Day after victory in 4 states, PM Modi hits the road in poll-bound Gujarat

Wasting no time on savouring the victory a day after the election results gave four states out of five to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit the road in Gujarat on a two-day visit. 

Gujarat is the next state to go to the polls at the end of the year. The PM effectively launched the party’s election campaign from Ahmedabad.

It was an impromptu decision and the state unit of the BJP got little time to organise the trip. But even so, the roads were choked as riding in an open car festooned with garlands, Modi waved to people as his roadshow began from the airport to Kamalam, BJP’s state headquarters in Gandhinagar. Kamalam is around 10 km from the airport. Modi also addressed a rally of over 100,000 elected representatives of panchayat bodies. He will attend the ‘Khel Mahakumbh 2022’ on Saturday at Sardar Patel Stadium in Navrangpura and be the chief guest at the convocation at the Rashtriya Raksha university.

Slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram, Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ were heard being chanted as the roadshow made it way to the BJP headquarters. A huge rangoli on the floor was a good likeness of the PM offering ‘arghya’, dressed in saffron, in the fashion of saints and sanyasis. 

Modi told panchayat heads at a packed venue that “villages have been successful in checking the spread of coronavirus. I congratulate the village heads for their efforts. I also congratulate the farmers of the country for ensuring that food supplies were not hit during the pandemic.”

The prime minister invoked Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel during his address. “Gujarat is the land of Bapu and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Bapu always talked about rural development, self-reliant villages. Today, as we are marking Amrit Mahotsav, we must fulfil Bapu’s dream of Grameen Vikas,” the PM said. He did not refer to Morarji Desai, the only prime minister from Gujarat before he came to office. 

“A robust panchayat raj infrastructure is key to fulfilling the dream of Gram Swaraj. All the panchayat members and sarpanchs are working towards achieving the objective,” the PM added.

Panchayat elections were held in 2021 in Gujarat and though officially fought on non-party lines, was won by a majority of candidates who are members of the BJP. The BJP won a clear majority in all the 31 district panchayats as well as in 196 of 231 taluka panchayats and 74 of 81 municipalities. 

The Congress, the main opposition party in the state, won a clear majority in only one municipality and 18 taluka panchayats, while AIMIM and AAP made their presence felt. The Congress lost even in the panchayats where it was in power.

Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the AAP was gearing up to fight the Gujarat elections along the same pattern as it had organised itself in Punjab. The Delhi — and now Punjab — model would be replicated in Gujarat as well, he said.