AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) cadre is celebrating, and why not. The party has come back to win Gujarat for the sixth time. Leaving the Congress far behind, the BJP bagged 108 of 182 seats, successfully wading past the magic figure of 92. The Congress, which in the trends gave a strong fight to the BJP, ended its winning rally at 68 seats.
Being Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah's homestate, the battle for Gujarat was more of a prestige issue for the party. For the Congress, these were Rahul Gandhi's first election results after taking over as party president. A favourable result for the party would have helped him lead his army with a victory flag.
The elections in Gujarat are also important as they will be setting the agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls which are just two years away.
It was a battle that both parties fought.
Rahul steered the Congress campaign in Gujarat by reaching out to people on the ground. He attacked Modi and the BJP over their much-talked-about development agenda. Congress alleged that the Modi's Gujarat model of development was merely some tall claims made by the Prime Minister. Congress-backed social media campaign "Vikas Gando thayo che (development has gone mad)" was what Rahul spoke of in all his rallies.
Rahul repeatedly accused the Prime Minister of backing the industrialists leaving poor farmers in a lurch. He asserted that the Modi government welcomed Tatas and gave them a loan of Rs 33,000 crore to manufacture Nano cars in Gujarat, but claimed that no Nano cars could be seen on Gujarat roads.
With an aim to build a united opposition, he reached out to Patidar leader Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakur and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani. All the three leaders have had differences in the past, but Congress brought them together to bring the BJP on its knees.
But the BJP, who has been holding guard for 22 years, was not an easy target. To counter Congress accusations, BJP brought home the campaign with its tagline 'Hu chhu vikas, hu chhu Gujarat' (I am Vikas, I am Gujarat).
From rallies by the Prime Minister and union ministers to events like 'Mann ki Baat, Chai ke Saath', to a photo finish by the seaplane ride, BJP poll campaign was a glamorous blitzkrieg.
Modi travelled nearly 28,000 kms to make sure Gujarat falls into BJP's kitty. In a one-on-one war of words, the PM hit back at Rahul accusing him of being a product of dynastic politics. He claimed that Congress is trying to unseat the BJP in Gujarat by conspiring with Pakistan, a charge fiercely denied by the grand old party. To prove his allegations, he spoke of a 'secret dinner meeting' that was held at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house where former PM Manmohan Singh was also in attendance.
Several allegations, counter allegations, rallies and events later, it is BJP which been resuscitated in Gujarat. It is 'Modi aavi gaya' (Modi is here) and not 'Congress aave che' (Congress is coming) as it maintained during its poll campaign in Gujarat.
