© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
VISUALS of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi walking with his arm around the shoulders of activist Medha Patkar recently, as his Bharat Jodo Yatra crosses Maharashtra, kicked off a political storm in Gujarat Friday.
With the BJP launching its mega campaign deploying national and state leaders across 89 constituencies that go to the polls on December 1, the party used every chance to attack Rahul for associating with Patkar, saying that this showed that, like her, he was “anti-Gujarat and anti-Gujaratis”.
Patkar had led the movement against Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar Project through her Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Having made the project the centrepiece of his Gujarat development narrative, Narendra Modi has made Patkar the face of the delays in it.
Tagging tweets of pictures showing Rahul with Patkar, Gujarat Chief minister Bhupendra Patel tweeted: “Congress and Rahul Gandhi have time and again shown their animosity towards Gujarat and Gujaratis. By giving Medha Patkar a central place in his Yatra, Rahul Gandhi shows that he stands with those elements who denied water to Gujaratis for decades. Gujarat will not tolerate this.”
In August, Patel had been the first BJP leader to raise Patkar in this poll campaign, using her former association with the Aam Aadmi Party to attack it. He had referred to her as an “urban Naxal”.
State BJP chief CR Paatil also took to Twitter. “Urban naxal Medha Patkar impeded the development of Kutch and the whole of Gujarat by opposing the Narmada project. Today, the Congress is doing the Bharat Todo yatra with the urban naxal who was against the development of Gujarat. Gujarat will never support those who have taken urban naxals on their side,” Paatil tweeted.
While not mentioning Patkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will campaign in Valsad on Saturday, tweeted: “The anti-Gujarat agenda of the opposition is being comprehensively rejected.”
Rahul is expected to campaign in the same tribal constituency of South Gujarat Monday.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, who addressed a rally in the tribal constituency of Jhagadia in Bharuch district on the banks of the Narmada river, said the time had come to “throw the Congress into the Gulf of Khambhat”.
Stating that the Congress would never have revoked Article 370 or built a Ram Mandir or renovated the Kashi Vishwanath Temple complex as PM Modi had done, Adityanath said: “Bhaiyo, if the Congress cannot protect the country, or take it toward prosperity or respect your faith, nor can it implement a welfare scheme with integrity, then why do we choose this Congress?”
Several BJP leaders brought up references to the Narmada river in their speeches, including Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who addressed a rally in Mandvi, where the Narmada waters reached in July, at the tail end of the Kutch branch canal.
Chouhan said: “I promise Narendrabhai that, the canal you constructed and that took the Narmada to Kutch and Bhuj, won’t face any shortage in the Narmada (river) from Madhya Pradesh’s side.”
He added: “But these people like the Congress and Medha Patkar… roz andolan, roz andolan, roz Narmada bachao, Narmada bachao. Arrey tum kya Narmada bachaoge? Narmada desh bachayegi (every day protest, every day agitate… ‘Save the Narmada, Save the Narmada’… What is this saving the Narmada claim? The Narmada will save the country).”
At a rally in Abdasa Assembly constituency, Chouhan said that when Modi realised that it was not possible to get the Narmada water to the region via a canal, he decided to build a pipeline. “The water will reach your farmlands, it will change the picture of this place, as well as the farmers’ fate.”
At Morbi, Chouhan said: “Medha Patkar and Congress leaders would drink (the Narmada) water, but hurl abuses at me. But I declared that Madhya Pradesh is ours, and so is Gujarat.” He also mentioned the benefits of hydroelectricity to Madhya Pradesh from the Sardar Sarovar Project.
Also Read in Gujarati : Click Here
