Vadnagar's pride may steer Modi to throne

VADNAGAR, Mehsana: Narendra Modi is in luck, courtesy the blessing hand of the residents of his native village Vadnagar. The village boy is famous here and, most importantly, a matter of pride.
What''s more, he didn''t have to make efforts to win the selfless love of the people of his motherland.
His face was a forgotten one, until he visited the village five years back asking for votes for the BJP, only to be etched in their memories permanently.Modi, they say, never visited Vadnagar in the last 35 years, not even when there were deaths in the family.
The riots did not affect the village in the least even though the 25,000-strong population comprises 2,000 Muslims. So where does Modi''s hard-core Hindutva line gel?
Issues don''t really matter here. By far a neglected village, it''s striving to maintain the pride it has in Modi. Residents have heartedly forgotten the pains of their lives, without power, water or jobs, for which their very own Modi has done nothing ever.
What if he is not contesting from their village, they are ready to go as far as Maninagar to support their son. With the 18,000 votes they claim in Maninagar constituency, they feel the mission is not impossible.
Thousands of Vadnagris have migrated to Maninagar as here they have no work or water to irrigate their fields.
"Natives of Vadnagar in Maninagar will vote for him, irrespective of their political leanings," says a leading advocate A S Modi.
Suryaben Patel, 50, says: "He left this village several years ago, but his wife lives nearby." What has Modi done? "He has done nothing so far. But we would still like a CM from our village," she says, hiding her rags.
D V Rami, in a semi-government job, says: "We get power only for five to six hours in a day. There is no water in the aquifers. For many years now, there have been scarce rains leading to poor crop." But, he has no complaints against Modi.
The residents don''t want to look back on Modi''s five-year stint as the chief minister. They don''t seem to mind that these years didn''t help improve their lives.
Add to their problems, the only rail-route that connected them to Mehsana, has been shut down. No complaints, yet.