When Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Porbandar on Friday, the party made sure that he addresses people from the fishing community. The party chose a small open plot in front of old office of Gujarat Maritime Board at Juna Bandar or old fisheries harbour, instead of the larger Chowpaty Ground. The gathering was comparatively small. But party insiders say it was a well-thought plan. The population of fishing community in Porbandar is around 75,000 and over 30,000 of them are eligible to vote. This makes the fishing community, the third largest constituent in Porbandar Assembly seat which has around 2.28 lakh voters. The seat is dominated by Mer community, who account for around 65,000 voters, followed by Brahmins with more than 50,000 voters. Barring the 2007 Assembly elections, Porbandar constituency has witnessed a pitched battled between former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia and BJP minister Babu Bokhiria. With two wins and two losses each, the two leaders are facing each other again. Since both Modhwadia and Bokhiria belong to Mer community, the votes of the community get divided. With Brahmins being traditionally BJP voters, the votes of the fishing community become very crucial to tilt the scale in favour of either one of the two candidates. “While they (fishing community) may not be decisive votes, they are very important,” says Modhwadia, underlining the importance of the party’s renewed bid to woo back fishermen in its attempt to return to power in Gujarat after 22 years. In the last Assembly elections in 2012, a large section of the fishing community had voted for Bokhiria, who had defeated his arch Congress rival by over 17,000 votes, and won the seat after a decade. The BJP made Bokhiria fisheries minister, a portfolio he holds till date. In March 2015, Pakistan had repatriated 57 Indian fishing boats. It was the first such move in over a decade and remains a high watermark for Bokhiria and the BJP-led government at the Centre. But Bharat Modi, the president of Porbandar Machhimar Boat Association (PMBA), an organisation of owners of fishing boats in Porbandar, says that there are few more demands of the community which have not been fulfilled by the BJP government. “Diesel and kerosene subsidy is a major issue. The government doesn’t release subsidy on time, sometimes for a year. In fact, the subsidy benefits were not given for around four years, preceding 2012, and they have also reduced quota of subsidised kerosene from 250 litres to merely 30 litres per boat per month,” says Modi, who also attended Rahul’s election meeting, but stressed that he was there as the leader of fishing community even though he is a BJP worker. Among other things, Modi demanded a separate fisheries ministry at the meeting, which Rahul Gandhi accepted on the spot. At the meeting, Modhwadia tried to highlight the demands of the community, reminding the audience that Congress governments in the past used to give subsidy on diesel and kerosene by waiving sales tax at the time of purchase of fuel from petrol pumps. “The kerosene quota was also liberal,” he said. “Before 1975, we used to go for fishing on sailing boats. But after the Congress formed the government in 1975, it gave loans and subsidies for mechanised boats. During the Congress rule, 200 houses were constructed for fishermen, 22 years ago. After that, no housing scheme for fishermen has been announced. Fishermen were free to build new ships, but after 2002 the BJP government stopped issuing licences to new boats. Whatever you see on the coastline of Gujarat today, is thanks to the Congress. BJP government has not developed a single new fishing harbour,” he added. On the other hand, Bokhiria claims he has support of the fishing community. “We have released Rs 128 crore diesel subsidy for fishermen of Gujarat, this year. The kerosene quota has been increased to 150 litre per boat per month. So, I am confident that fishing community will vote for the BJP. We had more votes than Congress in Porbandar in 2014 Lok Sabha election and managed to retain power in Porbandar municipality,” the minister says. At the Porbandar harbour, fishermen say they are bothered by other issues. “Our catch remains comparatively small. Fish prices have gone down considerably. Traders say that market has been hit by the GST,” says Hira Hadal, a 61-year-old fisherman. But not all at Rahul’s meeting guaranteed a victory for his party. “The Congress has paid attention to fishermen but at the same time, BJP has also done well to address some of the issues,” says a man without disclosing who he would vote on December 9. Besides Porbandar, votes of fishing community play an important role in constituencies like Dwarka, Khambhaliya, Mangrol, Veraval, Kodinar, Una and Rajula constituencies in Saurashtra region. There is a sizeable population of fishing community in Valsad district of south Gujarat also.
