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On November 18, the BJP released its list of 40 star campaigners in Gujarat, and leading the lot was Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi continues to be a crowdpuller on his home ground for the ruling BJP. Between November 27 and December 6, he has carpet-bombed the State with 18 rallies spread across five days. Another nine are scheduled for the next three days.
The Congress and its key ally, Patidar reservation leader Hardik Patel, have been putting up a spirited and high-pitched fight, and the BJP’s reply comes from its tallest leader, Modi, sharply countering the Congress charges of being a ‘suit boot ki sarkar ’.
On Wednesday, Modi addressed a large gathering at Dhandhuka in Ahmedabad district, where he countered Congress Rahul Gandhi’s jibe of being a government for the rich.
Modi listed out his government’s pro-poor measures such as 24-hours electricity for rural houses, sanitation drive under Swachh Bharat Mission and Jan Dhan accounts for the poor.
In a bid to shed his pro-industrialist image, the PM — for the first time in Gujarat poll campaigning — referred to the Ambanis and Adanis at a public rally. “We care for the poor and that is the reason we brought the toilets to your houses. Who do you think had to defecate in the open — the poor or Ambani or Adani?” he asked.
In Dahod, he said: “It is not Ambani or Adani who reside in the 18,000 villages. It is the poor who live in these villages and we have worked to provide electricity for them.”
Pertinent issuesModi tailors his speeches carefully, raking up issues pertaining to local communities.
In Bhuj and Bharuch, he spoke about terrorism and surgical strikes, while in Saurashtra, he stuck to Hindutva.
The Opposition has been criticising the lack of development in the State, ridiculing the BJP’s ‘Gujarat model’ claims. Since Modi ruled Gujarat for 12 years out of BJP’s two-decade regime in the State, the party looks to him speak about its achievements there.
And Modi invariably delivers. “ Vikas (progress) is our maksad (purpose) and vikas is our murad (wish),” he roared at rally in Bharuch. His vikas talks typically cover power supply, Narmada water, women’s safety, communal peace and agricultural growth in terms of higher production of cash crops such as cotton and groundnut.
At a rally in Surendranagar, he confidently predicted a BJP win. in the State. “A BJP tornado is building up. My prediction about UP has come true and so will it in Gujarat.”
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