This time, the BJP will contest on all 182 assembly seats (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)
For minority voters, more of same on offer; ‘no enthusiasm’ about parties
The forthcoming Gujarat Assembly polls is set to see many key contests, but the one for minority votes is rather tepid, with major political parties circumspect about fielding Muslim candidates, as always. The Muslim community, which forms approximately nine per cent of the total population of Gujarat, says in one voice that it is “unexcited” about the polls, as “none of the parties” has ever lived up to their pre-poll promises or reached out to the community.
This time, across the 182 constituencies, the Congress has fielded only six Muslim candidates — a figure it has not crossed since 2002. The BJP — which even has a Christian candidate in the fray after two decades, from the Vyara constituency — last fielded a Muslim candidate in 1998 from the Vagra Assembly seat, unsuccessfully. The new entrant, Aam Aadmi Party, has fielded three Muslims, while the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has fielded 11 Muslim candidates out of a total 13 nominations. There are, of course, several Independent candidates from the community, who are expected to dent the vote share primarily of the Congress party.
A firebrand Congress MLA’s worry: Division of Thakor votes
From waving at villagers from the sunroof of her SUV to riding pillion at a motorbike rally, Congress MLA Geniben Thakor (46) has her own star value in the Bhabhar taluka of Vav Assembly constituency in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.
“I am in my pihar (maternal village) today,” Thakor says in the village of Mera on Thursday morning as a crowd of women, not interested in what the other leaders at the event had to say, suddenly stand up and rush to listen to what their “daughter and sister” had to say. The firebrand Congress MLA plays to the gallery and goes on to say, “Vote for your daughter. I do not need to give a bhashan (lecture) about the BJP or the Congress in Mera village. Either I win or lose but I am always with you in your happiness or sorrow. There is not a single family in the village I have not personally reached out to during the Covid pandemic.”
The other Amit Shah: Former mayor, now a candidate, leads BJP charge in Ahmedabad
MOST BJP workers accompanying Amit Popatlal Shah, 63, the former mayor of Ahmedabad, struggle to match his energy and fast pace of walking, as the current chief of the Ahmedabad BJP unit hits the campaign trail across the Ellisbridge Assembly constituency. Shah is adamant the AAP won’t make a dent at any of Ahmedabad city’s 16 Assembly seats. He is also confident of personally winning by over 80,000 votes. Once elected, he has vowed to resolve all disputes related to the Disturbed Areas Act in the Paldi area of his constituency.
At a Navrangpura rally on November 23, the second of the day for Shah in which he and his entourage covered nearly four kilometres on foot across residential societies as part of his pre-poll outreach, the public reception was mixed, often lukewarm. At times, Shah could be seen waving at empty balconies, with intrigued shopkeepers and bystanders reluctantly waving back, that too, intermittently.
With days to go before the Gujarat Assembly Polls 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday released its 'Sankalp Patra' or manifesto at Shri Kamlam office in Gandhinagar. Speaking at the launch event, party national president JP Nadda promised to create an 'anti-radicalisation' cell in the state if re-elected. "We will create an anti-radicalisation cell to identify and eliminate potential threats, and sleeper cells of the terrorist organisations and anti-India forces," he said.
Slamming Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his comments on the BJP’s handling of the Gujarat riots, AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi accused the top BJP leader of being “drunk with power”. A day after Shah alleged that rioters were taught a “lesson” during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, Owaisi said: “Amit Shah sahab, what lesson did you teach that Delhi communal riots occurred?” He went on to warn the BJP leader that “the seat of power is snatched from all”.
Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is all set to hit the campaign trail on Saturday. He will address public meetings in two districts -- Olpad in Surat and Dediapada in Narmada today. In other news, a delegation of Congress leaders on Friday met the Election Commission and complained against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the alleged misuse of children in election campaign in Gujarat after he shared a video of a child campaigning for the BJP.
Kheda: Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi waves at supporters at a public meeting ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, in Kheda district, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022. (PTI Photo)
If there is a tweak in the familiar story of the Gujarat election, if this time the 27-year-incumbent is facing a plucky new competitor it cannot ignore, it has a lot to do with what happened in Surat in 2021. Come here to get a closer glimpse of the Gujarat election’s newly minted triangle — BJP vs Congress vs AAP.
The Congress’s strong showing in 2017 — going up to 77 seats, confining the BJP to 99 — sets off barely a ripple today in this urban centre where a whole generation of voters has grown up seeing only the BJP’s MLAs. But the AAP’s performance in Surat’s 2021 municipal corporation polls is a talking point, across swathes of voters. Vandita Mishra writes
Remembering the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said Gujarat and the country need to be "alert" about Congress and like-minded parties which keep mum on "big terrorist attacks" to not offend their vote bank. Addressing a rally in Kheda district in Gujarat where Assembly elections are scheduled for December 1 and 5, the prime minister said Congress and many like-minded parties view terrorism as a shortcut to achieving success.
"Terrorism is not over yet and the politics of the Congress has not also changed. The fear of terrorism will remain till appeasement politics continues. “Congress views terrorism from the prism of vote bank, Not only Congress but many like-minded parties have come up now who view terrorism as a shortcut to achieve success and this small party's hunger for power is even bigger,” he said without naming the "small party". (PTI)
Congress president Malikarjun Kharge on Sunday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "jhoothon ka sardar" (chieftain of liars), and said the latter tries to gain sympathy by calling himself poor and claiming that people abuse him. Addressing a public rally at Dediapada in tribal-dominated Narmada district of poll-bound Gujarat, Kharge said he himself comes from the "poorest of the poor and untouchable caste".
"Modiji and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah ask what Congress did in 70 years? Had we not done anything in 70 years, you would not have got democracy. And people like you who always claim to be poor. I am also poor. I am from the poorest of the poor. I come from the untouchable caste. At least people drink your tea. People do not even drink my tea," he said. (PTI)
This week I write from New York. It is the day after Thanksgiving. I have come to this city twice at this time of year because it is the only way that I can be with my exiled son on his birthday which is sometimes on the exact date of this most wonderful of festivals and sometimes a day or two later. Before going any further I would like to remind you that it was suddenly discovered by the BJP that he was a ‘paid ISI agent’ after he wrote an article in Time magazine that was critical of the Prime Minister. He grew up in India in a Sikh household and did not meet his father or go to Pakistan till he was an adult but in the atmosphere of ugly nationalism and fake patriotism that has been created since Narendra Modi came to power, anyone with any connection to Muslims or Islam can be charged with being a Pakistani agent. Tavleen Singh writes
One youngster Addressing a public rally in Depiapada, ahead of the Gujarat Assembly election, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Sunday, "Modi & Shah ask what did Congress do in the last 70 years? If Congress had not worked in the last 70 years, we would not have seen a democracy today". (ANI)
BJP president JP Nadda on Sunday said like "antibodies keep a check on bad cells", it is the government's responsibility to maintain vigil on anti-national forces, as he batted for an anti-radicalisation cell announced by his party in its Gujarat assembly polls manifesto. Releasing the BJP manifesto for the polls, Nadda on Saturday had announced setting up the cell to identify and eliminate potential threats and sleeper cells of terrorist organisations and anti-India forces.
In an interview with PTI, he said it is the State's responsibility to keep a check on forces working against the country and society.
"Like antibodies in the human body, keep a check on bad cells. It is the State's responsibility to keep a check on anti-national cells in the country. Then there are some cells that work underground so this anti-radicalisation cell is required to keep a check on such cells," said the chief of the BJP, which has been in power in Gujarat for nearly 25 years. (PTI)
Vasim Shaikh, who earns his living as a daily-wage worker in a garment unit in Surat city, was made to sign a few documents by some people in his “friend circle” a couple of days ago. Shaikh’s name figures among a list of 30 Muslim candidates contesting as Independents from Surat’s Limbayat constituency which will go the polls in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls on December 1.
“Mai toh cutting ka kaam karta hoon idhar, dihadi hai mera. Kisine bataya toh maine bhar diya (I am engaged in cutting in a garments unit. Someone told me to fill up forms which I did. I was not aware that I was being made a candidate),” Shaikh claims. Read more
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said Sunday that the party will form the next government in Gujarat and implement the Old Pension Scheme by the end of January next year. He was addressing media persons at a hotel in Surat in the morning, days ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. “We will form the government in Gujarat and win over 92 seats. We will implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in Gujarat by January 31, 2023,” he said, showing the government notification recently issued in Punjab to implement the OPS.
“In the upcoming election, for the first time, a large number of BJP voters will vote for the AAP,” he added. “Ahead of the 2014 elections in Delhi, I had predicted to a journalist and had given it in writing that the Congress will get zero seats in Delhi and that we will form the government. The results are before you,” Kejriwal said. Read more
More from Elections
Launching a scathing attack on AAP and the party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Union Minister Anurag Thakur Sunday said: "Kejriwal speaks something and takes U-turn. They said that they would win Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but lost their deposit across both states. On one hand, their corrupt minister is in jail and on the other, they say they are honest." (ANI)
Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday said that he is giving money to the people and “not taking it to Swiss bank”, replying to BJP’s accusations of him “squandering money”.
“Ye mujhko BJP wale khoob galiyan dete hain…..Kejriwal sara paisa luta dega. Kejriwal janta ko hi toh paisa de raha hai (These BJP people curse me a lot…..Kejriwal will squander all the money. Kejriwal is only giving money to the public). Kejriwal is not taking the money to the Swiss bank, or building mansions or buying properties,” the AAP chief said in Bhavnagar. Read more
Exuding confidence about the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) victory in the ensuing Gujarat Assembly elections, party national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday promised to implement the Old Pension Scheme till January 31. He was addressing a press conference in Surat.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel addressed a public meeting at Palitana in Gujarat on Sunday.
In an apparent attack on Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that the "namoona" (sample) that has come from Delhi is a "true supporter of terrorism".
Yogi was addressing a public meeting in poll-bound Gujarat where he slammed the Delhi Chief Minister accusing him of demanding "proof of surgical strike" in 2016 from the Indian Army.
"The namoona of Aam Aadmi Party that has come from Delhi is a true supporter of terrorism. He opposes Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. He asks soldiers for a proof of a surgical strike inside Pakistan. Is proof sought from the brave soldiers?" Yogi said. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said terror attacks were rampant when Congress was in power and terrorists from Pakistan used to kill Indian soldiers but the then ruling party never condemned them due to "vote bank" politics.
Paying tributes to the victims of the November 26, 2008 (26/11) Mumbai terror attack, Shah said it is impossible to carry out such an attack under the watch of the Narendra Modi government.
"Today is the anniversary of the 26/11 attack. On this day (in 2008), Pakistani terrorists killed 164 persons in Mumbai. I pay my humble tributes to the departed souls. Though such attacks were rampant during the Congress rule, it is not possible to carry out a 26/11 type terror attack today because Narendra Modi is the prime minister," Shah said while addressing a poll rally in Talaja town in Bhavnagar district for a BJP candidate. (PTI)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced that its national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address an important press conference in Surat at 12 PM on Sunday.
Sharing the video of his roadshow in Gujarat's Bhavnagar, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi on Saturday: "Leaving behind 27 years of dark rule, now Gujarat is moving towards a new dawn with AAP."