Tag: gujarat modi

Final Phase of Voting in Gujarat: Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore, Jignesh Mevani Among Candidates

In the 2017 Gujarat assembly polls, BJP won 51 of the 93 seats where polling is underway today. Congress won 39. Three seats went to Independent candidates.

New Delhi: The second and final phase of voting for the Gujarat assembly elections began at 8 am on Monday, December 5, in 93 constituencies across 14 districts in the central and north regions of the state.

A total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are contesting the polls in these assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cast his vote at a polling station set up in a school in Ranip area of Ahmedabad city, while Union home minister Amit Shah will exercise his franchise at a municipal centre in the city’s Naranpura area.

The BJP is seeking a seventh straight term in Gujarat where the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has added a third dimension to the traditional bipolar contest between the saffron party and the Congress.

The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat regions was held on December 1, when an average voter turnout of 63.31% was recorded.

The counting of votes for the total 182 Assembly seats will be taken up on December 8. The 833 candidates in the fray for the second phase of polls include 285 independents. A total of 2.51 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the second phase of elections, including 1.29 crore men and 1.22 crore women. There are 5.96 lakh voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years, according to the Election Commission.

The poll body has set up 14,975 polling stations for which 1.13 lakh election staffers have been deployed.

The BJP and the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP are contesting in all 93 seats. The Congress is contesting 90 seats and its alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in two segments.

Among other parties, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) has fielded 12 candidates and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 44.

Some of the important constituencies in the second phase of polls include Ghatlodia (in Ahmedabad district) of CM Bhupendra Patel, Viramgam seat (also in Ahmedabad) from where Patidar leader Hardik Patel is fighting and Gandhinagar South from where Alpesh Thakor is contesting. A ground report by The Wire has examined the changed equations in these two areas where these two once-tall opposition figures are both contesting for the BJP.

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as the Congress candidate from Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district, and Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Sukhram Rathva is the nominee from Jetpur in Chhota Udepur district.

Congress’s current MLA Kanti Kharadi who represents the Danta seat in north Gujarat – reserved for the Scheduled Tribes – was allegedly attacked. Party leader Rahul Gandhi has tweeted asking the Election Commission to take note.

BJP rebel Madhu Shrivastav is contesting as an independent candidate from Vaghodia seat in Vadodara district.

PM Modi conducted a busy campaign for the BJP candidates on December 1 and 2, including two back-to-back road shows in Ahmedabad. During the last leg of the campaign, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath held rallies in Dholka, Mahudha and Khambhat towns, while Union minister Smriti Irani held roadshows in Modasa and Siddhpur towns of north Gujarat.

AAP leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also held road shows for the second phase of the elections.

In the 2017 state assembly polls, the BJP won 51 of the 93 seats where polling is underway, Congress 39, while three seats went to Independent candidates.

In central Gujarat, the BJP had bagged 37 seats, outnumbering the Congress which got 22. But in north Gujarat, the Congress had won 17 constituencies while the saffron party got 14.

(With PTI inputs)

Gujarat’s Maker, Its Pride, Its Fall Guy: What BJP’s Slogans Say About Modi and His Campaigns

Modi had raised this very pitch in 2002 where every word spoken or written against him was successfully spun as an insult to the pride of the people of the state.

Ahmedabad: On November 6, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “I have made this Gujarat,” there was – for a moment – deafening silence across the sprawling pandal, filled with Adivasi members of the audience. Within moments, the crowds of tribal-majority Nana Pondha village in South Gujarat’s Valsad broke into a chorus: “Aa Gujarat mein banavyu chhe.”

‘I have made this Gujarat.’

Modi began his second round of campaigning on November 19 from the same tribal-majority Valsad district. This would be the first of as many as 20 rallies that Modi has and will address in the three consecutive days. The first phase of polling in Gujarat will be on December 1, for 89 seats.

This slogan is vintage Modi and the crowds spiritedly repeating it after him in regimented unison speaks of the kind of training he can impart. This is part of a firm thread spun by his genius – since the 2002 communal conflagration – of camouflaging criticism of him as the collective criticism of the people of Gujarat.

This is at play again in 2022, where praise for him is a paean to the collective pride of Gujarat. And as for critics – “These anti-Gujarat forces would be swept away once again.”

Also read: Madhavsinh Solanki Won 149 Seats in Gujarat in 1985. Here’s Why Modi Has to Break This Record

Modi had raised this very pitch in 2002 where every word spoken or written against him was successfully spun as an insult to the pride of the people of the state. They were described as an attempt by jealous anti-Gujarat forces to hit at the vitals of Gujarat’s gaurav or pride. The Gujarat Gaurav Yatra that Modi took out in 2002 in the backdrop of the devastating communal fire across the state used the words ‘Miyan Musharraf’ alluding to all the Muslims.

The attack on the ‘pride of Gujarat’ was made a constant refrain. And this has continued.

The people lapped up this brand of Hindutva that later became synonymous to the ‘vikas purush (man of development)’ ideal that Modi sought to represent while the well-entrenched ‘Hindu hriday samrat (king of Hindus’ hearts)‘ persona comfortably co-existed.

Meanwhile, history had already etched this communal divide in Gujarat which was all the more pronounced in the state’s heritage and commercial capital, Ahmedabad. This communal divide was meticulously fine-tuned, fashioned and sharpened into an electoral ‘Brahmastra (a most potent weapon)’ of sorts.

While “I have made this Gujarat” is the latest refrain for the immediate state elections, a slogan that has long been used with similar force across the country is “double engine government”, conveying the advantages of the same political party ruling at the Union government and in the states. In the previous assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the BJP almost issued a warning to say that it was crucial to have a single party ruling nationally and at the state-level to ensure the projects of the states get quick Central clearance.

This is the reason no psephologist, no journalist, no political pundit dares even guess that the BJP may lose Gujarat, though every single ground reality appears perfectly stacked against the party in the 2022 elections – as it was in 2017.

All journalistic and punditry often come close to predict a doom, but they stop here for they cannot put aside the two words: Narendra Modi. It is another matter that psephologists in 2022 are predicting a win for the BJP that is even higher than Modi’s and the party’s best of 127 out of 182 seats in the Hindutva heat of 2002.

Also read: In Poll-Bound Gujarat, BJP Banks on Modi Factor, Congress on Caste Arithmetic, and AAP on ‘Change’

As of now, all that would be best left for December 8, 2022, when the results are declared. Because, as of now, Modi is batting – and he is the Dhoni of BJP, the great finisher.

As Modi says, “I have made this Gujarat,” BJP has already completed its ‘Gaurav Yatras’ in all the districts of the state to publicise the “unprecedented development work carried out in the state under Modi’s guidance.”

It is often during the final days of election campaigns that Modi, who knows well that the votes pooled by his party are polled in his name, simultaneously plays the martyr and the messiah. So while Gujarat’s gaurav is always put on the altar during every election, the messiah who has kindled that pride is also portrayed as the fall guy who is attacked by ostensible “enemies of Gujarat.”

And this plan has the capacity to work invariably. This time, Gujarat’s ‘pride’ is the Delhi chief minister’s envy.

“Calling the Congressmen ‘enemies of Gujarat’ is cliched and yet, he has successfully done so. This time the attack is on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal who has already been described by the BJP’s social media machinery as ‘Dilli ka thug’, as a rank outsider who is here to disrupt the state’s development process. So when you say ‘I made this Gujarat,’ it means, ‘we Gujaratis, led by Modi, have made it a state for us to be proud and others to be envious of’,” says political and social scientist Ghanshyam Shah.

Constant othering – of states, the rest of the country, and opposition

He goes on, “So this othering of Kejriwal has a subtle ‘Gujarati versus non-Gujarati’ rhetoric. This is similar to how, when it comes to the Congress, blame is apportioned on the Nehru-Gandhi family for all the wrongs in the country and Gujarat.”

But Shah says that it is not just a process that aims to other Kejriwal and all those who question Gujarat’s claim to good governance. In the desperation to ensure Gujarat remains in the BJP’s hands, the latter is keen to other other states too, and the rest of the country.”

Shah explains, “Take the most recent example. Two mega industrial projects tipped for Maharashtra were suddenly moved to Gujarat. We have also seen all top heads of states, like US’s Donald Trump, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and China’s Xi Jinping, being brought to Gujarat. The latest, but certainly not the last, was Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who visited Gujarat in October.”

Shah says that this explains the thought behind another BJP slogan, “Aapnu Gujarat, aagvu Gujarat (‘Our Gujarat, Unique Gujarat’)”. “These claims act like brownie points and help garner the votes of the urban and the neo-urban classes, but it is not a happy situation nationally.”

“In 2002, it was Gujarat Gaurav, which has remained a constant. In 2004, when the United Progressive Alliance government came to power, Modi raised the ‘Injustice to Sardar Patel by the Nehru-Gandhi family’ pitch and this by implication meant ‘injustice to Gujarat and its asmita’ – pride and identity. Intermittently, ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas‘ was used and now the expanded version, ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’ is brought into play according to the audience,” says Shah.

December 8, 2022, will unravel the mystery of how effective the latest bout of sloganeering was.

Darshan Desai is founder-editor, Development News Network, Gujarat. His email is darshan207@gmail.com.

As CM, Narendra Modi Echoed Rahul Gandhi’s Statement on India as ‘Union of States’ Many Times

In several tweets and speeches, Modi as chief minister of Gujarat had praised the federal structure of government, saying it was meant to strengthen India’s unity.

New Delhi: On February 2, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a 47-minute speech in parliament warned the Narendra Modi government against straining Centre-state relations. Repeating the phrase used in Article 1 of the constitution. he reminded the house that India is referred to  as a “Union of States.” This invited the ire of the right-wing. Amit Malviya, the BJP IT cell chief and Tejasvi Surya, the BJP MP from Bangalore, led the attack. Another party MP, Nishikant Dubey, has submitted a privilege violation notice against Gandhi, saying his speech is a “conspiracy to divide the country”.

While many pointed out that Rahul Gandhi had merely quoted the Indian constitution to emphasise the importance of dialogue and discussion between the Centre and the states rather than what he said was the current policy of diktat, one of the strongest proponents of the Congress leader’s ideas about federalism is Narendra Modi – albeit in his avatar as chief minister of Gujarat. Here are 10 statements made by Modi that show his support for federalism over a strong central government, incuding one where he referred to Delhi, i.e. the Centre, as a ‘Sultanate’, a phrase which Gandhi reprised when he accused Modi of behaving like a king or ‘Shahenshah’

‘Soul of Indian constitution’

On March 5, 2012, in a 51-minute speech titled “UPA destroying federal structure for their self-interests” delivered in Indore, Modi had warned the Union government not to disturb the federal structure of the Indian state, which he described as the “soul” of the Indian constitution. 

“So you don’t want to fight against terrorism? Law and order is a state subject… This is irrefutable. The state is responsible and accountable for it. And people can ask for accountability… Through NCTC [National Counter Terrorism Centre], any IB [Intelligence Bureau] man, whether the state government knows or does not know, can search anywhere and arrest anybody. And they can run the whole world from Delhi,” he said.

He continued, “Can you imagine the consequences? And everyone was shocked [at] what was being brought through the back door. IB is one institution, which is not even accountable to the Parliament! They maintain secrecy. Some things are important in national interest but when such institutions enter the state, it can create a huge tussle between state and Centre. It is an assault on the federal structure, which gives the right to control law and order to the states.”

‘States are pillars’

Again in 2012, Modi said at another event, “Sometimes there is a debate whether the [Central] government or the states should be more powerful. If the pillars (states) are not strong, then how would the building (center) be strong? If you want a strong nation, then you need to strengthen the states. This is an unnecessary debate that Delhi should be strong but the more they attempt to strengthen it the more helpless it appears,” he said.

 “The British rulers also believed that this country cannot be run through force, this country is a country of diversity… When our constitution was made this fundamental aspect [a federal system] was accepted. And not only this, through the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, the Supreme Court has said this with a lot of weight and emphasis that even the Indian Parliament cannot change this soul of the constitution wedded to the federal structure. Neither it can be diverted nor diluted… However, when vested interest and the lust for political power gets associated with it, then the trouble begins,” Modi said.

‘States are equal stakeholders’

In 2012, Modi even penned an article in the Times of India titled ‘Co-operative, not coercive federalism for strong republic.’ Here are some excerpts from the article:

“It is not without reason that the phrase ‘Federal in Structure, Unitary in Spirit’ is used to describe the Indian state.”

“In their great wisdom, the makers of our Constitution envisioned a federal structure of Government in which the states would be treated as equal stakeholders of India’s development.”

“The Centre has become adept at passing populist schemes but there is no financial support given to the states for their execution.”

“Why is it that chief ministers cutting across party lines are expressing serious apprehensions on these repeated attacks on India’s federal structure?”

“It is high time the Centre realizes that giving to the states what rightfully belongs to them will not weaken the Centre…What we are witnessing today is the systematic disruption of our country’s federal structure both in letter and spirit. A Republic such as ours cannot be run in the form of a family run corporation – it will simply lead to chaos and destruction.”

On February 19, 2012, Modi had called for a meeting of chief ministers to implement the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission and had demanded greater autonomy for states.

In the Indore event too, Modi reiterated that the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission – along with the Punchhi Commission – should be implemented to strengthen Centre-state relations. He had criticised the UPA government for politicising the appointment of governors – a charge that his government now faces.

‘Cooperative federalism’

Even after Modi became the prime minister, he claimed to promote “cooperative federalism”.

A press release on the pmindia.gov.in website describes this in detail: “In a unique departure from the past, PM Modi has stressed on the need to leverage co-operative & competitive federalism to achieve all-round growth. For a long time, we have seen a Big Brother relationship between the Centre & States. A ‘One Size Fits All’ approach had been used for years, not taking into account the heterogeneity of different states and their local requirements.”

Gujarat to Introduce Law Against ‘Love Jihad’: CM Rupani

‘Love jihad’ is a term used by BJP and Sangh parivar leaders to describe an imagined conspiracy to convert Hindu women to Islam.

Ahmedabad: Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Sunday said his government will soon bring a strict law against ‘love jihad’ in the state.

He made the announcement while addressing a poll rally in Vadodara ahead of the municipal corporation elections.

“We are going to bring a law against ‘love jihad’ in the assembly. Such activities being done in the name of ‘love jihad’ will not be tolerated…The BJP government will bring strict laws against love jihad in the coming days,” he said.

‘Love jihad’ is a term used by BJP and Sangh parivar leaders to describe an imagined conspiracy to convert Hindu women to Islam.

In the recent past, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, both ruled by the BJP, have brought religious freedom laws to stop conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means.

Rupani said his government has also framed strict laws against ‘gunda’ (anti-social) elements and land grabbers with provisions of up to 10 and 14 years of imprisonment to protect the interests of the common man.

“In the past assembly sessions, our government had come up with stringent laws. We have made an Act against gundas. To ensure that such elements do not cause trouble to the common man and get strict punishment of 10 years, we brought the Act.

“We also came up with the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act so that people do not enter others’ land and take over others’ property using bogus documents. We brought this law with a provision of 14 years of punishment,” he said.

The chief minister added that the BJP government at the Centre has fulfilled the promises made to the people regarding the construction of Ram temple, scrapping of Article 370, and took revenge for Pulwama by launching an airstrike.

According to Rupani, Gujarat will witness a “golden age of development” when the BJP rules “from panchayat to the Parliament”.

“This is the golden time for Gujarat because the Modi government at the Centre gives us whatever we ask for. The previous Congress-led Union government did not allow us to open the gates of the Narmada dam. But Modi gave permission within 17 days, which opened up the gates of development,” he said.

“The BJP government in Delhi, Gujarat, in the cities and villages…when the BJP rules from panchayat to Parliament, then there will be a golden age for the development of the state,” he said.

He also promised metro trains in Vadodara and other cities of the state.

The state government will work towards addressing the issue of recurring floods in Vishwamitri river that affects Vadodara city, he said.

“We are going ahead with the mantra of development.

“Roads, gutter lines, streetlights are our responsibility. But to make cities modern, we are constructing overbridges. The biggest overbridge in the state is being constructed in Vadodara at a cost of Rs 250 crore,” he said.

“We will also resolve the issue of drinking water and flooding in Vishwamitri river…We are going to start metro trains in all the cities. They have started in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat. Now, we will also start metro trains in Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar,” he said.

Elections to six municipal corporations in Gujarat are scheduled on February 21.

(PTI)