Stability, development, anti-terrorism: BJP’s strategy to ‘win over’ Gujarat

Nationalism and development formed the bedrock of the BJP’s mega election campaign launched on the Mumbai terror attack anniversary on 26/11 with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley linking demonetisation with destruction of terror funds in the biggest mercantile city in Gujarat that has been swamped by strikes against GST and Patidar quota agitations.

The Finance Minister dealt with traders affected by GST after he outlined the thrust of his party’s strategy to own the industrial-scale infrastructural development in Gujarat. He delivered a strong anti-terror spiel and painted the Congress’s fuelling of the Patidar agitation and popular angst against GST as a catalyst in fuelling political instability and “anarchy”.

It was not a coincidence that the BJP’s final push in the Gujarat Assembly elections was launched on the anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack. Nor was it a coincidence that the Finance Minister’s relatively sober articulation was followed by a public rally by the fiery Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Surat.

“For the first time, India’s security forces have an upper hand over terrorists in Kashmir. Every commander of the Lashkar (Lashkar-e- Taiba) knows that he will not last more than three months. After demonetisation, the source of funding for the stone-pelters has dried up,” said the Finance Minister.

“The BJP has, in the last 22 years, placed the Gujarat Model of development on the world map. The Gujarat Model signifies development, highways, port infrastructure, better electricity supply. There is an effort now to destroy the Gujarat Model by creating social divisions and replace development with the kind of caste politics that has halted development in other States. It is the same politics that kept Gujarat back in the 1980s,” said Jaitley, referring to the caste quota demand by the Patels, which the Congress has promised to fulfil if and when it comes to power.

The strategy and messaging in the campaign is clearly to project the BJP as the party that deals strongly with terrorists, delivers on development of the kind Gujarat has witnessed and takes measures such as demonetisation and GST in the larger national interest.

Simultaneously, the campaign aims to discredit the Congress’ association with campaigns such as Vikas Gaando Thayo Chhe (development has gone crazy) and backing Patidar quota demand, as anarchic.

The Finance Minister later told BusinessLine that development and delivery is synonymous with the BJP in Gujarat and there is a strong popular support for anti-terrorist measures. “The credibility of a campaign is rooted in reality. Development in Gujarat, if you witness the infrastructural progress not just in Surat and Ahmedabad, but also in Bhavnagar, Himmatnagar and Vadodara, is the result of years of consistent effort and policy measures. The shrill campaign on the other side is a regression into anarchy,” Jaitley said.

The Finance Minister was clearly chosen to smooth feathers in a city where textile traders have organised strikes against GST and the BJP’s election office at Varchcha was attacked late night on Friday by a group of youths belonging to Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and later joined by local Congress candidate Dhirubhai Gajera.

As a senior BJP leader told BusinessLine , the efforts and the campaign to “win over” those who are upset over GST and on caste lines have only just begun. And Gujarat’s affair with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only waned a bit. “It is like my wife who gets upset once in a while. But it’s not a divorce. She will come back after a while,” said a textile trader who was part of a group that met Jaitley with their various demands regarding GST.

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