Why is Shinzo Abe Being Hosted in Gujarat?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi always projects Gujarat as a responsive and investment friendly State that has a long coast giving access to the Gulf, Middle East and Africa, where the land cost and labour cost are cheaper than other states. It prompts him to invite world’s financial and political leaders to India and later, redirect them to Gujarat. Though the states within the Union of India have the privileges to sign treaties or MoUs with international counterparts, this is the first time we are seeing a PM misusing his position in order to favour a particular state, Gujarat, of which he was the CM for many years. During Mr Abe’s 2013 visit, he and then PM Dr Manmohan Singh signed a Joint State Agreement to develop it’s first-ever high-speed-rail corridor in India. The present regime’s attempt to appropriate an already in-the-works Bullet Train Project is just another example of unstatesmanlike behavior by Mr Modi.

It is to be noted that the Indian Prime Minister hosted his Japanese counterpart in Ahmedabad three years after a swing ride with Chinese President Xi Jinping there, to prematurely unveil a bullet train project before elections in Gujarat. Whether this sees more success than the Sino-Indian relationship did, remains to be seen, but the timing is clearly suspect. Especially since neither the DPR is in place, nor has the land acquisition process started. The September timing of the ceremonial inauguration is clearly aimed to a get a jump on the model code of conduct that the Election Commission of India enforces during the campaign period ahead of polls.

The state of Gujarat is now gearing up for its first Assembly poll since Mr. Modi’s exit. Given this context, the PM taking Shinzo Abe to the state seems part of the BJP’s poll efforts than any meaningful engagement with a major world power. It is an astonishing contradiction to see that Abe’s itinerary include a road-show across Ahmedabad, a civic reception, a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram, a visit to a 16th century mosque in Ahmedabad along with a visit to Dandi Kutir, the museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. It is rare for foreign dignitaries to spend their visits to India entirely in a regional capital and not New Delhi. The fact that this special exception has been made for Ahmedabad indicates BJP’s eagerness to focus on optics ahead of the Assembly polls. This is a rare moment in Indian politics when a prime minister is using a state visit by another prime minister to help his party in polls to a state Assembly.

Foreign policy experts have already raised questions over Shinzo Abe’s state visit to Ahmedabad and not the country’s national capital. The intention is to distract the attention of citizens who are struggling from rocketing fuel prices and use it for political advantage in view of the forthcoming Gujarat assembly elections. It reveals how a Prime Minister has no compunctions to misuse his constitutional position and divert all the benefits coming out of an international treaty to his own home state. Modi’s blatant favouritism will have far reaching consequences on cooperative federal principles of the country.

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