It’s been quite a while that some of the big-ticket investments being made in India have by and large gravitated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State of Gujarat. The most recent examples are the Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project and the Tata-Airbus defence aircraft project.
The developments, irrespective of the truth of the behind-the-scenes lobbying, have prompted tongues to go wagging among the Dalal Street community. “Everything is going to Gujarat” is their common refrain.
Now, it’s not just money that is flowing into Gujarat, but nature too is seemingly focussed on Gujarat and tongues are wagging about it on all streets, beyond Dalal Street, as well. In the context of the recent ‘Cyclone Biparjoy’ diverting the strength of the South West monsoon away from Kerala, Goa, Mumbai and most of India’s west coast, “even rain is getting taken away to Modi’s Gujarat” is a oft heard refrain in street conversation these days.
‘Modi hai to mumkeen hai’ (Anything is possible with Modi there) is a catchphrase that seems to be ominously getting the backing of abstract forces.