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Journalism of Courage
“That dirty water…However I being a resident of Morbi dared to jump into it (Machchu river). There were four-five policemen, they also jumped. Then came the Muslim boys, others…When saheb (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) called, I didn’t have even my phone with me. But only one per cent of rescue work was done by me while the rest 99 per cent was done by 99 others and yet they gave the credit to me…Then I came back and uploaded a video… I have that much of wisdom,” says Kantilal Amrutiya in one breath, highlighting his role in the rescue work in Morbi’s Machchu river following the bridge collapse there on October 30 that killed 135 people including 55 children.
His audience comprised of residents of Panchvati locality of Khirai village in Maliya taluka of Morbi district, listening intently as Amrutiya, the BJP candidate from the Morbi constituency for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, builds his campaign around the video which had gone viral on social media showing him waist-deep in the river amid struggling victims against the backdrop of the collapsed suspension bridge.
It was Morbi district’s third tragedy after the 1979 Machchhu dam disaster and the 2001 Kutch earthquake. The bridge was owned by the Morbi municipality, the BJP-ruled civic body, which had handed it over to Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd (Oreva group) for operations and maintenance for 15 years. The civic body has claimed that Oreva did not inform it about the bridge having been thrown open to tourists on October 26 following eight months of restoration and repair work and it could thus not get a safety audit conducted.
PM Modi had flown to Morbi on November 2 to review the search and rescue operations and offer his condolences to the victims’ families, even as the Opposition parties, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), blamed the BJP-led state government and the local municipality for the disaster due to their alleged negligence.
On the campaign trail in the villages of his constituency’s Maliya taluka,
Amrutiya, 61, harps on his narrative as to how he jumped into Machchhu’s “filthy waters” and rescued people, as villagers applaud him. “People have died in the bridge collapse and this is the reason we have decided that there will be neither loud music, nor garlanding, or sweets in meals in our campaigning,” he tells reporters.
Days after he jumped into the river, Amrutiya, a former five-time BJP MLA, was declared by the BJP as its candidate from Morbi in place of the incumbent MLA and minister Brijesh Merja.
The Morbi disaster draws mixed reactions from local voters. “People have died. My own relative’s granddaughter was among the victims. It is painful. But eventually, people will forget that,” Naran Dasadiya, a farmer from Sultanpur village, says.
Several other people say the BJP government and the municipality could not absolve themselves of their responsibility. “The bridge collapsed due to the government’s negligence,” says Mahesh Bhojani, a resident of Manaba village. He however adds, “The Congress is not fielding any deserving candidate. Even if people vote for them, they switch over to the BJP later on.”
The Morbi constituency, which is dominated by the Patidar voters, also has Muslim voters in sizable numbers. It has been a BJP bastion for more than two decades. Amratlal Aghara had won this seat for the BJP for the first time in 1985. Since then, the saffron party has lost it only twice – in 1990 when ex-CM Babubhai Jashbhai Patel won it as an Independent candidate, and in 2017 when the then Congress nominee Brijesh Merja defeated Amrutiya.
Of the six BJP wins in Morbi seat so far, five have been scored by Amrutiya, who won successive elections since 1995 up to 2017, when his victory march was halted as Merja, apparently riding an anti-BJP wave following the Patidar quota stir, defeated him by 3,419 votes. Merja defected to the BJP in 2020, won a bypoll from the same seat as a BJP candidate and was made a minister.
However, the BJP denied ticket to Merja for the upcoming polls, falling back on old-timer Amrutiya to defend its bastion in the wake of a major disaster.
“This is nothing short of a miracle which has happened thanks to the grace of god. Even after losing the election, I didn’t down the shutters of my office. I kept on serving people. In Covid times, after my appeal, industrialists set up facilities for 3,000 beds for those who had contracted Covid, arranged injections and oxygen for them. Around 1,000 people died so I organised a katha (religious discourse) for peace of victims. Then came the disease among cows (lumpy skin disease) and we distributed 108 tonnes of sukhadi (a sweet preparation of wheat flour, ghee, jaggery etc) for cows. Thus, we stayed among the people,” Amrutiya tells a rally in Virvadarka village. “I have good connections at the very top level (of the BJP) as well as here at the bottom. In the middle are a couple of dabhuriya (prickly elements). But I can tackle them.”
While Merja is a native of Chamanpar village in Maliya taluka, he was not accompanying Amrutiya on his campaign in villages of this taluka. “That is fine. He comes to our public meetings and delivers speeches. That is enough,” Amrutiya tells The Indian Express.
In neighbouring Bharatnagar, Amrutiya, popuarly known as Kanabhai, says he got the BJP ticket thanks to public support. “Youths used to conduct surveys on social media as to who should get ticket. As many as 75 per cent would say Kanabhai. They came to you to conduct a survey as to who should be the candidate and you all told Kanabhai.” he tells a gathering.
Amrutiya tells people that he has visited their villages far more than “the one who had won” while apparently referring to Merja. He says he is aware that Narmada waters are not reaching the tail-end of Maliya branch canal where these villages are located. “But we will have to work to get water. Should I ask, you all will have to camp on the canal bank with me. We will put in a mechanism in place to ensure that water reaches you,” he says, adding “Why none of you are complaining now? That is because you know that 15 days after election, Kanabhai will come to your village, sit at a temple and compile a list of your problems.”
Menand Virda, a retired railway gangman from Fatepar village, pulls Amrutiya aside after the meeting and complains about sewage water mixing with the drinking water through a leaky pipeline. Amrutiya is prompt to respond, saying “Didn’t I jump into sewage water after the bridge collapsed. The leaky pipeline is a small issue. We will get it fixed.”
Almost nowhere does Amrutiya mention the names of his party or PM
Modi or CM Bhupendra Patel or Merja.
Amrutiya was booked for allegedly hatching a conspiracy for the murder of Prakash Raveshia, the BJP’s ex-Morbi municipality president, in 1999 over a land dispute. In August 2004, Amrutiya and six others were convicted in this case and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Rajkot’s Gondal town. In October 2007, Amrutiya walked out of jail after being acquitted by the Gujarat high court. The state government moved the Supreme Court against the high court’s verdict, but the apex court upheld Amrutiya’s acquittal. His 2022 election affidavit does not mention if any criminal case has been pending against him.
