Outreach, canvassing focus of BJP grand campaign plan
: In poll-bound Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s canvassing is a grand show that includes public outreach led by its senior-most leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, humongous billboards, targeted campaigning on the ground and on social media. The party has pulled out all the stops for a high decibel campaign to dominate the electoral narrative.
Take the case of Morbi. The place known for its ceramic production hit the headlines last month, when a suspension bridge built in 1880, locally known as the Jhulto Pul collapsed, killing 135 people and injuring many.
The anger and shock was compounded by the fact that there was complete abdication of responsibility by the authorities, who were charged with giving the maintenance work of the old bridge, a tourist attraction to a company that manufactures clocks.
As the community counted its loss, the administration moved swiftly to announce compensation. On the ground there is resentment against a missing opposition that could have given voice to the people’s anger. During conversations, residents seem inclined to attribute the tragedy to the will of God, but the fatalist outlook gives way to anger when the role of the missing opposition is broached.
“Morbi voted for the Congress in 2017. What happened, he (Brijesh Merja) switched sides and joined the BJP. Now, how does one trust the Congress,” said Jitinbhai (uses one name) who runs a small store in town.
While the BJP’s candidate, a former MLA from Morbi, Kantilal Amrutiya is popular, there is a section of anti-BJP voters who find themselves without an alternative. The AAP, which has dominated the election discourse, is yet to gain a toehold in Morbi. Jitinbhai said some people in his community (Patel) are not averse to a new party, but seem inclined to skip voting rather than vote for a candidate who switched sides.“The bridge is not the only tragedy. We have many unresolved issues here. Look at the poor sanitisation in the city. We have big cars driving by everyday thanks to the ceramic factories, people come from afar, but then these cars get stuck in the narrow lanes that have open drains...” he said.
Another local resident, who runs a paan shop overlooking the river Machu where the tragedy occurred, said people have reconciled to their everyday living conditions and expect little change. “You (media) come to Morbi when disasters occur... otherwise who pays attention to the dismal healthcare and civic facilities,” he said.
In Rajkot, where a BJP campaigner was chatting up a group of residents, there was constant references to the long list of achievements of the double-engine government, a reference to the BJP being in power at the Centre and in the state, but equally about the “failures of the Congress”, which has not been in power in Gujarat for over two decades. The campaigner requested anonymity.
Dubbing the Congress as “anti-Hindu”, he said it was not enough to highlight BJP’s performance to win elections, but it was equally important to ensure that Opposition does not stand a chance.
On his mobile phone, he showed clips of Rahul Gandhi interacting with Christian priests during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala as proof of the party being anti-Hindu. On the AAP’s campaign that focuses more on free power and education, and has steered clear of any statements that could be perceived as anti Hindu, a BJP leader said, “We tell people about the law and order problems in Punjab and how anti national activities are gaining ground... people in the state are wary of communal violence and would not like the state to return to pre-2002 days.”
The AAP for its part claims that it was hard for the party to match the BJP’s spending power. “The municipal authorities did not give us space to put up posters and banners. We are not a party that has deep pockets, so we chose door to door campaigning. Our volunteers from the state and outside have been holding nukkad meetings and we try to use the social media to reach out to the people,” said a party functionary in Rajkot.
The party too has been relying on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to draw crowds. A senior BJP functionary said the campaign is also to ensure that there is no voter fatigue, and the overall voter turnout does not dip. “There cannot be any complacency on the party’s part. So the canvassing is relentless,” the functionary said.
“We have our traditional way of campaigning in Gujarat that mostly involves outreach by the block level and district level leaders. Of course, we can’t match with the vulgar display of money power of the BJP. But voters are silent and the AAP is not campaigning at all. They might do some adjustment with the BJP at the last moment,” said BK Hariprasad, one of the central observers of the Congress based in Ahmedabad.
IN RAJKOT, WHERE A BJP CAMPAIGNER WAS CHATTING UP RESIDENTS, THERE WAS CONSTANT REFERENCES TO THE LONG LIST OF ACHIEVEMENTS OF DOUBLE-ENGINE GOVERNMENT