Rahul Gandhi takes poll battle to Modi-Shah bastion of north Gujarat as Congress sees resurgence

With just over a month left for the Assembly elections to take place in Gujarat, Congress has upped the ante against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has been touring the poll-bound state extensively and addressing rallies in several constituencies of coastal Gujarat and Saurashtra.

Later this week, he will embark on a three-day tour of north Gujarat, hitherto considered a BJP stronghold. But while these are districts where BJP has traditionally been strong, a report in The Times of India highlighted how things could be changing this time.

The epicentre of the Patidar agitation, north Gujarat also has a large population of Thakors. Both Patels and Thakors are up in arms against BJP, and with their respective leaders Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor having announced their support for Congress, they are likely to vote against the saffron party for the first time in several elections.

Congress would look to improve on its tally from the 2012 Assembly election when it had won 18 out of 32 seats. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Bharatsinh Solanki said Gandhi’s detailed tour plan would soon be finalised.

“He will tour north Gujarat from 11 to 13 November, after a huge response from the other three regions of the state,” Solanki was quoted as saying in The Times of India report.

Demonetisation anniversary

Another topic that is expected to feature heavily on Gandhi’s and Congress’ agenda during the coming week is the Centre’s demonetisation decision, which will mark its one-year anniversary on 8 November. Gandhi will be in Surat on Wednesday and has said he will spend the anniversary with the city’s traders.

Congress had announced its decision of marking 8 November as ‘Black Day’, and Gandhi had said he would speak with Surat’s famed diamond traders and textile manufacturers to understand their demonetisation-related problems.

As reported by India Today , Gandhi spent the last week in the Patidar stronghold of Surat. He also addressed a series of rallies in Varachcha, on the third phase of his ‘Navsarjan Yatra’, and taunted the Centre over its failed implementation of GST as well.

“Big companies do not bring in employment. It is small businesses that bring business. Lakhs of jobs are generated because of the textile and diamond markets of Surat. Due to demonetisation and GST, they suffered badly. It’s an attack on small businesses,” Rahul thundered.

On the road with Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi has also smartly tweaked the tone and tenor of his speeches, changing and altering them to suit the occasion and location. For instance, in Dedarda village near Anand, he interacted with the women who were part of the women’s milk cooperative. “If farmer loans can be waived off, why not of women milk cooperatives?” he asked. He also set up a series of meetings with Amul plant workers in Dedarda.

From there, he visited Nadiad village of Kheda, which was the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Coming in the same week as Sardar Patel’s 142nd birth anniversary, it was a significant move.

In Vadodara, the second biggest city in Gujarat, Gandhi targeted Modi over more “urban” problems like job creation and economic reform . India, he said, is competing with China these days. China creates 50,000 jobs every day, but India under the Modi government is able to generate just 450 jobs per day, he said. “This is because their (BJP) focus is on development of 100 big industries. When the Congress comes to power, it will develop small and medium scale industries which can create many more jobs,” he said.

He also took potshots at the BJP’s famed “Gujarat model”, saying it’s not working anymore.

As reported by The Indian Express , Rahul had said, “If you go to a hospital in ‘Gujarat Model’ without (having) lakhs of rupees in your pockets, you will get thrown out. Gujarat Model hai bhaiya, Gujarat Model. If you don’t have money, then work doesn’t get done here.”

Gujarat will have the first of a two-phase polling take place on 9 December. The second phase will take place on 14 December, while counting of all votes will be on 18 December. The BJP has won the last four Assembly elections in the western state, and is gunning for a fifth straight term. The last time Congress was in power in Gujarat was 22 years ago, in 1995.

With inputs from agencies