Jayanti Suhagiya, a diamond broker in the Adajan-Pal area of Surat, fumes as he talks about roads leading to his native Likhala village in Savarkundla in Amreli. “Show me one road leading to my village that is in good shape. These roads were carpeted not long ago, but there is so much corruption in government projects,” complains 53-year-old Suhagiya, who came to Likhala from Surat on April 25 to campaign for the BJP. Jayanti, who owns 25 bigha in Likhala, is among the thousands of farmers who migrated to Surat to work in the diamond industry after crops failed due to water scarcity. Suhagiya, who migrated in 1990, says there is no way but to support the BJP. “Local leaders are not doing their job well here and we must call a spade a spade. But we have good leaders in Delhi. So, we have to vote for the BJP,” he says, adding, “Our job is done in Surat. Therefore, I came to Likhala to work for the party.” Jayanti's father Vallabh is the only member of his family who is registered as a voter in Amreli while the rest are voters in Surat which became the first Lok Sabha seat in the country whose results were declared and the BJP’s Mukesh Dalal won uncontested. With the party’s Surat win, Jayanti and a number of BJP workers from the diamond hub have now focused on winning the Amreli seat. Surat city BJP general secretary Kalubhai Bhimnath says the relieved party workforce would be deployed in their home turf in Saurashtra — in Amreli, Rajkot and Porbandar seats. Surat is estimated to have over six lakh migrants from Saurashtra mostly employed in the diamond business. Bhimnath says Surat city has around 12 lakh Patidars, mostly from the Leuva sub-sect who are originally from Saurashtra, engaged mostly in the textiles and diamonds industry. “We (BJP) of Surat, are concentrating on Amreli, Rajkot and Porbandar Lok Sabha seats. There are voters from these seats staying in Surat. The BJP candidates have requested the party social organization leaders to help them and campaign in Surat city (Patidar-dominated areas) as well as in Saurashtra.” The Amreli Lok Sabha seat has 17.29 lakh voters. Puna Gajera, BJP’s coordinator for the seat, says at least a quarter of them live in Surat. “Now that the BJP has won the Surat seat uncontested, resources which were to be spent there will be diverted to Amreli,” he says. Congress district unit president Pratap Dudhat, who also runs a real-estate business in Surat, is also banking on support from the diamond hub. "Those hailing from Amreli in Surat would be between 3 to 4 lakhs and among them, there may be over 1.50 lakh voters. We have also appealed to the social organisation leaders known to us, and our party leaders and workers to bring these voters back to their native place in Amreli for voting on May 7”, Dudhat says. Poor infrastructure, lack of irrigation water and the crash in onion prices on account of the export ban are the main concerns of Amreli residents. Kanu Suhagiya, a farmer cultivating on nine bigha in Likhala, says he has not been able to sell his cotton harvest. Yet, when BJP Amreli candidate Bharat Sutariya is in the village for campaigning, Jayanti and Kanu have no qualms and readily sport the saffron party scarves. At his campaign, Sutariya tells the gathering how residents of his Jarakhiya village in the northern part of Amreli, are presidents of 71 resident welfare associations in Surat. “Hence, when it comes to social service, people of my village take the lead,” says the proud 54-year-old BJP leader who has studied till Class X. Taking over the mic from Sutariya, Mahesh Kaswala, the sitting BJP MLA from Savarkundla seat, tells the farmers that their hardship pales in comparison to soldiers’. However, he says, the ongoing elections are not to address such “petty issues”. “This is a national election to decide who should be the Prime Minister. This is not an election to address petty issues concerning me and you. Challenges facing the country are bigger and more significant than problems your village and you all are facing. Does anyone sitting here want Rahul Gandhi to become prime minister? I think there are none. Now, all those who want to make Narendrabhai (Modi) the prime minister, please raise your hands,” Kaswala tells the small gathering. The farmers believe “the BJP is the only party that can solve the problems” of the country. “If we give 10 tasks to the BJP, it completes at least seven and that is good enough,” says Jayani, another farmer. Likhala Sarpanch Mansukh Savaliya says that out of the 2,500 registered voters in the village, around 150 live in Surat. "The number of Likhala village residents living in Surat remains high, especially during summers, as there is no work on agricultural farms for lack of irrigation water.” While farmers from the village are happy about the power supply in the daytime, they want the government to find a solution to the menace caused by wild boars and blue bulls — prey of Asiatic lions that thrive in this district — destroying standing crops. “Blue bulls and wild boars are making the lives of farmers hell. We have to maintain vigil the whole night and then tend to crops during daytime,” Jayani says. The Amreli Lok Sabha seat is dominated by Patidar and Koli communities. The Congress had won all five Assembly seats in the district in 2017 on the back of the Patidar quota stir. However, the BJP retained the Amreli Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and wrested back all the five Assembly segments in 2022. The neighbouring Mahuva Assembly seat in Bhavnagar, which is also part of the Amreli LS seat, is also held by the BJP. The only Opposition presence is in Gariyadhar that is held by AAP. Interestingly, Rupala and his Congress rival Paresh Dhanani are both big names from Amreli. While Mahuva APMC chairman Ghanshyam Patel feels that the BJP has managed to win the trust of the Koli community by projecting its leaders in the elections, some BJP leaders are nervous over factionalism. Congress candidate Jenny Thummar (40) complains that Amreli town lacks facilities. Neither Jenny nor Dudhat claim that the Congress will win a majority. “I am not suggesting that if Jenny Thummar wins from here, we will change the Prime Minister of the country. However, if Jenny Thummar does win, democracy will remain alive,” Dudhat said. - With inputs from Kamaal Saiyed in Surat
