Gujarat election results 2017: The way we fought… reverse countdown for Modi has begun, says Ashok Gehlot

We lost 22 seats with a margin of 1,000 to 2,500 votes. It was a good performance. Technically they may have won, but it was a moral victory for us. They tore apart the code of conduct… Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal… everyone of them did. The EC did not give them notice.

Rahul Gandhi’s interview was not allowed to be aired — and yesterday, they withdrew the notice given to Rahul. This foul that they played… announcements of sops, misuse of government machinery, the son of the soil card they played…. For Modiji to say that I am the son of Gujarat, I am being insulted; they have called me neech…. We could have given them back and torn them apart, reminding what they had said about them (Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh), but we did not want to bring down the level of discourse.

There is still an urban disconnect. The Congress has not been able to breach BJP bastions in urban centres. There was anger against them (BJP). But there was an atmosphere of fear — there was a fear of Income Tax, ED, CBI and local government agencies.

So they (people) were afraid of voting, they could not come with us openly. But the margins of our defeat has come down. They had been talking about Mission-150. They are not crossing 100 now. So I don’t consider this a BJP victory and a Congress defeat.

The Patidars did not vote for you in full strength. You have not made major gains in Patidar-dominated seats.

That is a matter of introspection. We are going to hold a meeting in Ahmedabad to do a post-mortem. I will have to go through the results — seat by seat — to come to a definitive conclusion.

What are the big takeaways for the Congress?

The BJP’s graph will go down because of these results. The way we fought in Modi’s home (turf), the love and affection that Rahul Gandhi got…the reverse countdown for Modi has begun. In Himachal Pradesh, their (BJP’s) chief ministerial candidate has lost. We fought the elections on the basis of issues. The questions asked (by Congress) were not answered — be it on the economy, job losses, Rafale deal, or the hasty implementation of GST.

Read | Congress has to introspect why voters are not yet willing to trust it, forgive past transgressions

The Congress was associated with Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani. How do you plan to keep that association going?

We will continue our association. The nitty-gritty will have to be worked out. The issues they raise for the uplift of the poor… will have our support. As far Patel’s agitation, the state Congress will decide how to go about it.

You said the BJP won technically. What does that mean. Did the ‘neech’ remark by Mani Shankar Aiyar backfire?

The BJP played identity politics. The issue of Gujarati asmita came up (with Aiyar’s remark, calling Modi “neech kisam ka aadmi”). They said the Prime Minister is from Gujarat, (that) he is being insulted. We tried to do damage control. They tried to harp on that to electorally benefit…. On the other hand, we focused on an issue-based campaign; their ‘vikas yatra’ had flopped. They made an issue out of what people said. Had the Gujarati asmita issue not been raised, we would have won…. Then they made an issue around son of the soil. Modiji made an emotional appeal to the people.

The Congress will be locked in a direct fight with BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka next year. What impact will the Gujarat results have on these elections?

The Congress will put up a good performance. The message from Gujarat has gone across the country in Congress’s favour. The message is that the BJP was rattled. Modi holding a roadshow on polling day, Jaitley releasing the manifesto a day after campaigning ended, Amit Shah holding a press conference at an airport…. The entire country saw what the BJP did to win an election, what it did to win a Rajya Sabha seat earlier.