Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the tone for the BJP’s campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls as he addressed four rallies in a day in different parts of the state. He made Gujarati Asmita (Gujarati pride) as the central theme of his messaging for the state electorate, which is also being strongly wooed by the Congress with its new caste-based combination.
The BJP has been looking at the ‘Modi magic’ to tide over any negative sentiment arising out of the note ban, implementation of the GST and the angst of caste groups like the Patidars and dalits.
Modi, in four speeches on Monday, gave ample indication of the saffron party’s strategy to counter the Congress, which for the first time in the last two decades was in contention. Addressing the electorate mostly in Gujarati, the prime minister targeted the Congress and Rahul Gandhi by invoking incidents from the distant past to recent times. He is scheduled to address another set of four rallies on Wednesday.
Drawing examples from the Congress’ treatment of another PM from Gujarat, Morarji Desai, to Uttar Pradesh’s election campaign where even ‘donkeys’ from Gujarat had become a talking point, Modi’s attack on the Congress and Rahul was strident.
“The Congress always defamed and disliked Gujarat. People of the state were well aware how the Congress had treated Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai,” Modi said.
Referring to an earlier event, Modi said to a largely enthusiastic crowd, “Indiraji removed Morarji Bhai from the Cabinet. She nationalised the banks but did not open the doors of the bank for the poor. When we got the opportunity to serve, the first thing we did was to start the Jan Dhan Yojana and focus on financial inclusion.”
“Morarji Bhai Desai was a successful finance minister and a believer in Gandhiji. The Congress mistreated him and even when he became PM, they troubled him,” Modi said in Kadodara, a township on the outskirts of Surat.
The rally was earlier slated to be held in nearby Kamrej but had to be shifted to Kadodara owing to chances of protests by Patidar groups.
The prime minister also reminded the audience of his government’s surgical strike on terrorists in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi for meeting Chinese diplomats when the Indian Army was involved in a face-off with the Chinese at Doklam. “They rejoiced when Hafiz Saeed was released,” Modi said with his trademark flourish.
In the rallies, Modi repeatedly hit out at the Congress for promoting casteism and dynastic rule. “The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation,” Modi said to loud cheers from the crowd.
Modi had started his election campaign by visiting the Ashapura Mata temple in Bhuj.
The BJP had already deployed its central ministers, chief ministers and senior leaders to handle the campaign and travel all over the state to engage with voters. Yogi Adityanath, Devendra Fadnavis and Raman Singh have already been in Gujarat.
As Gujarat’s election campaign picks up, the shrillness of attacks from rivals sides is only expected to go up.
