After over 12 years of relative calm when Narendra Modi ruled Gujarat with an iron hand, pandemonium and chaos reminiscent of Shankarsinh Vaghela’s rebellion and Keshubhai Patel’s unceremonious ouster have returned to haunt the BJP in its citadel state. In Post-Modi Gujarat, the only good news for the ruling BJP is that the Opposition Congress seems too fraught with internal dissensions to benefit from these pushbacks in a State that goes to the polls next year.
The scenes at a BJP function in Surat on Thursday night, the first organised by the newly-sworn in Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, have sent shockwaves across the ruling dispensation.
The late evening function witnessed BJP President Amit Shah, Rupani, his predecessor Anandiben Patel and others being seated behind a huge net strung across a massive stage to protect them from objects being hurled by their own captive audience. And all of this took place in the presence of an elaborate security apparatus.
For the first time ever, a BJP public gathering saw the slogan of “ Bharat Mata ki jai ” countered by “Jai Sardar, Jai Patidar”, and “Hardik, Hardik” drowning “Modi, Modi”. Amid the chaos, Lalji Patel, who had famously bought for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ₹4.31 crore monogrammed suit, managed to “felicitate” Shah, Rupani and Anandiben. And what’s more, the party could hardly felicitate many Patidar leaders for whom the event was cobbled together in the first place.
The crowd contemptuously disobeyed the leaders, created unprecedented pandemonium, hurled chairs, and forced Shah to end his ‘speech’ in four minutes and Rupani’s in two. What was intended to be a massive public show of strength, for which the BJP State unit had prepared for well over a month, was cut short from four hours to less than one. Shah left the venue in a huff, clearly worried about the electoral fortunes of the BJPin his home State, which goes to the polls in 2017.
Damp squib for BJP The BJP expected to gather about one lakh people, but only a tenth turned up. As soon as the function began, some Patel youth suddenly emerged from the media gallery chanting “Jai Patidar, Jai Sardar”, and “General Dyer Go Back”. Patidar youth have been blaming Shah for masterminding the police crackdown on the Hardik’s group, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, which had organised a million-strong pro-reservation rally in August 2015.
Slogan-shouting and a free-for-all ensued, leaving the BJP leaders stunned and red-faced.
Even before the event, the police had rounded up some PAAS leaders to ensure peace at the event organised by diamond and real estate businessmen under the banner of Surat Samasta Patidar Abhivan Samiti, which is apparently a tactical offensive to split the PAAS.
Thursday’s event was meant to build bridges and reconcile with the influential Patels in the run up to the coming polls. With quota warrior Hardik Patel cooling his heels in Udaipur following a court order, the BJP was confident of holding the event peacefully. But the ‘grand’ show proved a huge embarrassment.
No cheer for the Congress The Congress on the other hand, has little reason to rejoice at this apparent decay that has set in in the BJP’s support base after over two decades in power. The main opposition is too busy fighting its own intra-party intransigence than battling the BJP. In the recent past, some of its top leaders quit various party posts, accusing the leadership and PCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki on various counts.