People look at Modi as a strong leader: Uma Bharti

Amid growing clamour to declare Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP, party vice president Uma Bharti on Sunday said that people look at him as a strong leader, as they want someone who can tackle issues like terrorism, naxalism.

“Though I am not eligible to say whether he should be declared as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate or not, I understand the psyche of the people, who have a feeling of insecurity because of growing terrorism, naxalism, corruption and incidents like beheading of Indian soldiers on the LoC. Therefore, they have started looking at Modi as a strong leader,” Ms. Bharti told PTI in Bhopal on Sunday.

“People want a strong leader, who can tackle terrorism, naxalism, corruption and law and order... They want a leader whom they can consider as their hero. They are no more interested in goody-goody kind of persons and leaders who only sweet talk,” she added.

The BJP leader said that Mr. Modi was getting support from across the country as he has been successful in providing good governance, which is a combination of both development as well as law and order in Gujarat. “There is no point in having good roads if people are unable to walk on them without any fear,” she said.

Referring to Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh’s recent comment that Mr. Modi has hired professional media/PR agencies for his image makeover, Ms. Bharti said, “The clamour for Modi is growing not because of any media management as alleged by some people, but because of strong feeling of insecurity among the people.”

She also refuted the claim that there was no development in Gujarat and asked the Congress leader to tour the state by road instead of helicopter. “The state has one of the finest roads in the country and there is no corruption in Gujarat,” she said.

“There are only two states in the country where there is virtually no corruption, first is Gujarat and the other one is Goa,” Ms. Bharti claimed.