The hugely anticipated poll results for Gujarat witnessed the quintessential tug of war between the BJP and Congress. This was one election that was of great interest to every citizen across the country and probably the first instance of such national interest for an assembly poll.
While the pollsters did give BJP the winning edge, none of them predicted the tough retort from the Congress, who ended up with a strong bouquet of seats.
Pune365 spoke to a cross section of citizens to understand this victory and its impact on the politics of Gujarat –
Dr. Kiran K Srivastava: According to me, the Gujarat verdict indicates that a few major things will soon take place in Gujarat. Firstly, it will demoralize the caste factor. Secondly, Gujarat congress will become directionless. Thirdly, RSS & BJP both will work hard in rural area of Gujarat to get more votes for 2019 Lok Sabha election. The more confident BJP will further the development process to send a strong message to other states since Gujarat is considered the BJP & RSS political Lab.
(Retd) Col Arun Joshi: My thanks to the voter for getting BJP back to continue and also for giving a few more seats to Congress (I) so that BJP works harder to deliver that benefits the voters.
Congress (I) strategy of communalising and personal attacks are a failure. Indians apparently are not holding “white skinned trash “in awe. It has been 30 years of Basu in West Bengal and now 30 years in Gujarat and see the difference in the state of the people .
The call for “development “is the mantra now to garner the voter. Finally being an admirer of PM Modi, I am elated. A victory is a victory is a victory, PERIOD.
Ankit Gohel: The BJP win in Gujarat was disappointing for me as the total seats could not even match the 2012 tally. BJP was fighting not only with other political parties but also against two decades of anti incumbency, the angry businessmen community due to implementation of structural reforms and the caste based agitations in the state.
The last moment tweak in strategy by PM Modi, be it cutting of GST rates for various commodities or the number of speeches delivered by him in various regions of the states, has helped BJP to come to power for the sixth consecutive term. Congress played well, but that was not enough. The loss of Himachal Pradesh also has come as another embarrassment for the newly elected Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The strategy of Congress to divide people on the issue of reservation which they applied in Haryana, UP and Maharashtra have failed totally. An introspection is must for all the parties. BJP will have to find strong regional faces in all the states, as it cannot bank on PM Modi’s image. People like Hardik Patel should move forward with an agenda of growth & development, rather than caste-based, reservation-based, regressive politics.
Pune 365 also spoke with Gujarat based citizens to hear their side of the poll story –
Dhruvi Trivedi: It was very obvious that BJP will come into power. Celebrations had started soon after the exit polls were announced, but somewhere down the line, there is a disappointment as congress has got 14 seats more than expected, whereas BJP ended with 13 seats less than expected. Congress is giving a good fight but basically because of the demonetisation and GST roll-out.
As long as the BJP rides on the name of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, it is definite to come in power in Gujarat because losing on home ground would be unimaginable for PM Modi. So yes, it was certainly expected that the lotus is going to blossom, but the congress ending with a good amount of seats was unexpected.
Marmik Shailen Shah: It’s time for BJP to do more groundwork especially in rural areas. Kudos to the people of Gujarat as they defeated Congress’s caste based politics and also BJP’s over-confidence. So, Gujarat election results are a wake up call for BJP for a simple reason: 2019 elections are not going to be about whether PM Modi will return to power. It will be about whether he returns to power with a full majority government or a coalition government, which may result in the secular parties having a stake.
Congratulations to BJP for the win!
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#All views expressed in this column are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
Reach her at loveleen@pune365.com or tweet @KaurKaur18
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