From calling PM Narendra Modi a jadugar who has been tricking people, to the online release of Hardik Patel's sex tape, political campaigning is gaining steam in poll-bound Gujarat. As several parties prepare to lock horns next month, the fight in Modi's home town is of pride for one, and prestige for another. The elections will be held in two phases- December 9 and 14.
In the first phase, 89 seats of Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat are covered while rest, north and central Gujarat in the second phase. Poll results will be out on December 18 along with Himachal Pradesh.
BJP
The ruling BJP will be shifting pace from Amit Shah's ongoing door-to-door canvassing to a high-voltage carpet bombing with senior leaders coming down to Gujarat, ahead of the first phase of polling. The party has planned about 10 days of high-profile campaigning, November 20 onwards, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to fly in and out of the state and other ministers maintaining the momentum. Sources said the party will send out 30-odd leaders on a single day, to spread across the region and address rallies in all 89 constituencies that will go to polls on December 9.
BJP will also reportedly hold a similar day-long mega exercise before the second and final phase. Dates for the huge outreach and roster of leaders and their venues are yet to be drawn. Apart from Modi and Shah, campaigners include Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, Rai Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, and Piyush Goyal. Also involved will be chief ministers Yogi Adityanath, Vasundhara Raje, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Devendra Fadnavis.
NaMo will be in-charge of the state campaigns, and is set to address one big rally in each of the 32 districts, along with holding roadshows in major cities like Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Rajkot. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said, “We are contesting the polls under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi's campaign plans are being worked out by the party in consultation with the Prime Minister's Office.”
Modi has visited Gujarat almost 10 times in the past six months, for different government events, including laying foundation stone for the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai bullet train project, completion of the Narmada dam and inauguration of a ferry service linking south Gujarat and the Saurashtra region via sea route. Union Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani shifted her focus to Gujarat as she visited Surat last week stating that the Congress is trying to incite small businessmen and traders from embracing GST. She said they are ready to be tax compliant, and that her ministry is doing everything to solve the problems they are facing in shifting to GST.
Campaigning for BJP candidates, she engaged voters in a door-to-door campaign in parts of Ahmedabad and distributed written copies of Modi's message. She also assured that the GST council is working out to remove any glitches that may have occurred in the process of implementation.
BJP MLAs keep hopes of poll tickets
BJP MLAs have several apprehensions on gaining election tickets as they expect Modi and Shah to implement their signature move of denying tickets to sitting members in a bid to beat anti-incumbency. However, there are several hopeful that the high command could avoid the move this elections to keep a check on possible defections. Modi had denied tickets to 47 sitting MLAs in 2007. The figure however, came down to around 30 in 2012.
BJP leaders are likely to keep the new caste equations in mind, and also, with the Congress roping in young leaders like Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mewani, and Alpesh Thakor, it may need to bring in fresh faces. Congress' KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) formula leaves the BJP with the upper caste (10 per cent), and OBC (20 per cent). Given its brush against the 2015 Patel quota demand, it cannot bank on the whole 15 per cent of the community.
CONGRESS
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi began his campaigning for Assembly polls in north Gujarat with a visit to the famous Akshardham temple. The temple which belongs to the Swaminarayan sect, holds a huge following among the Patel community, which the party is trying to woo. The party is working on making sure the elections remain a local battle and does not turn into a national Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi. It has targeted local governance, law and order, and is questioning the leadership skills of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, and his predecessor Anandiben Patel.
A senior party leader said, “We are questioning the Gujarat model, which is touted as a success story. Our entire campaign is based on busting the myth of Gujarat model. Privatisation of education, growing unemployment, closure of industries, housing crisis, expensive healthcare, farm distress, unfair land acquisition- all these are grass-root issues where we would question Gujarat model of governance.” Congress said it does not want to make it a national contest. Another leader said, “We don't want to run a negative campaign. It has a negative impact. People think we are criticising the PM, who won a landslide mandate, for the sake of criticising.”
Gandhi arrived in Gandhinagar on November 10, kick-starting his three-day tour covering six districts. The only national issues it plans to cover are price rise, demonetisation, and GST.
Cong ropes in technocrat Sam Pitroda
Bowing to his moral responsibility to assist the party as Rajiv Gandhi was a dear friend, Sam Pitroda landed in Gujarat last week to campaign for the party. He travelled to major cities in the state, over the next five days, and meet with different people. “Students, women, small businessmen and farmers will be the focus of our meetings over the next five days. Instead of declaring a manifesto, the Congress has decided to listen to people and reflect their demands in the manifesto,” Pitroda told the media in Ahmedabad.
“I am a Vishwakarma and the son of a carpenter. Reservation helps in uplifting those who are underprivileged, but that does not stop anyone from achieving his or her own goals,” he said. Congress had already announced before Ahmed Patel’s election to the Rajya Sabha that all sitting MLAs will be allotted tickets this poll. If it's true, Congress candidates for 43 seats are already decided.
Young community leaders put their strength to test
These Assembly polls are just as much about a brand new set of local leaders in the state as it is about Gandhi and Modi. The growing popularity of Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, and Jignesh Mewani is no secret, especially given the amount of fight big fishes put to rope them in. Patel is the convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, which has been agitating for reservations for the Patidar community. He grew to prominence in 2015, during the protests, claiming to be the fresh face of the group.
Part of the OBC, SC and ST Ekta Manch and Kshatriya Thakor Sena, Thakor propagated a counter-narrative to Patel's demands, representing the state's 51 per cent OBC population. While there are about 146 castes in the OBCs, Thakor and Kolis are the majority, and impact 68 seats mostly in central and north Gujarat. Lawyer-cum-activist Mewani of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, is the face of the 7 per cent Dalits, a community that is deeply affected by gau rakshaks.
Aware that he cannot face the BJP alone, Patel welcomed the Congress with open hands. However, the latter cannot agree to his demand because of the SC cap on quotas at 50 per cent. While Thakor who has already allied with the Congress, is not ready to share the 27 per cent OBC quota with him. Patel can only back the Congress if it publicly supports his quota demand. Mewani, who desires to build a Dalit-Muslim compact with the Congress, finds troubles with the internal community issues with OBCs and Patels.
