Morbi Congress candidate avoids using bridge tragedy for canvassing

The Congress workers soon stopped at Kanaiya Tea Stall near Ramapir temple for a tea break. As the Congress leaders shower praises on the tea, Bharat Susra, the owner of the tea stall, merely smiles. But he turns serious at the mention of the Jhulto Pul suspension bridge collapse. “Whether it will have any bearing on the election, one can tell only after the results of the polls are announced,” he says.

Patel, the incumbent president of Morbi district unit of the Congress, is trying his luck for the seventh time in the Assembly election. He had lost five consecutive elections from the seat between 1990 and 2007. Four of those—in 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2007—had come against Kantilal Amrutiya (the current BJP candidate from Morbi) after Patel lost his maiden Assembly election to Babubhai Jashbhai Patel, the former chief minister of Gujarat. After a gap of 13 years, the Congress fielded him in a bypoll in 2020 after Brijesh Merja, who was elected MLA on a Congress ticket, defected to the BJP and sought a re-election as a BJP nominee. But Patel lost by 4,649 votes.

But the Congress leader, a commerce graduate, does not like to talk about his defeats and their reasons. “You look at the margin of my defeats. I lost all elections narrowly,” he tells The Indian Express.

So what can change this time? “People have been fed up with the 27-year-long reign of the BJP. Look at price rise, unemployment levels and the way the youth are becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. These issues are grinding the poor and the middle-class,” says Patel, who runs ceramic factories and has interest in real estate business.

When reminded that the BJP claims unprecedented development during its rule, the Congressman hits back. “You see what happened to Jhulto Pul and then talk about the unprecedented development said to have been achieved during the BJP regime. The BJP talks about the development even as Morbi’s pride (Jhulto Pul), which was built by the royal family 140 years ago, came crashing down, killing 150 (sic) residents. It’s been 18 days since and yet, no concrete step has been taken,” Patel says, underlining that the BJP is ruling Morbi Municipality that owns the bridge. “The first question the Gujarat High Court asked two days ago was why the municipality was not being superseded and why no one was being held accountable.”

He also did not forget to target Amrutiya for the viral video of him trying to rescue people from the river. “The BJP is not respecting mrutyuno malajo (sadness caused by deaths). My rival was shooting videos in the river and getting his photos clicked. This is BJP’s reality. When the Prime Minister visits, instead of respecting the mood caused by deaths, the hospital is given a fresh coat of paint, new water coolers and new furniture placed… Nothing can be more tragic than this. This is an insult to not only Morbi but the people of Gujarat also.”

He adds that Alpesh Kothiya, the president of Morbi Youth Congress, and his team also reached the site soon after and jumped into the river and rescued people. “We have photos to prove that. But unlike BJP leaders, we will never upload them on social media to seek political mileage,” the Congress leader says adding he too had reached the scene of accident within 20 minutes.

That said, the Congress leader does not mention the bridge tragedy while campaigning. Instead, his pamphlets promise free electricity, free medical treatment up to Rs10 lakh, Rs 3,000 unemployment allowance, free bus rides and hostels to students from rural areas.

“It (the bridge collapse) is not a poll issue as people have still not overcome the grief. People will never be able to forget it. So, in such a sombre mood, we are campaigning with simplicity and requesting people to support us,” says Patel.

As the campaign resumes after the tea break, Bharat Bakutra, who owns a mobile phone shop adjacent to the tea stall, says he’s disillusioned with politicians. “The government primary school building in my village has been dilapidated for around a decade and the school has been running out of rented premises since. Nothing has happened despite repeated representations. It seems politicians don’t take their own words seriously. Therefore, the residents didn’t allow Amrutiya to campaign in the village a couple of days ago,” 34-year-old Bakutra, a resident of Nani Barar, a village around 50 km away from Morbi town, said, adding the villagers have decided to boycott the Assembly election.

As the 66-year-old Patel goes ahead with the campaign, wearing a faint smile and shaking hands with people, Kanti Khokhar (65), a paan shop owner, says, “He is a good man with good ideas but has lost successive elections due to a lack of wider public support… But he might be able to break the jinx this time. The BJP has been winning this Assembly seat and Morbi municipality for the past 25 years but they have nothing great to show. The town lacks cleanliness. There are a few public urinals in the commercial areas. People are fed up with those who give big promises but do little substantial. The Jhulto Pul collapse has exposed them”.

However, Bharat Surani, a 33-year-old hairdresser disagrees. “I vote for a good candidate from a good party who has the capacity to provide facilities like good roads, streetlights and drainage systems. Thanks to Modi, BJP looks pretty and Amrutiya has been winning here for the past 25 years, meaning people consider him a worthy politician. Patel is a good man but has been losing because he’s with the Congress. People love him but it’s just that BJP has been in power and the lady luck hasn’t smiled on Patel so far.” He feels the bridge collapse would not affect the election because people were also responsible for the tragedy as they crowded the bridge beyond its capacity.

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