Modi is a brand manager: Mallika

KOZHIKODE: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a man of brand management and his consecutive successes in Assembly elections are due to the lack of a strong Opposition in the state, social activist and renowned dancer Mallika Sarabhai has said.Talking to reporters in Kozhikode on Wednesday on the sidelines of a gender awareness programme held by the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC), Mallika Sarabhai said Modi’s Sadbhavana fast to unite Gujarat was not genuine. “Narendra Modi is a man of brand management. All need to learn what brand management can be. On the second day of fast, when some of us went to meet victims of the worst carnage in 2002 to draw attention to the fact that none of the victims got justice even after 10 years, we were taken to custody. Is this a reaction of somebody who genuinely wants communal amity, I don’t think so,” she said.Supporting Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption, Sarabhai said she was always very suspicious of politicians doing these kind of antics.  “Anna is a not a politician. He did it because he genuinely thought that this was a way to bring together the nation. Anna’s fight is against the vandalism that has been going on in the name  of politics in the country. It was not against any particular political party or group of politicians but against all parties and all corrupt  politicians,” she added.Asked about the success of Modi in elections, which underlines his popularity in Gujarat and the development in the state, Sarabhai said the Congress party in Gujarat is in a shambles. “In fact, they did not need BJP to defeat them.All of them are fighting among themselves and for one Congress leader three others are fighting to defeat him,” she said, adding that several organisations including the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh are totally against the current policy of development adopted by Modi in Gujarat.“Media see only what the media want to see. When any chief minister gives full page advertisements to newspapers every month, it becomes very difficult for the media to go against him.“And the Gujarat government spends a lot of money for the press. What can one do if the press want to see one side of Gujarat’s development and don’t want to see the other half?” Sarabhai said.