Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
BJP dominance in state’s polity, development plank to be tested
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
NEW DELHI: The Gujarat assembly polls, announced under the shadow of the tragic bridge collapse in Morbi and the consequent loss of human lives, will see the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking on a new opponent, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and battling persistent issues related to price rise and unemployment that have found some resonance on the ground.
The two-phase election scheduled for December 1 and 5 will put to test the staggering claims of development by a “double engine government” and the party’s dominance over the polity in the state where it has been in power since 1998.
Gujarat’s development model was cited as a template for replication in the run-up to the 2014 general elections, and the BJP asserts that since then, the performance of its “double engine sarkar”, a reference to the party being in power at the Centre and in the state, has put the state leagues ahead of others.
Announcing projects worth thousands of crores during a twoday visit to the state in September,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also underlined that the BJP government has carried out development work in the state without resorting to any publicity. The PM said “honest attempts” have been made by BJP governments in the last 20 years to develop the state.
The BJP also claims it faces no anti-incumbency and does not perceive any dent in its popularity, which could electorally benefit its opponents, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.
However, the unprecedented move of changing the entire state council of ministers, including the chief minister, in 2021 was aimed at mitigating public anger against the then CM Vijay Rupani and his team for inadequate response to the Covid-19 pandemic and offset a larger sense of governance deficit.
“The appointment of Bhupendra Patel and new faces in the council of ministers was a clear message that the Centre has its finger on the pulse (of the state) and they took remedial measures,” said a senior party functionary.
Changes in the government notwithstanding, the party is gearing to face questions on several fronts, including inflation, employment and an overall slump in economy.
In the 2017 polls, the party’s performance — it won 99 seats of the total 182 — was seen as a setback. The party won 115 seats in 2012 polls. “There were several reasons for number of seats coming down, the Patidar agitation divided the votebank, anger against the Good and Services Tax, and unhappiness among farmers in rural areas with the remuneration for groundnut, cotton and sugarcane crops,” said the functionary.
A second BJP leader said Gujarat has benefitted from foreign investments in several sectors and the slump in economy has been an offshoot of the global pandemic. “The AAP poses no threat... The people of Gujarat are industrious, they are not likely to be taken in by promises of freebies, especially since they are aware of the governance deficit in Delhi and Punjab.”