Arise, Awake and stop not until the goal is reached!

This is a fictional speech that I have written, imagining Narendra Modi addressing the Muslims of Gujarat. It is written in Hindi (but in roman script) as I feel that Modiji is at his best when he speaks extempore in Hindi. Please read about the destructive aspects of the pre-matric scholarship scheme of the UPA here and here.

Mere Gujarat ke 60 lakh mussalman bhaiyon aur behenon! Aap sabko sadar pranam!

Maine apne pichhle dus saal ke rajnitik jeevan mein har baar, aur lagataar, sirf aur sirf mere chhe karod gujarati bhaiyon aur behenon ko sambodhit kiya hai. Aur ye is liye, kyunki inko chhod ke na to mujhe kuchh pehle dikhta tha, aur na aaj dikhta hai! Mujhe na hindu dikhte hain, na mussalman, na isai, na agle, na pichhde, na amir, na garib, na mard, na aurat, na bache, na buddhe, na shehri, na gaowasi, na gujaratibhashi, na gair-gujaratibhashi, na kachhi, na saurashtri, na pranti, na par-pranti! Sirf aur sirf gujarati dikhte hain, aur pure ke pure chhe karod!

Kuchh samay pehle ki baat hai, ki dilli se National Minorities Commission ke chairman Gujarat daure par aaye the, yeh dekhne ke liye ki Gujarat mein minorities ka haal kaisa hai. Unne aa kar mujhse poochha tha, Modiji, aap Gujarat ki minorities ke liye kya karte hain? Maine bina palak jhapkaye, unhe kaha tha, ki main minorities ke liye kuchh nahin karta! Who chakra gaye aur ye sochne lage ki koi bhi CM aise kaise bol sakta hai? Maine aur aage badh kar kaha, ki naraz ho kar jaane ke pehle, itna aur sun lijiye ki main majority ke liye bhi kuchh nahin karta! Main sirf apne chhe karod gujaratiyon ke liye sab kuchh karta hoon. Han, kyunki aapka nazariya logon ko baant kar dekhne ka hai, to suniye, mere yahan 15 sau karod ki Sagarkhedu yojna hai, pure Gujarat ke machhuaron ke liye, jisme mussalman bahumat mein hai, aur unko bhi labh pahunchta hai; magar sirf unko nahin, sab muchhuaron ko!

Maine yeh ghatna aapko is liye sunayi, kyunki aap soch rahe honge ki aaj main kyun in chhe karod gujaratiyon ke dus pratishat bhagidaar, sirf apne mussalman bhaiyon aur behenon se baat kar raha hoon? Aaj paristhiti hi kuchh aisi hain.

Assembly ke chunao mein maine baar baar ek baat kahi thi, ki desh mein vote-bank ki rajniti band honi chahiye, aur sab rajnitik dalon ko vikaas ki rajniti mein spardha lagani chahiye. Uski jeet ho, jo matdataon ko vishwas dila sake, ki rajya ya rashtra ka vikaas karane mein kaunsa dal sabse aage hai! Maine poori koshish ki hai, dil se koshish ki hai, ki main is vikaas ke marg se apni drishti na hataoon.

Magar aaj, jis vote-bank ki rajniti ko door rakhne mein main ab tak safal raha tha, us vote-bank ki rajniti ne Gujarat ke darwaze par jor se dastak di hai! Hame aaj mil ke faisla karna hai ki ham is prakar ki ghinauni rajniti ko apne divya aur bhavya Gujarat mein ghusne denge, ya use Gujarat ki seema par hi rok denge!

Ab jo baat main aapse karne wala hoon, use gaur se suniye!

UPA ki Kendra sarkar ne ek central scheme nikali hai, pre-matric scholarship scheme. Is scheme ka uddeshya hai ki desh ki paanch minorities, muslim, isai, baudhh, sikh aur parsi, ko pre-matric ki shiksha mein aarthik sahayog diya jaye! Mujhe zarooratmand bachhon ko shiksha ke liye aarthik sahayog dene mein koi apatti nahin hai. Mujhe apatti hai, to sirf alpsankhyak bachho ko sahayog dene mein hai! Mere vichar se, har zarooratmand bache ko sahayog milna chahiye, uski jaati ya panth ke aadhar par nahin, magar uski zaroorat ke aadhar par!

Jab yeh scheme launch hui, to Gujarat sarkar ne isko gair-samvaidhaanik maante hue, isko laagu karne se mana kar diya. Iska ek kaaran yeh bhi tha ki Gujarat sarkar rajya ke har zarooratmand bache ko aarthik sahayog dene ke liye ek scheme pehle se hi chala rahi thi.

Meri is scheme ko le kar ek aur badi aapatti hai, ki isme se vote-bank ki rajniti ki boo aati hai! Iska seedha seedha lakshya minorities ke naam par, mussalman vote haasil karne ki chah hai!

Gujarat sarkar ne High Court ka darwaza khatkhataya, magar mere vichaar se hamein insaaf nahin mila. Gujarat High Court ne is scheme ko na sirf samvaidhanik karaar diya, magar yeh bhi kaha ki Gujarat sarkar is scheme ko lagu karne ke liye baadhya hai! Ham is faisle ke khilaaf supreme court tak jayenge, magar is antaraal mein, hamein yeh scheme lagu karne ka bhi nirnaya karna padega.

Main bade dukh ke saath keh raha hoon ki Gujarat sarkar ne yeh faisla kiya hai ki ham is scheme ko lagu karenge.

Magar main ashavan hoon aur aapse ek vinamra vinti karne aaya hoon. Meri aap sab se vinti hai ki Gujarat ka har ek mussalman (aur har ek Gujarati) is scheme ka bahishkar kare! Kendra sarkar Gujarat sarkar ko scheme lagu karne ke liye baadhya kar sakti hai. Magar duniya ki koi taakat aapko is scheme ka labh uthhane ke liye baadhya nahin kar sakti! Aap is scheme ka bahishkar karke poore desh ko ek sandesh de sakte hain ki hum is vote-bank ki rajniti se thak gaye hain! Hame sabka saath, aur sabka vikaas chahiye! Kisi ek jaati ya panth ka vikaas nahin!

Aaj chhe karod gujaratiyon ki sangathit aawaz dilli ki behri sarkar ke kaano tak ek swar mein pahunchni chahiye!

Votebank ki rajniti – nahin chalegi nahin chalegi!

Hamein chahiye – sabka saath sabka vikaas!!

Shukriya aur aadaab!

Translation in English (but trust me, its essence is lost in translation):

Salutations to my 60 lac Muslim brothers and sisters of Gujarat.

During my entire 10-year long political career, I have always collectively addressed all the six crore Gujaratis in my Gujarat. This because I am unable to see anything or anyone else. I don’t see my Gujaratis as either Hindus, or Muslims, or Christians, forwards or backwards, rich or poor, men or women, children or elderly, urban or rural, Gujarati-speaking or otherwise, or locals or outsiders. I only see them as my six crore Gujarati brothers and sisters.

Some time back, the Chairman of the National Minorities Commission of India had visited, to evaluate the status of minorities in Gujarat. He visited my office and asked me, “Modiji, what do you do for the minorities of Gujarat?” Without batting an eyelid, I had told him that I do not do anything for the minorities in Gujarat. He was flabbergasted, wondering how could a CM talk to him like this. I told him further, that before you leave in anger from here, please note that I do not do anything for the majority in Gujarat also! I only do things for my six crore Gujaratis. However, since you can only view people by dividing them into groups, let me tell you that in my state, we have a 1500 crore scheme called Sagarkhedu, for the fishermen of Gujarat, a large majority of whom in my state are muslims. But the scheme is for all fishermen, not only Muslim fishermen!

The reason I am relating this story to you today, is because you must be wondering that today why am I speaking to only the 10% population of my 6 crore gujaratis, i.e. my muslim brothers and sisters? There is a reason for this.

During the recent assembly elections, you would recall that I kept on repeatedly saying vote-bank politics should stop in this country. There should be a race between political parties on development politics. Let that party win which can convince the voters that it can get them maximum development in the quickest time. I have tried to completely focus all my energies on the development of the state, and nothing else.

However, the vote-bank politics which I was successfully able to keep away from Gujarat uptil now, is now once again knocking on the door-steps of Gujarat. We need to collectively decide whether we will allow this cancer to enter our glorious state, or will we stop this on our borders?

I request you to listen to me carefully.

The UPA government introduced a central scheme called pre-matric scholarship scheme. The objective of this scheme is to financially support deserving students from five minority communities, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and Parsis. I have no problems in financially supporting deserving students for their studies. I have an objection if this benefit is given to minorities only, and not to deserving students from all communities. Assistance should be provided to all communities based on need, and not on the basis of religion or caste.

When this scheme was launched, the Gujarat government refused to implement it, considering it to be unconstitutional. In any case, the Gujarat government was already running a scheme to support students from all communities. One more reason for resisting this was that the scheme reeked of vote-bank politics. It is an attempt to garner minority votes, under the guise providing financial support.

The Gujarat government went to the High Court in appeal, but in my opinion, we did not get justice. The Gujarat High Court not only held the scheme to be constitutional, but also mandated that the Gujarat government is obliged to implement this scheme. We will appeal against this verdict in the Supreme Court, but in the interim we will also be forced to decide on implementing this scheme.

I have to regretfully announce to you that the Gujarat government has decided to implement this scheme for now!

However, I am hopeful and have come to make a humble appeal to you. I request that each and every Muslim in Gujarat boycott this scheme. The central government can force the Gujarat government to implement a scheme, but no power on earth can force you to take the benefit of this scheme. By boycotting this scheme, you can send a clear and strong message to the rest of the country that we are tired of vote-bank politics, and want politics of development for everyone, and not any one religion or community.

Today let the voice of 6 crore Gujaratis reach the ears of the deaf government in Delhi!

We do not want vote-bank politics!

We want Sabka saath sabka vikaas!!

Thank you.