Facing anti-incumbency, BJP’s Gujarat campaign relentlessly attacked Congress for its alleged failures

PM Narendra Modi casts his vote in phase two of Gujarat elections, on Monday (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

All star campaigners also claimed that Gujarat had become “riot and curfew free” since the tenure of Modi as Chief Minister, which was also one of the reasons why the state had “progressed and developed”. Yogi Adityanath also mentioned that his state of Uttar Pradesh had also become “free of “riots, curfews and the powerful mafias, who have been bulldozed”. While decorated bulldozers were added props to Adityanath’s campaign in the state, the UP CM also credited PM Modi for making India “free of terrorism and Naxalism”.

Amit Shah during a road show that was held in Vadodara on Friday (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

The BJP campaigners did not shy from blowing the trumpet over the renovation of various places of worship under the reign of the Modi-led central government. In Gujarat, the renovation of the 11th-century Kalika Mata temple complex in Pavagadh in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 18 this year, was as widely highlighted as the ongoing construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. While Amit Shah went around announcing the date of the inauguration of the temple — January 1, 2024, Prime Minister Modi evoked the blessings of Mahakali from Pavagadh, stating that it was the “Congress’ mindset of slavery” and their “pleasure in insults heaped at religious places” which stopped the party from undertaking the renovations before. The Pavagadh temple complex was redeveloped after ‘amicably shifting’ a dargah built atop the temple to construct the ‘shikhar and kalash’ or superstructure and spire of the temple and unfurl the temple flag — 500 years after invaders allegedly broke down the shikhar and constructed a dargah on top of the temple. The campaign highlighted that it was under the leadership of Modi that “India was reclaiming its cultural pride”, which the “Congress had neglected through decades due to votebank appeasement”. Speeches mentioned the development of the Kashi corridor, Mahakal in Ujjain, Badrinath and Kedarnath as well as the ongoing work of gold plating the Somnath temple in Gujarat.

Even before Patkar had joined Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, it had been under attack in all of the BJP speeches, as leaders mocked it for various reasons — from allegedly playing a film song instead of the national anthem, to its title. Nadda, while addressing public gatherings mocked the title Bharat Jodo, by speaking of the 2016 JNU incident of alleged anti-India sloganeering in Rahul Gandhi’s presence. Nadda said, “Only they (Congress) know if they are doing a Bharat Jodo or Bharat Todo. They (Congress) are people who say, ‘Afzal hum sharminda hain tere kaatil zinda hain…’ They rue the hanging of Afzal, who attacked the Parliament, who was given capital punishment by the Supreme Court, and whose clemency petition was rejected by the then President Pranab Mukherjee. Rahul Gandhi stands with such people in JNU and in that same event there are also slogans that say, ‘Bharat tere tukde honge inshallah inshallah…’ He (Gandhi) should first unite his own party anf then proceed to uniting the country.”

A large part of the campaign also focussed on India’s fight against Covid-19 and especially the “visionary actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi” in developing indigenous vaccines. While PM Modi himself spoke about the Covid-19 vaccination drive and free food kits to families at every speech, the BJP campaigners and candidates also credited PM Modi for “ensuring that we can gather in such big numbers without masks, even as Europe, America and China” continue to battle Covid-19. While Nadda, in his speeches, counted the number of years it had taken pre-Modi India to have vaccines for various diseases, PM Modi, in his speech, sought public testimony to the fact that nearly 80 crore people had been vaccinated “without being charged a single penny”.

The BJP also launched a massive attack on the Congress over “ignoring” and “discarding” Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — for whom the 182-metre tall Statue of Unity has been erected in Narmada district as part of PM Narendra Modi’s ‘visionary project’. While star campaigners paid their obeisance to Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel in various speeches. Addressing a public gathering in Sojitra in Anand district — which is associated with Sardar Patel as he grew up in Karamsad in Anand — Modi blamed the Congress for “discarding Sardar Patel”. He said that Secretary-General António Guterres, on his recent visit to the Statue of Unity had called it a “fulfilling experience of his life” as he learnt about the works and personality of Sardar Patel. Modi said, “Congress has a problem with Sardar Patel because their ideologies do not match. Congress’ ideology was to divide and rule but Sardar Patel stood for unity. So they don’t consider Sardar Patel as their own… When Congress comes by to seek votes, ask them a few questions from me. Ask them whether Sardar Patel was ever a part of the Congress. And, finally, ask them, Have they ever paid tribute to the Statue of Unity dedicated to Sardar Patel? They have discarded Sardar Patel just because Modi has constructed SoU.”