Weeks away from Gujarat assembly polls, party leaders as well as CM Vijay Rupani miss no opportunity to credit ‘chief minister’ Modi for progress.
New Delhi: It has been three-and-a-half years since Narendra Modi left his home state of Gujarat to take over as Prime Minister of India. But the BJP in Gujarat doesn’t seem to have got over him, at least if the party’s campaign strategy for the assembly elections is an indicator.
The whole campaign is built around the work done by Modi in his time as CM between 2001 and 2014, and is punctuated by his frequent trips home.
Be it the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which the government claims will benefit 4 crore people, water pipelines in the arid Kutch and Saurashtra regions, the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavalamban Yojana (MYSY) giving fee support to students, or the Mukhyamantri Amrutam Yojana, a tertiary health coverage scheme, all are cited as Modi’s accomplishments. Many leaders, including the party’s national president and former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah, have invoked these schemes in their election speeches.
Rupani pays obeisance
Even incumbent CM Vijay Rupani misses no opportunity to credit Modi with the state’s progress, and the ‘vikas’ (development) the state has witnessed. Social media is littered with examples of what Modi achieved for the state compared to previous Congress regimes, the last of which was in power in 1995.
“We are only continuing the work done by PM Narendra Modi in Gujarat in 13 years,” Rupani told a group of reporters who met him last month. “In fields like water resources, social development, education, and agriculture, there has been wholesome development since 2001.”
The website of the Chief Minister’s Office mentions that Rupani has taken 125 key decision within 100 days of taking over from Anandiben Patel, but that seems to be a mere footnote in the campaign. Instead, even Rupani mostly talks about Modi’s tenure.
“In 1995, there were only seven universities; today, Gujarat has 57 universities that have come up in the past 15 years. These are world class universities like the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Nirma University, Lakulish Yoga University, Raksha Shakti University, as well as the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University. These are all initiatives taken by Modi-ji,” Rupani said on a chat show.
“While the Congress appointed only 1.47 lakh teachers, we appointed 15.4 lakh teachers, many as ‘shiksha sahayaks’, who will be confirmed later. Having toilets in each school was Modi-ji’s idea. During the Congress regime, the school dropout rate was 37 per cent; now it is 1 per cent. There has been a rise in the per capita income in the state.”
‘Focus on development’
Asked why Modi’s tenure as CM was the BJP’s focus, the party’s state president Jitubhai Vaghani said the focus point was actually Gujarat’s development.
“Our focus is Gujarat’s development, and the achievements of BJP government. Modi-ji played a large role in that; a majority of the development work was accomplished in his tenure,” said Vaghani. “He is our leader, and thus the campaign also revolves around him. He is important for the whole country, but he is Gujarat’s pride.”
Amit Shah has given the party a target – hold its citadel, and get its seat count up from 120 to 150 in the 182-member house. And it’s clear that the party thinks there’s only one name that can get it there – Modi’s.
If Gujrat developed so much as show case for the campaign to bring Modi Govt at the centre and the list of development that the present Gujrat Govt. is claiming then why is Modi so desperate to announce upcoming projects and for which the Election commission has kept the announcement of date for Gujrat election though Himachal election dates have been announced and according to the commission announcement the date of elections would be before or the same as that of Gujrat. Modi in his desperation is attacking Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi personally and trying to rouse Gujrat sense of dignity which according to Modi is derided by them. Lying so low shows that the mass of protest that has overtaken the state and anger is making them more desperate. There is in all probability that BJP may be reduced to be an opposition party.