After over 30 years, Gujarat set for a three-way fight

NEW DELHI: In the first week of December, Gujarat’s 4. 9 crore voters will decide whether to renew their 27-year-old bond with Narendra Modi’s BJP. Their options are Congress, which has held on to a decent 40% vote share despite being out of government for three decades, and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose lure of freebies has added a third dimension to an election bereft of any major emotive issue. Votes for Gujarat’s 182 assembly seats will be counted on December 8.

The last time Gujarat witnessed a significant three-way contest was in 1990, when Janata Dal won 70 seats, BJP 67, and Congress 33. JD and BJP gained at Congress’ expense, largely due to their pre-poll alliance, smart seat sharing and initial signs of Hindutva consciousness that would soon become a standard feature of the polity.

Unlike the 2017 polls, when caste agitations and the economic aftershocks of demonetisation and GST implementation made BJP slog, the party is on an easier wicket this time. Hardik Patel, who had led the Patidar stir for OBC quota, is in the BJP fold. So is Alpesh Thakor, who had amplified the anti-BJP chorus last time.

Jignesh Mevani, who rose to prominence after the flogging of Dalits in Una, is reduced to a lone ranger. While demonetisation and GST are non-issues now, the state has got over the economic and emotional trauma of Covid. BJP’s emphatic wins in UP and Gujarat local body polls against the backdrop of the pandemic have boosted the party’s confidence.