Modi elections 2019

Inclusiveness vital to Gujarat election victory

(MENAFN - Asia Times) The political parties with a predilection of vote capital have started campaigning for the general elections this year. The hawk eye is to remain on North belt, but states like Gujarat are not to be undermined.

The home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has experienced an unexpected swing in the recent assembly elections which certainly came as a shocker for the ruling right wing.

The BJP lost 16 seats while Indian National Congress gained 20 seats. The rise of opposition Congress party pushed the BJP to revamp its strategy towards specific communities, especially the Patidars (Indian Hindu caste found mostly in Gujarat).

Hardik Patel, leader of the Patidar community did not agree with Nitin Patel, Gujarat's deputy chief minister and a Patidar stalwart, hence the idea of pulling Patidars towards BJP collapsed. Hardik Patel, in the wake of the Maharashtra government granting reservation to Marathas (Indian caste in Maharashtra) channelized hope among the Patidar community towards getting reservation in education and jobs.

Patidar politics

The Gujarat politics is now at the zero-sum juncture. The Patidar reservation movement which was earlier expected to be a poll agenda has an insignificant role to play today.

The Patel community, with a 15% population, is scattered among different parties.

The induction of Patel into Congress may not affect the party's vote share with just the Patidar agitation issue. Patel will have to mobilize voters on issues other than the Patidar reservation.

Statistics emanating from Assembly Elections 2017 show that Gujarat's Surat which saw strong Patidar protests managed to secure only Mandvi, one non-BJP seat, out of sixteen constituencies.

Rajkot followed the same trend. The Congress secured only one seat of Dhoraji, while other seven seats went to BJP. Also, the vote margin remained high.

Congress should not give priority to only caste based politics ahead of India's crucial election as it may not help.

Following the 2017 Assembly Elections, the dynamics of Gujarat politics has experienced a significant upheaval. The people who earlier used to remain un-influenced regarding national issues are now alarmed about un-employment, tax regime and national security.

This may provide anti-BJP sections an open opportunity to hit at Modi government and address its failures.

Revitalize Congress structure

According to a trend observed during the Assembly Elections, most urban seats went to BJP. One may observe that the urban population of Gujarat is highly pro-Hindutva.

Real issues like the agrarian crisis seemed to affect the urban people very loosely. Highly dependent on Gujarati media which are mostly pro-BJP, the urban class may not be deeply connected to the real issues of the state. While in rural Gujarat farmers are more aware of the state's real problem like the agrarian distress.

This gives the Congress and other non-BJP parties time and opportunity to revamp their urban campaign strategies. The Congress has demonstrated its willingness to revitalize its party structure in Gujarat, including fielding local leaders for the upcoming elections.

The party has already managed to field local unit's president Prashant Patel from Vadodara. Modi may also contest the election from Vadodara but Congress' move to put a hardworking local leader against Modi is a political strategy and reform. This may also boost the party cadre.

Non-BJP sections currently have a poor state level leadership compared to BJP. Due to BJP's presence in Gujarat since two decades, they have cultivated leaders who can easily connect with the voters, something which non-BJP parties fall back in.

The BJP had won all 26 parliamentary seats in Gujarat in 2014, while the Congress had lost 11 seats with an alarming fall in their vote share. But if we draw a parallel line against 2017 elections, chances are the Congress may be able to score if it plays its cards right.

Gujarat bastion a tough win

Congress' central leadership from Gujarat with leaders like Ahmed Patel and Madhusudan Mistry should be concerned about the home state otherwise the Gujarat bastion will be a difficult to win. The party's decision to send Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandh's sister, to east Uttar Pradesh to garner votes is dramatic and not tightly planned.

Vadra, who chose Gujarat to deliver her speech as the general secretary of the party might have better influence in Gujarat than Purvanchal, a geographic region of northern India which comprises of eastern end of Uttar Pradesh and the western end of Bihar.

The recent assembly elections in Gujarat narrated a new political paradigm. With the rise of Chotubhai Vasava's Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), the neglected tribals have a new voice now. Ketanbhai Inamdar, one of independent MLAs joined the BJP after Congress' reluctance. Shift of independent leaders like Inamdar towards BJP should make the non-BJP parties worried.

More recently, two Congress party MLAs tendered their resignations. One of them joined the ruling BJP later in the day while the other announced his decision to join the saffron party soon.

Manavadar MLA Jawahar Chavda gave his resignation to Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi on March 8, while Parsotam Sabariya, who represented Dhrangadhra seat in Morbi district, gave his resignation in the evening.

INC should work towards pre-poll alliance in Gujarat if it wants favorable results. The non-BJP parties should also keep in mind that only inclusive politics can dethrone divisive politics in the state.

MENAFN2003201901590000ID1098280250

02

Hardik Patel joins Congress, Rahul Gandhi says ‘he will win’

AHMEDABAD: Three and a half years after he launched an agitation for reservations for Patidars, which turned into a running battle with the BJP government, Hardik Patel on Tuesday finally plunged into electoral politics, as he was inducted into the Congress on Monday in the presence of the party’s top leadership ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Hardik (25) had burst on to Gujarat’s political scene on August 25, 2015, when he held a massive rally at the GMDC ground in Ahmedabad, demanding OBC reservations for Patidars. He finally put on a Congress scarf on Tuesday, at the CWC (Congress working committee) meeting at Sardar Patel Memorial Hall in Shahibaug. Hardik later shared the stage with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the party’s general secretary for East UP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, at a rally in Adalaj in Gandhinagar.

The Patel leader said he decided to go with the Congress and not the BJP was because Gandhi “is not a dictator”.

Starting his speech on an interactive note, Hardik asked the audience if his decision to enter electoral politics was correct, to which the crowd answered “Yes”.

“People ask me why I chose Congress and Rahul Gandhi. I chose him because he is honest. He does not believe in working like a dictator. I joined him because he does not believe in divisive politics and the politics of hatred,” said Hardik.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for holding a string of rallies after the Pulwama attack, Hardik said, “I decided to join the Congress because it postponed its rally scheduled for February 28 in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, whereas our Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing rallies and trying to politicize the sacrifice of our jawans.”

On the BJP’s charge of Congress being all about dynasty politics, Patel said, “It is not wrong if a politician to wants to make his child a politician.”

“We have already been fighting the BJP government. Now, we will fight against the people who are against the Constitution. It is our ethical responsibility to remove these people from power, who have been politicizing issues related to our defence, farmers and youth,” Hardik said.

After seeking support from the public and the Congress cadre, Hardik ended his speech saying, “Have majja aavshe (The fun begins now).” Later during the Adalaj rally, Gandhi, when asked if Hardik would contest the elections, said, “Hardik Patel will win.” Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said that Hardik had been exposed. “It has become clear now that the Congress was supporting Hardik financially to divide Patidars and to create anarchy in Gujarat.” The DyCM was referring to the violence during Patidar quota agitation in 2015, in which 11 persons including two police personnel, lost their lives.

03

Gujarat quota leader Hardik Patel joins Cong; draws BJP's ire

Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel Tuesday joined the Congress in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Justifying his decision to enter active politics ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Hardik said he can now work for the six crore people of Gujarat in a better way.

Hours after joining the opposition party, the 25-year-old Patidar quota spearhead came under severe attack from the ruling BJP, which said he stood "exposed" that he worked as a "Congress agent".

After joining the Congress at its rally near Adalaj village in Gandhinagar district, Hardik in his address asked the gathering if it was the right decision.

"Yes," the gathering replied.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hardik said that following the Pulwama terror attack last month, the Congress postponed its rally slated for February 28 but the PM kept addressing gatherings across the country.

The Patidar leader, whose agitation for inclusion of his community in the OBC category pitted him against the BJP government, hailed Gandhi as an "honest" person.

"People ask me why I chose the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. I chose Rahul Gandhi because he is honest. He does not believe in working like a dictator," he said.

On the BJP's charge of dynastic politics in the Congress, Hardik said there was nothing wrong if a politician's son or daughter wanted to join the same field to serve people.

He asked Congress cadres to get their act together to defeat the BJP in the next month's Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat, where the party drew a blank in 2014.

He later held a meeting with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the Ahmedabad airport. After the meeting, Hardik told reporters he will follow party orders on contesting polls.

Speculation is rife that he will contest from the Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani led the BJP's attack on Hardik alleging he "cheated on people" and now "stood exposed".

"For him everything (that BJP government offered on the quota issue) used to be a lollipop. He should explain to the public what kind of lollipop (was offered by the Congress). We believe this is cheating with people. Hardik stands exposed," Rupani told reporters.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Hardik always worked as a "Congress agent" to "fulfil his political ambitions". He was never serious in taking up the issues of his community, he claimed.

"Hardik used to say he is not a political person, and works only for his community. With these claims, he created disturbance in Gujarat by dividing people in the name of community," Nitin Patel charged.

He never worked for his community but tried to divide the Patidar community at the instance of Congress which also helped him financially, he said.

"He was a part of the Congress's divide-and-rule policy and worked as its agent. Whatever we told about him in the past is coming true now," the deputy CM said.

He claimed Hardik had never made himself available for meetings called to find a solution to the issue of reservation to the Patidar community in government jobs and educational institutions.

"He did not even talk to the leaders of Patidar community organisations saying he does not believe in any religious or social organisations.

"He put law and order in danger forcing police to use force that led to the killing of 14 youths (during the initial phase of the quota stir in 2015). All this just to fulfil his own political ambition," Nitin Patel claimed.

Though Hardik had earlier announced he will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, he now says he will jump in the poll fray only if the Congress wants.

Gujarat, the home state of Modi, will vote in a single phase on April 23. The state has 26 Lok Sabha seats and all of them were won by the BJP in 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)