Ahmedabad/New Delhi: Led by its most popular faces, the two principal rivals in Gujarat, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), squared off against each other on Thursday to win the minds and hearts of the state’s voters, particularly the Patels, a crucial vote bank.
While the aggressive Congress pitch was led by its vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the BJP campaign was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—a four-term chief minister of Gujarat.
A section of the Patels—a dominant community in Gujarat with a vote share of 12-14%—are visibly unhappy with the BJP, something the Congress sees as an opportunity. They are demanding reservation in jobs and education, a demand that the Congress has signalled it is willing to accept but difficult to commit to formally.
“There are two truths. The first is of the people of Gujarat and the second what is said by leaders of BJP. Gujarat’s truth has nothing to do with the truth of BJP. Gujarat’s truth is the unemployment of its youth, expensive healthcare, expensive education, corruption and land grabbing,” Gandhi said at a public meeting in Valsad on Thursday, adding, “Gujarat’s truth is the bullets fired on Patidars, the lathis in Una and unemployment among tribals. BJP’s truth is the benefit of the biggest industrialists, taking away land and water.”
Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel continued to hold out hope of a deal with the Congress.
“Our aim is to defeat the BJP that has failed to meet our reservation demands. Whether to support Congress directly or not will depend once the party discloses their plans on how they will give us reservation if they come to power,” Patel said over the phone.
Separately, Modi attended the silver jubilee function of the Akshardham Temple of the Swaminarayan sect. Although Modi didn’t make a political statement at the event, the Prime Minister’s presence there was significant because the followers of the sect are mainly Patels.
Last year too, Modi had flown to Gujarat to pay homage to Pramukh Swami, the spiritual head of Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) of the Swaminarayan sect who passed away on 13 August.
Political analyst say that Modi’s outreach to Patels just before the polls is important for BJP’s electoral victory in the state.
“In Swaminarayan sect the Patels are in majority so naturally Modi’s outreach to the sect is to woo the influential and powerful community. Also, the religious group has most of the business and trading classes in Gujarat as its members so given the impact of demonetization and GST (goods and services tax) it is to reach out to them as well,” said political analyst Vidyut Joshi.
The rollout of GST has not gone down well with traders and small and medium enterprises, who were previously critical of demonetization of high value currencies. Though the GST Council, the apex body overseeing the implementation of the indirect tax, has made some concessions to the rules, specifically for small business, the tax reform still rankles some sections. In fact, the GST Council is expected to announce fresh concessions at its upcoming meeting in Guwahati on 10 November.
Modi has, however, refused to back down on demonetization and has continued to wax eloquent on the benefits of GST. Prior to visiting Ahmedabad, Modi, in an address in Himachal Pradesh, said, “Why is there opposition to Modi? Why are some people angry with Modi? People who were benefitting from corruption, will they praise Modi? People who want to oppose can continue to do so...BJP will target the root of corruption.”