Haha
I wonder how many will get the sarcasm
Well, does it matter? People will still harp upon Modi's (dubious) development credentials. And if all else fails they will start calling the kettle black, and say "when Congress didn't reduce poverty either, how can we ask Modi to do it in 10 years?"
The simplest truth is that data doesn't lie. And I dont want to sound pompous, but anybody who has studied even basic marketing can easily figure out the modus operandi. Modi's PR team hype up business deals and investment stats. At the same time a simple Google search will tell you that TN and Maharasthra received higher FDI than Gujarat. Many other states perform better on many other social indicators.
Another tactic is that Modi's name is associated whenever any business faces trouble in any other state. Take Tata and Singur or Maruti and Manesar labor disputes. Modi makes a statement inviting Tata and Maruti just at the right time and his PR machinery cleverly makes him look like a messiah for Indian industry. Later everything goes back to normal. Tata churns out Nano from its Pantnagar plant and Maruti continues from Manesar. In reality every company has a back up manufacturing location. But Modi captures mindspace via this tactic and people fall for it.
Nobody delves deeper to analyse how much investment is actually made on the ground. And how come even after so much investment, more poor are found in Gujarat than many other states? And more malnourished too, I must add. Are all those industries employing outsiders? Who are they benefiting if they are not elevating poverty in Gujarat? Surely the way Modi's PR machinery makes it sound, Gujarat has everybody well fed and well employed?
But no, Modi is the one with the golden wand to transform India. Never mind the clever spin and the blatant effort to fool people which is just a ploy to highlight his credentials and elevate him as the BJP's main candidate. And simply going by things in the online world, its surely working!
And to compound matters, the inefficacy of the current government makes Modi sound even better. Its not that people cant see beyond Modi's facade, its that people are so frustrated by the current rule that they choose to ignore it or side step it. People are so blinded by darkness that Modi seems a ray of shining white light and never mind the quite evident shades of grey. But go back a little in history and the worse leaders have taken over when everything seemed hopeless and people were clamoring for a charismatic leader. Mussolini, Hitler, even Saddam. They all rose on the back of resurgent nationalism after a time of historical lows preceding it. And people loved them, even though they showed signs of megalomania and despotism and carried hate, overtly or covertly. The rest, as they say, is history.