserves for the nouveau. Likewise, whereas Modi is almost friendless in the Old Media, he commands aggressive support among bloggers and netizens.
For the moment Modi is a regional leader. But the phenomenon on which his politics is grafted is pan-Indian. Whatever the Gujarat verdict, India is going to be preoccupied with Modi for a long time. He is a voice of the future.
16 Dec 2007, 0032 hrs IST, SWAPAN DASGUPTA, Times of India.
