MODI’S 10-POINT GAME PLAN TO WIN GUJARAT
FROM A COMPLETE OVERHAUL OF THE GUJARAT CABINET WELL AHEAD OF THE POLLS ELECTION TO MICROMANAGING THE CAMPAIGN IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS, THE PM IS PERSONALLY OVERSEEING EVERY ASPECT OF THE POLLS
1. POLITICAL REVAMP
Seen as a passive leader, then CM Vijay Rupani along with his entire cabinet was sacked overnight in Sept. 2021. After the poor show in 2017 and resentment among Patels, the BJP wanted to fight the 2022 polls with a Patidar face
2. DEFANG CONGRESS
The BJP has fielded 17 Congress turncoats. The loss of tall community leaders—Kunvarji Bavaliya (Koli), Hardik
Patel (Patidar), Jawahar Chavda and Alpesh Thakor (OBC)—has left the Grand Old Party shaken
3. JOBS PUSH
Big-ticket projects such as Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor plant and Tata-Airbus aircraft manufacturing unit have landed in the state. With its Atmanirbhar Gujarat push, the BJP has promised to create 1.5 million jobs
4. COOPERATIVE CAPTURE
The BJP wants to leverage its increasing control over cooperatives. Union home minister Amit
Shah was given the charge of the new cooperation ministry in July 2021 as part of this strategy
5. WOO THE PATIDARS Bhupendra Patel
is the CM face, and 25% BJP candidates are Patidars. After Hardik Patel’s crossover, the apex court’s stamp on EWS quota—the genesis of which lies in the 2015 Patidar movement—has given the BJP a boost
6. THE HINDUTVA BACKDROP
The remission of sentence and hero’s welcome given to the 11 men convicted in a 2002 gang-rape and murder case has brought the BJP’s Hindutva agenda back to the centre stage, apparently to retain the loyalty of a section of voters
7. VINDICATION IN RIOTS CASE
The Supreme Court’s decision upholding the clean chit to Modi in the 2002 Gujarat
riots has bolstered the BJP’s narrative that the then CM was a victim, and not the perpetrator, of a conspiracy
8. CAMPAIGNER -IN-CHIEF
In five visits to the state since Aug., thrice in Oct. alone, the PM announced projects and schemes worth Rs 79,000 cr. before the model code was imposed. With Amit Shah, he is micromanaging the BJP’s election campaign too
9. COUNTER AAP SOPS
Facing anti-incumbency, the BJP is projecting its 27-year rule as a sign of electorate’s trust in it while branding challengers like Kejriwal ‘untrustworthy’ and his party’s promise of freebies as ‘revdis’
10. INVOKE GUJARATI PRIDE With the slogan ‘Aa Gujarat
Mai Banavyu Chhe’ (‘I have made this Gujarat’), Modi has masterfully invoked Gujarati asmita—an old political ploy in the state— while linking himself with this pride in identity