Amid political fires raging across many states ruled by different political parties on diverse issues, and the coming Assembly polls in some of the states in early 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day visit to Gujarat from Friday, his second visit to his home state within 20 days, to celebrate his 66th birthday.

At a function in Jamnagar district on August 30, he had assured that, henceforth, he would be more available to the people of Gujarat. Although his visit took place soon after the state was rocked by multiple agitations and a change of guard, he did not utter a word on this and revived the development mantra instead. The upcoming visit is ostensibly in connection with his birthday. He was born on September 17, 1950.

His visit comes at a time when the month-old Vijay Rupani government is struggling to douse the fires still raging due to major agitations launched by the Patels, the OBCs and the Dalits, among others, over the last one year. On September 9, BJP President Amit Shah and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had to cut short their speeches when vociferous Patidar youths created unprecedented pandemonium in Surat and even “beheaded” a Shah cut-out.

A couple of days later, Rupani, again, faced the Patidar music in Bhavnagar. A number of Patel ministers have already been declared persona non-grata by supporters of the reservation quota leader Hardik Patel. After virtually sacking Anandiben Patel last month from the chief ministership, and the Surat fiasco, the BJP is looking afresh at options to woo back the influential Patels — but would not dare consider that the PM address the Patels!

On the other hand, the OBCs, fearing a dent in their quota pie, have threatened to send lakhs of postcards to Modi. The Dalits have decided to send post cards citing “ Badboo Gujarat Ki ” (Stench of Gujarat) to Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism, who led the “ Khushboo Gujarat Ki ” (Fragrance of Gujarat) campaign to woo tourists in recent years. Hindutva and the development agendas have pushed under the carpet social tensions of in the state since the 1990s, but, post-Modi, the State is witnessing a revival of caste differences in the open — hence pushing Modi to revive the development mantra, minus Hindutva.

The ruling BJP, which has been in power continuously since 1995 — except for the Shankarsinh Vaghela interregnum of two years in the late 1990s — is greatly worried about the erosion in its support base as the State heads to assembly elections in 2017. The BJP is launching a three-day ‘Cleanliness Drive’ from tomorrow to mark the PM’s birthday. Beyond this, it does not seem to know how to re-stitch its frayed support base into a winning combination for 2017.

Official sources said the PM will arrive at Ahmedabad late on Friday evening to attend a number of functions on Saturday. From the airport, he will head to Raj Bhavan in the capital, where he will stay the night. On Saturday morning, he will go to his younger brother Pankaj’s residence in Gandhinagar at 8.30 am to meet his nonagenarian mother Hiraba to seek her blessings. Notably, Hiraba had recently paid a visit to the PM’s residence, 7 Race Course Road, in New Delhi, for the first time.

Thereafter, Modi will meet Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, ministers, BJP leaders and others at Raj Bhavan. At 11.20 am, he will leave by helicopter for Limkheda in the tribal district of Dahod in eastern Gujarat to inaugurate an irrigation scheme and address a public meeting. At 1.45 pm, he will leave for Navsari in South Gujarat for an interaction with the differently-abled and distribute aid. From Navsari, he will leave by helicopter for Surat airport to catch an IAF flight to New Delhi at 5.25 pm.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW