With stakes high, BJP rains poll goodies on Gujarat

Pull out all stops

On October 30, Gujaratis would get to see Narendra Modi for a third time this month, in continuation of a trend that the prime minister began in March this year.

Modi is likely to make use of the three-day visit to announce more projects for his home state, before the Assembly poll dates for the state are announced and the model code of conduct kicks in.

The poll-bound state has seen lavished attention by Modi, and for good reason.

A saffron fort, the BJP has been in power in the state for 25 years. The state supplies the BJP its confidence; being in power matters enormously to the BJP.

Hence the shower of prestige projects.

Modi started jet-setting to Gujarat from March when the Assembly poll results of five states brought cheer to the saffron camp. The BJP, against all odds, held onto the key state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa also voted to stay with the BJP.

A day later, Modi arrived in Ahmedabad and held a roadshow while also attending "Adijati Maha Sammelan", a gathering of tribals, in Dahod, where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of development projects worth around Rs 22,000 crore.

By October 20, Modi had already inaugurated and laid foundation stones of government projects to the tune of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in as many as 18 out of 33 districts. He would be laying foundation stones for another Rs 8,000-crore projects during the latest visit between October 30 and November 1.

Some of these projects included the inauguration of Phase-I of Ahmedabad Metro project, flagging off the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express, foundation stone of world’s first CNG terminal at Bhavnagar among others.

According to political observers, this is a classic tactic from the BJP playbook since 2002: mix "development, Hindutva and Gujarati asmita (pride)" to retain its hold.

In many of his visits, he also attended party events and addressed party workers, blurring the line between being a prime minister and a BJP leader.

In the middle of these visits, the Gujarat government bagged two key projects that led to a political storm in neighbouring Maharashtra.

First was the Vedanta-Foxconn group’s semiconductor project worth Rs 1.54 lakh crore. It was rumoured that Maharashtra had almost been finalised for the project, but then it mysteriously went to Gujarat.

On October 27, Gujarat got another bonanza: a manufacturing unit to build military transport aircraft for the IAF in Vadodara (Modi will lay the foundation stone on Sunday). A consortium of Tata and Airbus is behind the venture, which is a first-of-its-kind attempt by the private sector in the country.

Amid these announcements, the BJP has also been reminding the voters of previous Congress rule when Hindu-Muslim riots and curfews were commonplace, a tactic that it successfully deployed in the recent Uttar Pradesh polls as well.

And in what appears to be a sign of desperation and a signal to its Hindutva constituency, the Gujarat government also announced that it would form a committee to implement the contentious Uniform Civil Code in the state.

"Since Gujarat is central to the BJP's rise, the party can't take any chance as far as Gujarat is concerned,” said an academician working with a prestigious institution in Ahmedabad. “The stakes here have always been very high. If the BJP loses Gujarat, it will lose India. It is as simple as that. And that's the reason why the party uses all its might to retain power.”

Currently, the state BJP is busy screening the names of probable candidates who will be contesting for the 182 Assembly seats. As of today, party workers are quietly staking claim for their favourite candidates and also lodging protest against certain names.

Party sources have maintained that various senior leaders, who were part of previous Vijay Rupani government, are being shown the door since their ouster was aimed at beating the anti-incumbency.

The only thing the BJP is spooked about is the AAP, whose maverick supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, unburdened by dynasty and minority appeasement allegations that haunt the Congress, is looking to upend the saffron apple cart with his own brand of politics.

Interestingly, just like Modi, Kejriwal also started focusing on Gujarat soon after winning Punjab, visiting Gujarat multiple times every month, including four visits in October alone.

Political analysts believe that the AAP is not only cutting into Congress’ vote share in the hinterland, it is also threatening the BJP in its strongholds — urban centres — with its poll promises.

But whether this will actually translate into votes is something that remains to be seen.

“The AAP is giving a tough contest when it comes to driving narratives in its favour. Among the voters on the ground, however, it is still seen as a political newbie,” said another academician tracking the election mood in the state.