INDIA SUMMARIZED

 Modi refusing to wear a skullcap offered by the Imam Shahi Saiyad of Prara Twenty days before he completes a decade as the chief minister of Gujarat, and on the occasion of his birthday, Narendra Modi decided to emerge a new man. The Supreme Court ‘reprieve’ in one of the 2002 Gujarat riots cases just five days before came at the perfect moment for his reincarnation. There would be no apology for the riots, but he would fast for peace. Hence his three-day ‘sadbhavana mission’. Loaded with the twin purpose of an image makeover and self-projection as a serious claimant to the centrestage of national politics, this was Modi’s attempt to appear “inclusive, secular and pro-development”. Many saw it as Modi trying to do an Advani, that is, a belated course correction. Six years earlier, the senior BJP leader had attempted to redeem himself by calling Jinnah secular while visiting his birthplace in Karachi. Circa 2011, Modi chose his home ground, Gujarat, as h...