Gujarat elections: With Patel backing, Congress looks to take Surat

On show in this diamond city’s 12 Assembly seats is the Congress’ new-found assertiveness, and the BJP’s determination to prevent a possible breach to its hitherto impregnable fortress.

Police and the CRPF guard election offices in constituencies such as Varachha Road and Kamrej where Congress and BJP workers and candidates routinely come to blows and pelt stones and eggs on each other. There are four to five constituencies — especially Kamrej, Varachha Road, Surat(North) and Karanj — where the Patidar anger against the BJP has fuelled the Congress’ hopes and intensified the fight.

At the BJP’s Varachha Road election office, the police stand guard, looking out for stones being fired in from a fly-over situated right across. Congress candidates Dhirubhai Gajera (Varachha Road), Dinesh Kachhadia (Surat-North) and Bhavesh Rabari (Karanj) had to be dropped home by policemen in the middle of the night after they reportedly egged on a group of Patel youngsters who attacked BJP candidate Kumar Kanani’s office, shouting “Jai Sardar, Jai Patidar”.

A breach?

In Kamrej, a constituency the BJP won in 2012 with an overwhelming 57.3 per cent of the vote, the Congress has pitched its tent. In streets where the Grand Old Party could not open an election office in the past owing to the Patidars’ contempt, their energy is visible.

“The majority of Patels are not with them [the Congress]. Their popularity has gone down. People will not be impressed by these tricks and will flock back to the BJP,” said VD Zalavadia, the BJP candidate from the area.

Fighting back

But the BJP’s resolve to counter the wave of Patel agitation and the impact of the GST in the mercantile city is not to be underestimated. For instance, on a single day, on November 26, the BJP fielded Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Dharmendra Pradhan, actor and MP Paresh Rawal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to hold corner meetings and public rallies in Surat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed it up with a public rally the day after.

Edgy incumbent

Simultaneously, the BJP has changed as many as eight of the 12 sitting MLAs, including senior minister Nanubhai Vanani.

Each of these eight MLAs who have been denied tickets to cushion the blow of Patidar anger and anti-incumbency, had secured over 50 per cent of the vote share in the 2012 elections.

The Congress displays energy and banks on the might of the Patels — mostly migrants from Saurashtra — who have built the diamond and textile trade in Surat.

They are seething over their trade hit by GST and on the treatment meted out to their community on the other.

Patidar discontent

The young Hardik Patel may not have found favour with the community’s elders, who retain memories of the Congress’ snub in 1985 when then Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki pursued the Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim (KHAM) vote and refused to appoint a single Patidar minister in his Cabinet. But the Congress is dependent on Hardik’s Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and has agreed to fulfil their demand for quota within the OBCs.

Setback in local polls

The BJP is conscious of the Patidar anger, which resulted in the party dropping as many as 22 seats in the Surat municipal elections.

The BJP’s tally came down from 98 to 76 seats in the 116-member Surat Municipal Corporation. The Congress was the direct beneficiary, raising its tally from 14 to 36 seats — not enough to gain majority but getting a foot in.

“But the BJP has a tremendous capacity to manage elections. It has a great organisation here and very dedicated workers. The ability to bring people to polling booths and manage aspirations is a very big asset,” says Shaileshbhai Trivedi, a local journalist in Surat.

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