Skip to main content

Bellicose BJP and antsy AAP: Why Kejriwal's "surgical strikes" earned the ire of panick-stricken Gujarat rulers

A North Gujarat poster ahead of Kejriwal visit
By RK Misra*
Cats stalk quietly and wolves prey in packs but why is the behemoth of a BJP getting paranoid over antsy Aam Admi Party (AAP) and barking up all manner of trees?
Quite simply, because it’s iron clasp grip on Gujarat is slipping and a queasy national party leadership is stuck for options to reverse the trend.
AAP, analysts say, is set to make impressive gains in Punjab and Goa and this will majorly impact election results in Gujarat which goes to polls in the last quarter of 2017. A mere foot-in-the door is all that AAP needs in the prime minister’s home state to make ants crawl up the pants of the NDA government in the 2019 general elections.
A panic stricken Goliath is even mulling the ultimate option of early elections in Gujarat along with UP and Punjab, more to stretch AAP to oblivion than to run the Congress out of reckoning.
While BJP president Amit Shah has asked the state party leadership to get into poll mode post haste, the Congress, marinated by Modi through three state Assembly elections, still remains a pregnant hippopotamus in languorous recline, notwithstanding it’s significant gains in the December 2015 local self government elections.
Grasping the opening, AAP has been sprightlier with Kejriwal making ‘surgical’ strikes in Gujarat to capitalize on the lapses of the BJP government before moving back to the safety of his stronghold. Stung to the quick, the administration resorts to reprisals against the beneficiaries which completes the vicious circle that helps Kejriwal consolidate on his gains.AAP has truly become the bugbear of the BJP.
Even before he stepped onto the Gujarat soil on a three day visit ending October 16, 2016, posters appeared in the name of ‘unheard’ organizations equating him with terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Hafiz Saeed and the Hizbul Mujahideen's Burhan Wani.
Put up around Unjha and Mehsana towns in North Gujarat and Surat in the south, these termed him as "Hero of Pakistan” and a “traitor” to India. Interestingly, these pasted posts made their appearance only in the citadels of Patidar rebellion against the BJP led Gujarat government just the night before Kejriwal was to meet the family members of those killed during the pro-reservation agitation by the upper caste Patels.
Ever since Kejriwal came out in support of the Patidar and Dalit stirs in the state, he has earned the ire of the BJP which rules Gujarat but this has only heightened his appeal amongst this class. AAP's Gujarat convenor Gulab Singh Yadav has been categorical putting the blame squarely at the doorsteps of BJP chief Amit Shah.
“Just the presence of our leader rattles this government”, he said. He has a point. Hours before the all important Surat rally of the party,the Delhi police turned up to arrest him, making Yadav the fourteenth Delhi AAP legislator to be picked up by the cops. Alas, too late for the Surat rally was a roaring success.
Permission for the rally was not easy. The Surat police sat placid on the request made in August for a rally in mid-october and budged only after the High Court intervened with a show cause notice to the state government.
Earlier in July, the South Gujarat University withdrew permission for a similar Kejriwal function and the trade body which had extended the invitation was forced to back down. The authorities, however, had no problems granting permission for rallies in Surat by Shah, union minister Smriti Irani and even Congress legislature party leader Shankersinh Vaghela.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya denies any role of his party though the sequence of events do not bear this out. The targeting of Kejriwal has been vicious in Gujarat though less than after he worsted the BJP to an auto-load in Delhi, an upgraded municipal corporation ‘packaged’ as a state government. And yet the might of the Centre runs in awe slapping cases on legislator after AAP legislator,14 of them, by last count.
It is true to a pattern for those who have watched a decade and a quarter of Modi rule in Gujarat. In fact an extension. All the Gujarat police officers who were behind bars under court ordered investigations in numerous fake encounter cases, including charge-sheeted ones, are back in plum posts while those who slogged to bring them to book are fighting for their lives.
Only last week Tarun Barot who was arrested in connection with the Ishrat Jahan and Sadiq Jamal encounter cases has been reinstated post-retirement on a one year contract as DSP, Railways. In contrast, Inspector General of Police, Satish Verma who assisted investigations under High Court orders stands shunted to the North-East and is locked in a battle to retain government accommodation for his family which is mandated under the rules. Instances abound.
As things stand, the BJP, it’s novice chief minister Vijay Rupani and state party chief Jitu Vaghani are all at sea in their new charges. Rupani ,a Shah appointee, like Congressmen of yore, keeps looking Delhi-wards for both inspiration and orders, and Vaghani, a Patel has problems gaining the support of his community, let alone run the party.
Political interns fronting for Shah are poorly placed, stepping into Modi’s shoes in Gujarat, let alone helming the party into elections. Even Shah with all his muscle and Modi support cut a sorry figure when his show of strength in Surat in September was sabotaged by the agitating Patels who have been boycotting government functions and ministers with considerable success. Shah would find the going tough if he himself takes over in Gujarat!
Survey the scenario. Patidars who comprise 15 per cent voters have been on the warpath since July 15, 2015 demanding reservation and their leader Hardik Patel though incarcerated out of Gujarat under court orders is now a force to be reckoned with.
Close on their heels come the OBC who are nearly 45 per cent of the population and are opposing any possible cut in their quota. Led by Alpesh Thakore they have chosen a more sanitized way of demonstrating their clout by targeting bootleggers and the cops who make merry through liquor prohibition-a huge industry in Gujarat.
Then follow the warring Dalits, comprising 7 per cent, who have already scalped a chief minister (Anandiben Patel) and are still on the job headhunting.
All in all, not a re-assuring experience for the BJP to find 82 per cent of the state’s population up in arms against the government and Kejriwal wading into the turmoil, as aggressive as Modi used to be attacking the centre during his Gujarat days!
---
*Senior Gandhinagar-based journalist. Blog: http://wordsmithsandnewsplumbers.blogspot.in/

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative   The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...
2 comments
»

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative   A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey  visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification. 
Post a Comment
»

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative  With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).
Post a Comment
»

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.
Post a Comment
»

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra*  The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.
Post a Comment
»

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”
Post a Comment
»

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative   The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.
Post a Comment
»

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ   It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.
Post a Comment
»

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative   A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat,  has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.
Post a Comment
»