Now, Gujarat is set to vote again in a two-phase election on Dec. 09 and Dec. 14, with the results for all the 182 seats to be declared on Dec. 18. But the going’s gotten tougher for Modi’s BJP, which has ruled the state for 22 straight years now. Gandhi, meanwhile, has managed to make his presence felt, though nobody’s counting on this necessarily translating into electoral gains. [...]
Gujarat is India’s third-most industrialised and fourth-most urbanised state. It accounts for 7.6% of India’s GDP and has consistently grown at a faster rate than the country itself. But most importantly, it is Modi’s home state and its economic development has for long been his calling card. [...]
Meanwhile, for the battered and bruised Congress, this could be the last chance at regaining some respectability. If it wins—a humongous “if,” that is—redemption could be instant (and recent polls do underscore this possibility). In fact, even if the party loses but considerably improves its tally from the last time (60 out of 182), it would be a shot in the arm. [...]
The Dalit anger may not effectively translate into electoral trends considering that they form less than 8% of Gujarat’s population—and that, too, mostly scattered across the state. However, some of them may be looking to join hands with other agitated communities to make a mark. [...]
“Modi is today inaugurating projects that he first inaugurated in 2002, then in 2007, and yet again in 2012. People are asking why projects are not being completed? Even his showpiece monument, the big Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue (slated to be the world’s largest statue), is being built in China. So what happened to Make in India? This is a joke,” said Lalji Desai, general secretary of the Congress party in Gujarat. “No wonder there is anger in almost every section of the Gujarat society.”
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