AAP plots its long game in Gujarat—ending BJP-Congress duopoly

The AAP’s plans for the state are also apparent in the closed-door meetings that the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held with key social and political leaders. On March 27, Kejriwal had met Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) leader and  Dediapada MLA Mahesh Vasava. The party, which has two MLAs at present, is likely to ally with the AAP for the Assembly elections later this year.

“Among those who met Kejriwal on Sunday were two disgruntled Congress leaders and several social and political figures. We are now planning a bigger roadshow in Gujarat during Kejriwal’s next visit,” AAP’s state spokesperson Yogesh Jadwani.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi chief minister visited a temple in Ahmedabad’s Shahibaug area that is run by the Swami Narayan sect. The followers of the sect are predominantly the politically important Patidar community. The AAP is also trying to bring over the powerful Leuva Patidar leader Naresh Patel to its side.

“People are tired of the politics of abuse and hatha pai (scuffles) between the Congress and the BJP. They want to vote for a party that does the politics of work. If we could win the trust of people in Delhi and Punjab, then how far can Gujarat be?” said the party’s state president Gopal Italia.

Political symbolism

The political symbolism of the AAP’s route for its two-and-a-half kilometre “Tiranga Yatra” was not lost on political observers.

The roadshow started from the Khodiyar Mata temple in Nikol, which is a not so affluent neighbourhood in Ahmedabad’s old city area. Most of its residents are working-class Patidars and migrant labourers. Nikol was also one of the epicentres of violence during the 2015 Patidar agitation for reservation led by now Congress leader Hardik Patel. Fifteen people, including a policeman, died in incidents of violence and police firing in districts such as Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Banaskantha, and Surat. A few of the victims were from Nikol.

Kejriwal, atop a vehicle and accompanied by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, told the residents of Nikol that the AAP had ended corruption in Delhi and would do so in Punjab “unlike the BJP which has not been able to do the same in Gujarat in the past 25 years.” Urging people to vote for his party, the Delhi CM said if the AAP fails to deliver voters can “anyway bring these people (BJP) back to power”.

The roadshow wound up in Bapunagar, another working-class neighbourhood in Ahmedabad’s old city area.

“It is not just the people of Nikol or Bapunagar but the entire Gujarat who are unhappy with the arrogance of the BJP and the Congress’s reluctance to stand up as an Opposition. For the first time in Gujarat, people received a message through this roadshow that they have now got an option to choose a party that fights on issues concerning them. It felt like they have been waiting for this alternative for decades,” said Italia.

Kejriwal a big city mayor: BJP

The BJP and the Congress, as expected, are not enthused over the AAP’s emergence in the state’s politics, with the ruling party labelling Kejriwal an “outsider”.

State minister and government spokesperson Jitu Vaghani told reporters on Saturday, “It is the culture of Gujarat to welcome people from outside. These people are pravasis (outsiders) and he is a mayor of a big city.”

The Congress, meanwhile, alleged that the AAP was the BJP’s “B team”. State Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi told on Sunday, “In a democracy, any political party is allowed to come to a state and campaign over there. However, in this case, the AAP has been brought to Gujarat by the BJP as their B team. The BJP has now realised that their ‘polarisation on basis of religion’ card has dried up and now they need another strategy to counter the issues affecting Gujarat. Hence, they have now introduced parties such as the AAP and the AIMIM for division of votes. We saw its example in the recently held Gandhinagar local body polls. So, Kejriwal has to answer to all Gujaratis  — whether he wishes to challenge the corrupt regime of the BJP or further pave their way to electoral success by dividing the votes?”

Recent history in Gujarat

While the AAP’s Gujarat unit was set up only in 2013, it got its first state president only in 2017 when 79-year-old retired mathematics professor Kishore Desai was appointed to the post. It contested 29 of the 182 Assembly seats in the state elections that year, receiving fewer votes than even the NOTA option in many constituencies.

The party restructured its state organisation in 2020, appointing the 32-year-old Italia its state chief. The former police constable had shot into the limelight three years earlier after throwing a shoe at then state Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja.

Early last year, the Kejriwal-led party contested the local body elections. It managed to win 27 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation polls, replacing the Congress to become the main Opposition party in the city. Last October, it won one seat in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation elections and also ensured the Congress’s defeat in many seats by eating into its votes.