'They contest to ensure they win the election.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained its winning streak in Gujarat for three decades, the latest instance being the sweep of municipal elections by bagging 60 out of 68 civic bodies in the state.
What explains the BJP's vice-like grip on Gujarat?
"The BJP has a hunger to win which the Congress does not have in them," Prashant Dayal, a senior journalist and political observer in Gujarat, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, in the concluding segment of the interview.
When people go out to vote don't they think of issues like bad roads, electricity, education and other such issues?
Nobody talks of these issues in Gujarat elections.
The BJP has polarised the state so that common voters think the day the BJP loses, Muslims will come and beat up Hindus. And there is a reason for this logic in the minds of voters.
Before 1995, all the riots that took place in Gujarat, there used to be curfews across the state. In a city like Ahmedabad, I have seen it being under curfew for six months. This was all during Congress rule.
Since the BJP has come to power, there has been no long-duration curfew in Gujarat like it used to happen during Congress time. The new generation has not even heard the word curfew.
The Muslim population of Gujarat is less than 10 percent and Hindus are 90 percent. Why then this fear in the minds of Gujarati Hindus about Muslims becoming a dominant force?
Ahmedabad and riots in different cities of Gujarat in the 1980s and early 1990s has psyched the voters of Gujarat against Muslims and the Congress. And it is not Hindus alone, the Muslims of Gujarat too are as communal.
I will give you an example from 1987 when there was a gangster called Abdul Latif who was jailed for the murder of a police sub inspector in Ahmedabad. Latif was under the impression that he would get a Congress ticket but he did not. He then fielded nominees from five seats of Ahmedabad.
Now, one would expect since it is a municipal election the issues raised by Latif would be on cleanliness, schools and clean drinking water. But no, all he asked was for Muslim voters to vote for him in the name of qaum (community).
Narendra Modi, who was BJP general secretary during the 1987 municipal elections, had only one slogan for the voters of Ahmedabad. 'Don't forget Latif when you go to vote.'
When the results came out Latif won all the five seats in the Muslim dominated areas of Ahmedabad in the name of qaum. At the same time the BJP won the Ahmedabad municipal corporation.
This was the first time in the history of any municipal corporation in India that the Hindu-Muslim issue was played out openly.
Can't voters in Gujarat see through communal electoral tactics?
I will give you the example of Navrangpura in Ahmedabad where no Muslim population lives. The development model of Ahmedabad is done in such a way that there are no world class malls or entertainment centres or beautiful gardens for the Muslim population around their area. So where will they go to get entertained? They will reach Hindu localities on weekends to be entertained.
Now when 10 Muslims in traditional attire reach a Hindu-dominated place on weekends, the antennae are raised in right wing Hindu minds. They will talk to each other, stating, 'miyan yahan tak aagaye (Muslims have come to our areas)'. They speak as if these Muslims have come from Karachi in Pakistan and not from some locality of Ahmedabad.
The state government does not give malls, beautiful parks or multiplexes to Muslim areas of Gujarat, which leads their population to come to Hindu localities on weekends, thus creating a constant fear of Muslim over-population in the minds of Hindus.
The same goes for Muslims of Gujarat too.
In 2021, Asaduddin Owaisi's party AIMIM, which I will call a Muslim party, won 17 municipal seats on its debut. Owaisi talks of religion all the time and Muslims are voting for him rather than the Congress. This shows that communalism is working on both sides in Gujarat.
What about the new generation of Gujarati voters? Don't they want change?
They are not into religion and such issues of politics but are more focused on their careers. They want to work and in Gujarat you do not have an unemployment problem.
There is lack of government jobs for sure, but then the government cannot hire more than one percent of the population. And the blood of Gujaratis is such that they mostly do business.
Earlier you said the BJP works like a factory. I would like to know why the BJP worker works so dedicatedly for the party 24x7.
The Congress never understood after ruling for so many years that they have to make their workers financially strong for them to get their support for a lifetime.
The political worker has a household to run and the BJP ensures that their workers are strong economically to do so.
Take, for example, there is a vehicle to pick up garbage in Ahmedabad. If you dig further you will find some BJP worker will be the owner of that garbage vehicle.
All such small contracts the BJP workers get, These BJP workers know if their party loses the elections their bread and butter is at stake.
Besides dedicated party workers, communal politics and Narendra Modi's charisma, is there anything extra that the BJP does to win elections?
Yes, it is called homework.
They maintain data of voters and do a lot of homework. They will know exactly who in sector 8 of which area has shifted homes and who is the new homebuyer in that voter's place.
Their management is very strong and they approach these new voters personally.
Now we had municipal and panchayat elections in Gujarat for which Union Minister C R Paatil came to the state and campaigned.
The BJP never takes any election lightly. They contest to ensure they win the election.
Paatil is in Delhi but he made 10 tours to Gujarat. He will never assume that the BJP will win the election.
The BJP has a hunger to win which the Congress does not have in them.
The state has had no opposition for 30 years. Don't the people of Gujarat realise this when they go out to vote?
Yes, they do understand but they do not see any new face in the Opposition who can give them hope.
They are also not emotionally attached to any other leader of Gujarat as they are to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
What about the Congress' KHAM (Kshatirya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) politics which ensured their victory in Gujarat till 1990?
All that is over now in Gujarat. Hindutva politics has sidestepped all caste politics.
Right now the Maha Kumbh Mela is going on and BJP leaders are taking the people of Gujarat to Prayagraj.
They are taking people to the Maha Kumbh Mela for a free ride, they give them meals too, so why will these people not vote for the BJP?
Does money play an important role in the BJP's victory?
It is not only about money but about emotion too. The voters of Gujarat are emotionally attached to the BJP.
What about the Patidar revolt and the reservations for Patel community? Does this not create discord among the Patel community against the BJP?
This issue is over. The BJP gave economically weaker sections reservations and therefore the Patel community is happy with it.
Another thing you got to understand is that the Patel community is a business community and the business community never takes on any government.
The BJP is also very smart to take credit for every development work that happened in Gujarat though they never started that work.
For example, the Sabarmati riverfront of Ahmedabad. This was started at the time the Congress ruled the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation but today no one knows it. Everyone thinks it is the BJP who got this project started and completed it.
The Congress lacks communication skills and they never use the media to their advantage.
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