Gujarat Elections : The Turmoil ,Tumult And Then The Questioning Calm !

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 BY R.K. MISRA

After being drowned in a sea of sound, Gujarat rests for a while.

 Months of  election-campaign turmoil and tumult building up to a crescendo as the two- phased voting ended on December 5 and then the questioning calm. That is up to December 8 when the ballot boxes open to smiles for the victor and sadness for the vanquished.

Tethered in this twilight zone, it is time to pause and ponder. The highest stake in this Gujarat election is  for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP and the lowest for Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) with the Congress nestling somewhere in between. Long targeted by friend and foes alike for its jagirdari-like hold on the Grand Old Party(GOP), the Nehru-Gandhi family distanced itself from active campaigning. Rahul Gandhi addressed  just two meetings in a single day after elections were declared and the prime minister over 50 of them.

For Modi retaining his citadel is a compulsion. A defeat in Gujarat can be disastrous for the prospects of his return to national power in 2024 while a victory will work as a morale booster. AAP is the disruptor-in-chief with its supremo Arvind Kejriwal pegging a profile higher than its professed reach but capable of hurting both the BJP and Congress prospects though without the heft to abrogate power for itself. How much dent and to whom remains unquantified.

The ruling BJP has pulled out all stops and led by Prime Minister Modi ,Home Minister Amit Shah ,an army of national and leaders from states have been hurled into a carpet-bombing campaign. Billed as the country’s longest road show of 50 kms in Ahmedabad on Thursday last by the PM coincided with the first phase of polling in other parts of the state. The road show covered  13 constituencies in Ahmedabad  and one in Gandhinagar.

”Such an extended effort by any prime minister in a state election has never been seen in the annals of India’s electoral history”, said a former  BJP big-wig  now with the Congress, adding  “that it is also indicative of the high stakes of Modi and the perilous position of his party in the state.

A highlight of the campaign has been  the showcasing  of bulldozers at BJP elections rallies, marking an ominous introduction of an Uttar Pradesh model in the electoral politics of  Gujarat.

Narendra Modi came to power in Delhi projecting Gujarat as the model for national development and now the BJP showcases bulldozers and Adityanath symbolising the UP model during campaigning in his home state.

 ”Our bulldozers have made UP riot-free”, says  a triumphant  chief minister Adityanath at rallies he addressed. The bulldozer had become a mascot of the BJP in UP with its chief minister earning the name of “bulldozer baba”, after the party’s victory in the elections there. The phenomenon has  now made an entry in Gujarat.

Has the demolition politics of Uttar Pradesh  displaced the Gujarat model of development ahead of these elections is a  frequently asked question. The authorities  and the affected  have contrasting reactions. District authorities as well as the local BJP leadership refute any relationship with the polls. ”These were unauthorized structures which were removed without any discrimination in any manner keeping in mind national security”, is the official refrain. “Why now “, question the affected. ”It is meant to send a message’, point out political analysts.

Be that as it may, the Jhakhau fishing harbour in Kutch is part of Abdasa Assembly constituency, considered a Congress stronghold which switched sides  when its sitting MLA Pradyumansinh Jadeja went over to the BJP in 2020.

 In October an extensive demolition drive was carried out in   Bet Dwarka to clear ‘illegal constructions’. It received praise from the Prime Minister. Addressing a public meeting in Jamnagar  subsequently Prime Minister Modi expressed appreciation  that the drive initiated by the chief minister  had restored the “ pride of Bet Dwarka “.”I have noticed with satisfaction the sense of appreciation expressed by religious saints and culture lovers”. he added.

The demolition drive also found resonance in the election speeches of union home minister Amit Shah as well. “Fake mazars’ were removed from Bet Dwarka and  the BJP government will continue  the clean-up despite opposition from the Congress”, he said at a  rally in Khambhat.

Though communal overtones have been a continuous strand of BJP governance in Gujarat, the Gujarat model of governance and development has been projected as the force-multiplier of  Narendra Modi’s   decade and a quarter-long reign in the state. It is on the strength of this projection that  he was catapulted onto the national stage in 2014 and re-elected thereafter. It is for the first time that a ‘yogi’ model ,symbolized by the bulldozer has been introduced into Modi’s Gujarat.

Interestingly, the  manifestoes of the BJP, five years apart, present a noticeable study in contrasts(bjp.org). The 2017 manifesto spoke of interest-free loan to farmers, brick houses, water, connection and toilets for the poor, Rs 1000 crore to make youth self-sufficient, setting-up of district welfare boards, encouraging start-ups and free higher education for women, mohalla clinics, 252 public diagnostic centres and pharmacies selling medicines at affordable prices and metro trains in Surat and Vadodara.

 The salient features of the 2022 manifesto include implementation of Uniform Civil Code, anti-radicalisation cells to identify sleeper cells-terrorists, law for seizure of property to compensate for damages during violent demonstrations and riots, Dwarka corridor to establish the largest spiritual centre in western India, Rs 1000 crores to renovate and extend temples, task force to examine waqf property and Madrasa curriculum, rigorous imprisonment and fine for forcible conversion, Rs 500 crore to augment facilities in gaushaalas and 1000 additional veterinary clinics besides Rs 25,000 crores to expand irrigation network and create 20 lakh jobs in the next five years. This says it all.

http://odishapostepaper.com/edition/4317/orissapost/page/9

http://epaper.lokmat.com/lokmattimes/main-editions/Nagpur%20Main/2022-12-06/6

 

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