As half of Gujarat prepared to vote Saturday in the first phase of the high-stakes assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, moving swiftly to spearhead the BJP campaign in the remaining half of the state that votes December 14, reeled out a list of invectives which he said had been hurled at him at different times by leaders of the rival Congress.
Effectively putting himself at the centre of the battle for the ruling party’s citadel, Modi told voters Friday that the attacks on him were personal.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: Gujarat Elections
He claimed that Congress veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar, who had called him a “neech kisam ka aadmi” a day earlier, had put out a “supari” in Pakistan for his “removal”, while Sonia Gandhi had called him “maut ka saudagar” who practised “zer ni kheti” (poison farming), and Rahul Gandhi had accused him of “dalali” of soldiers’ blood.
Rashid Alvi, he said, called him a “stupid PM” and Digvijaya Singh had described his rule as “rakshash raj”. He listed words used by others in the Congress: Pramod Tiwari, he said, compared him to Gaddafi, Mussolini and Hitler; Aiyar called him Lahu Purush, saanp, bicchhu, ganda aadmi, Ravan no avtar (Ravan’s incarnation); “one Congress leader who is a Supreme Court lawyer” said ‘Modi is a bandar’; Jairam Ramesh called him Bhasmasur; Beni Prasad Verma said Modi is a ‘pagal kutta’; Renuka Chaudhary called him a virus named Namonitis; and Manish Tewari “once said he would not mind comparing Modi to Dawood Ibrahim”.
“These are the words they use for a Prime Minister,” Modi said, underlining “Congress and its leadership hate Modi and Gujarat, but it does not give them a licence to insult Gujaratis”. He told them to “respond” on voting day and “punish” the Congress. “Such words in a democracy? So far, we kept quiet because my values are different, and I want to work for the country. But now, you (Congress) will have to listen,” he said.
“The Congress is a party of the last century. Can a party, which is being ousted by almost all states, have a place in Gujarat,” he asked.
In Nikol in east Ahmedabad, Modi said: “Tell me, is it neech to be born in a poor family? Is it neech to be born in a backward community? Is it neech to be a Gujarati?”
In Bhabhar in Banaskantha, he targeted Aiyar again. “This is the same man who went to Pakistan and held a meeting there. He spoke of ‘Modi ko raaste se hatao’ (remove Modi from the way) to solve the India-Pakistan issue. Why did the Congress suppress this? What does ‘raaste me se hatao’ mean? I was elected Prime Minister through a democratic process. Is it my fault that I have the blessings of all of you? They (Congress) go to Pakistan and talk about ‘Modi ko raaste se hatao’. Did he (Aiyar) give them a supari for my head? What have I done to them? This is their mentality.”
Recalling how Congress MLAs were flown to Bengaluru ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections when Banaskantha was battling floods, he urged voters to “severely punish” the Congress for deserting them. “It will take a minute to find out the difference between BJP and the Congress. When floods hit Banaskantha, where were Congress leaders? They were in Bangalore. What were they doing in Bangalore? They were having fun.”
“While you were sinking, Congress leaders were enjoying dives and strokes in clean waters of a swimming pool in a resort in Bangalore... You must punish the Congress in such a way that they do not escape to resorts during times of need.”
He said by introducing neem-coated urea, his government had foiled and angered urea black marketeers. “Couldn’t the Congress have done this? They could have. But their nature is atkana (block), latkana (stall), bhatkana (lead astray)... Don’t you think that by taking this step of introducing neem-coated urea, I have ended the business of black marketeers? Don’t you think they will avenge it? Don’t you think they want to attack me? Who will protect me? I carry my ‘maut’ in my ‘mutthi’.”
Reaching out to farmers, Modi said: “...Now, I am Prime Minister. So you have ladoos in both hands. One in Gandhinagar, one in Delhi. You have a golden chance. You can come to Delhi and call out, ‘Narendrabhai, wait, I have to talk to you’. Will you get such a Prime Minister? Will you get such a chance that for the next five years, Delhi will stand at your service. Press the ‘kamal’ button.”
On Saturday, 89 of 182 seats in Gujarat go to polls. Of these, 48 are in Saurashtra, six in Kutch and 35 in South Gujarat which includes Surat, the only urban centre where the Congress hopes to make inroads, riding piggyback on the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) which has been seeking an OBC quota for the Patels.
Kutch is its stronghold but for the BJP, the regions of Saurashtra and South Gujarat will be key. From the time Modi left Gujarat for Delhi after becoming Prime Minister, the state has witnessed three caste uprisings — the Patidar quota agitation led by 23-year old Hardik Patel; Alpesh Thakor, who led the OBC agitation, is now a Congress candidate; and, Jignesh Mevani, who led the Dalit uprising after the Una flogging incident, is now a Congress-backed candidate.
The campaign that began with memes on ‘Vikas gando thayo chhe’ (development has gone crazy) was picked up by the three youth leaders, backed by Rahul Gandhi who shifted the election narrative to mock the “Gujarat model” and talk about opportunities for youth, security to farmers. He also attacked demonetisation and the rollout of the “Gabbar Singh Tax” or GST which had hit the small and medium industries — the backbone of Saurashtra and Surat.
Winning this election is becoming a personal battle for Modi. The caste-based agitations coupled with demonetisation and GST, anti-incumbency, anger among Patidars and farmers have given hope to the Congress, especially in Saurashtra where farmers have said “this time we have to teach them (BJP) a lesson”.
This is also a fight for Hardik Patel, who faces a sedition case for leading the Patel quota movement, and has been at the centre of a purported “sex tape”. He has backed the Congress “conditionally”, and on Friday, tweeted: “Turn your collar up and go to vote, we can tell our sons with pride, that for the sake of our community we made the biggest party of the world fall.”
The Congress campaign, led by Rahul Gandhi, has seen carefully planned temple visits, “conversations”, “dining on wayside stalls” and writing of rules for partymen like “no personal attacks on the Prime Minister”.
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| Security personnel at a polling booth in Anandpar village, on outskirts of Rajkot, on Friday. Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat vote on Saturday |
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