The Kutch district has been a BJP bastion for years, and people travelling to its headquarters, Bhuj, have few doubts it will win again.
Bharat Talele gives one last push to his suitcase under the berth, hands over a bottle of water each to his niece and her son, who are travelling with him, and sits back in the AC 3-Tier coach of the Dadar-Bhuj Express on a Monday afternoon.
Talele, a Maharashtrian-origin second-generation resident of Gujarat, is heading home after a brief visit to his relatives in Mumbai’s satellite town of Kalyan, just in time for the election in his hometown Saturday.
“We vote only for those who work, but for the last 20 years, my family’s vote has gone to the BJP. Even this time, we will vote for the BJP,” Talele says.
“The BJP has done good work, brought about a lot of development in Gandhidham and Anjar. The Congress hasn’t really worked in the area and doesn’t even have much presence, whereas the BJP has ensured that we have good roads, the villages are clean, the crime rate is down and, overall, the constituency is safe for women,” he adds.
The train leaves Mumbai’s Dadar station at 3pm, bound for Bhuj, the headquarters of the Kutch district. Between Mumbai and Bhuj, the train cuts through areas such as Vapi, Valsad, Navsari, and Surat in South Gujarat, moving up to Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, and Ahmedabad over a nearly nine-hour journey. It then makes its way towards Kutch through Samakhiali, Gandhidham, Anjar, and terminates at Bhuj the next morning at seven.
Inside the train, a US-based Gujarati family is busy discussing how rapidly Gujarat’s road infrastructure has developed. A group of doctors is charting out last-minute preparations for a medical camp in Bhuj, while Nitin Patel, a small-scale entrepreneur, lounges on the upper berth. Patel also roots for the BJP, criticising the Congress’s choice of candidates.
“The BJP will win, 99 per cent. It has supported us small entrepreneurs a lot. In the coming days, as we get more comfortable with the Goods and Services Tax structure, it will be great too. The Congress only fields losing candidates. Till the time they don’t field good candidates, the party stands no chance,” he says.
Kutch has long been a BJP bastion — the BJP holds five of the six assembly seats in the region. Nearly all passengers headed to Kutch that the ThePrint interacts with express support for the ruling party.
A few passengers, though, raise concerns such as the Patidar quota agitation, the double whammy of demonetisation and GST on the overall economy, unemployment, and overall anti-incumbency as reasons that may make them opt for the Congress.
Standing at the train door, Feroz Nathai, a resident of Rajkot, says: “This time, I will vote for the Congress. In Rajkot, most people are favouring the Congress. There are many reasons — GST is hurting the poor people too. The BJP will also suffer due to the Patidar agitation, 100 per cent. The Patidars will shift to the Congress now.”