Patidardominated Saurashtra likely to be BJP’s Achilles heel
Residents of region say the ruling party can no longer garner votes only by ridiculing Gandhi family
JETPUR/JASDAN: Saurashtra appears to be the BJP’s weak link in Gujarat with the influential Patidars or Patels up in arms against the ruling party over their demand for reservation in jobs and education.
Patels, who constitute 12% of Gujarat’s 60 million-odd population, have remained the core supporters of the BJP for the past two decades, and the big challenge for the Congress will be to tap and convert that anger into votes.
If it does so, the Patidar-dominated Saurashtra that sends 48 legislators to the 182-member assembly will witness a keen contest between the two parties.
But this is not the first time that the BJP is facing a bitter contest in Saurashtra. In the 2012 assembly elections, the BJP overcame a stiff challenge from its former CM Keshubhai Patel, who had then formed the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), to win 32 seats. The Congress bagged 13 while the GPP could manage to win just two and the NCP one.
As of now, the Congress has managed to seize the first mover advantage given by the response to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s rallies across Gujarat.
“Ridiculing Rahul Gandhi or the Gandhi family repeatedly won’t fetch you votes all the time. People have seen through this tactics of BJP for 22 years now,” said Kirit Patel, a real estate agent. “There is a yearning for change this time.”
In the 2012 poll, Jayeshbhai Vithalbhai Radadiya won the seat on a Congress ticket but later defected to the BJP along with his father Vithalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya, a powerful Leuva Patel leader.
The Patels are broadly divided into two main sub-castes Kadvas and Leuvas and two smaller subcastes Chaudharys and Anjanas. Though spread all over Gujarat, the Patidars mainly dominate North Gujarat and Saurashtra and said to influence the poll outcome in almost 80 constituencies.
Patels have been demanding quota, citing increased competition, unemployment, shrunk farms besides lack of access to higher education as the rationale behind their demand.
The unrest within the Patidars has also catapulted Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel to national prominence, emerging as young Patel hero who is willing to go to any extreme and fight for the “just cause” of the community.
At a corner Pan shop near Janta Nagar Chowk in Jetpur, a group of villagers were seen watching Rahul Gandhi on TV giving a speech at Valsad.
“He talks sense and is raising the right issues,” observed Gautam, a Patel and the owner of the Pan shop. “BJP talks about bullet trains but don’t spell out how they are going to improve the existing rail network and the roads. Development cannot be seen in villages,” added Vijaybhai, a safaiwala.
Hotchand Kakwani, a Sindhi and a cotton factory owner, Ramesh Tulsibhai Shravan, a Brahmin, and Girish, a Rajput, all of whom claimed to be great fans of Modi till recently, listed note ban, GST, price rise, unemployment and farmers’ distress as “reasons” enough to oust the BJP.
“Modi talks about Congressmukt Bharat but has been inducting all Congress discards into BJP. Koi bhi corrupt vyakti jab BJP mei aata hai to uska shuddikaran hota hai (Any corrupt person becomes clean when he joins BJP)?” said diamond factory worker Dharamsinh.
Farmers too are not happy with the BJP, and claim they have not good prices for their crops in the past many seasons.
Saurashtra is a major cotton and groundnut belt of the state. The state government had in September announced the procurement of groundnut at ₹900 per 20 kg to woo the farmers.
“But these are all election sops. Why didn’t the government announce these steps earlier? We have been suffering for years now,” countered Jilu Jakshibhai, a farmer in Amrapara village.
Visibly agitated Viram Jejriya, a farmer , said the time for change has come in Gujarat. “Twenty years is too long a period for one party to rule a state.”