Brand Modi key to success of 2017 Vibrant Gujarat Summit

The investor friendly environment of Gujarat had contributed to the building of 'Brand Modi' not just in India but worldwide

If winning the Gujarat Assembly polls, due by end-2017, is a matter of prestige for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, the success of the 2017 edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit has become equally important.

A brainchild of Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, the once-in-two-years summit was first held in 2003, and its eighth edition is to be held from January 10-13, 2017.

While the Prime Minister and Shah have frequently visited Gujarat in recent months — the BJP president was there again on Monday to discuss the party’s preparations for the polls — the state’s bureaucrats as well as those at the Centre are travelling the world to ensure the success of the 2017 Summit. (BJP’S GLOBAL TOUCHPOINTS)

The investor-friendly environment of Gujarat had contributed to the building of “brand Modi” in India and across the world. The Modi government at the Centre, the Vijay Rupani government in Gandhinagar and the BJP know how vital it is to keep both Gujarat’s image as well as that of Modi’s undented in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

So, 13 delegations have already visited or are currently visiting key countries to invite businesses for the Vibrant Gujarat summit. As many as 23 countries are being visited. In each of these countries, numerous road shows and seminars have been organised, media organisations reached out to and Indian Diaspora galvanised. Senior Gujarat bureaucrats, including Gujarat Resident Commissioner Bharat Lal, state Industries Commissioner Mamta Verma and State Information Technology Secretary Dhananjay Dviwedi, have led the delegations.

One of those involved with the exercise likened the preparations for the summit as nothing less than US President Barack Obama having sent his White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to his constituency Chicago a year before the 2012 US presidential elections. “The need to defend our home turf is important,” a source, involved with the planning of the summit, said.

The feedback from the interaction of these delegations with businesses and investor communities was positive.

Immense excitement was reported for investing in India and good perception was seen of the Modi government’s efforts at improving ease of doing business and rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

The Gujarat success story, and Modi as its icon, remains not only undented but has been reinforced with the reforms carried out by the Centre, a source claimed. They said that not a single person spoke about the Dalit and Patidar agitations of Gujarat.

“The PM’s outreach to the diaspora has become a force multiplier, as has his reliance on social media. They blunt any negative reportage in mainstream media. People know that Modi has been consistently defamed by a section,” the source said.

This time, the summit has also invited Nobel laureates from the field of medicine. “We have ambitions to make the Vibrant Gujarat Summit India’s Davos,” the source said.

Apart from the countries that have partnered the event earlier as well, like the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and Thailand, new partner countries for the 2017 event are France, the Netherlands and Poland.