Narendra Modi a firm, no-nonsense leader: Time

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may pose a challenge to Congress's young scion Rahul Gandhi in India's next parliamentary elections, Time magazine has said.

Modi, who figured on the cover page of the latest issues of the Asia edition of the prestigious magazine which hit the stands on Friday, could put up a challenge to Gandhi in particular after the recently held Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, where Congress fared poorly.

'With two years left before the next national election in 2014, Congress hopes its young scion, Sonia's son Rahul, will refresh the party, but a resounding loss in a recent state election makes him look vulnerable,' Time said.

'Modi Means Business. But can he lead India?' says the headline on the coverage, which has a blown up picture of a serious looking Modi, who has ruled Gujarat for more than a decade now.

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"Modi, 61, is perhaps the only contender with the track record and name recognition to challenge Rahul Gandhi," says the cover story by Jyoti Thottam, which includes an interview of Modi.

"Many Indians recoil at any mention of a man whose name is indelibly linked to Gujarat's brutality of 2002; choosing him as India's leader would seem a rejection of the country's tradition of political secularism and a sure path to increased tension with Muslim Pakistan, where he is reviled," it says.

"But when others think of someone who can bring India out of the mire of chronic corruption and inefficiency -- of a firm, no-nonsense leader who will set the nation on a course of development that might finally put it on par with China -- they think of Modi," Time says.

The cover story highlights the achievement of Gujarat under his chief ministership.

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"What's certain is that during his 10 years in power in Gujarat, the state has become India's most industrialised and business-friendly territory, having largely escaped the land conflicts and petty corruption that often paralyze growth elsewhere in the nation," it said.

"Gujarat's $85 billion economy may not be the largest in India, but it has prospered without the benefit of natural resources, fertile farmland, a big population centre like Mumbai or a lucrative high-tech hub like Bangalore. Gujarat's success, even Modi's detractors acknowledge, is a result of good planning -- exactly what so much of India lacks," the magazine said.

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But Time does point out towards the 2002 riots, the victims of which are yet to get justice.

"In the decade since that carnage, dozens of individual rioters have been convicted, but the state has never had to answer accusations that it failed to halt the violence: no top officials have been held accountable or had conspiracy charges proved against them," it said.

"One case naming Modi remains open, a notorious incident in which nearly 200 people were killed while taking shelter in the home of a Muslim politician, Ehsan Jafri, whose desperate calls to government officials for protection were ignored. Modi denies ever hearing from Jafri, who was dismembered and killed. If this case also ends without any charges being brought, the last remaining obstacle between Modi and national office will fall," the weekly wrote.

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