Gujarat government reels under series of protests as Assembly polls approach

With the Assembly election just months away, the Bhupendra Patel-led Bharatiya Janata Party government was reeling under the frequent protests by government employees—from police constabulary and teachers to Anganwadi and health workers. The latest protesters to join this list was forest department staff. On Monday, at least 2,000 forest guards and foresters assembled in the state capital Gandhinagar, demanding an increase in their grade pay and other allowances.

Similarly, the demand of government employees asking for an old pension scheme was also gaining ground, with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), both, supporting the agitators. Thousands of employees went on “mass leave” to support the protest seeking reintroduction of the old pension scheme.

The Maldharis—cattle farmers—were also angry with the state over the introduction of the Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) in Urban Areas Bill, 2022. Despite assurances from the chief minister that the bill would be cancelled, the community was up in arms against the government.

Although the Patel government was trying to mollify the protesters by submitting to their demand up to some extent, the Congress and particularly the emerging AAP, and its chief Arvind Kejriwal, were stealing the limelight with their support to the agitators.

In the recent past, the BJP government was compelled to increase the salaries of policemen, as well as the compensation to relatives of the soldiers killed in the line of duty—from Rs 1 lakh to a whopping Rs 1 crore, an amount that AAP claimed to award in Delhi.

The ruling BJP in Gujarat was said to be struggling to devise a strategy to stop AAP’s impact in the state.

“The BJP seems to be on the back foot in Gujarat and its effect is being felt in Delhi where it is trying to pin Kejriwal or his party members in alleged corruption case(s). But the party is yet to get any major breakthrough to damage the Delhi CM’s campaign here (in Gujarat). On the other hand, BJP hardly has anything fresh to offer to voters except promises of infrastructure projects and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity,” said a political watcher.

Unlike AAP, which is targeting primarily a different class of voters, the BJP as well as the Congress were trying to appease the OBC communities, who form the largest vote bank in the state. While the BJP, led by Chief Minister Patel, held community gatherings, Congress openly announced that it was rallying behind “Bakshipanch (OBC), Dalit, Adivasi and Muslims (BDAM).”

According to some political analysts, one of the key factors behind the BJP’s worst performance in Gujarat in 2017—it was restricted to just 99 in the 182-seat Assembly—was because of the agitation for reservation by the Patidar community in 2015. This was BJP’s lowest tally since its reign in the state that began in 1995.

BJP sources said that in the coming days, the party’s campaign will peak with the prime minister leading it from the front as the “son of the soil”. They said that Modi will be visiting Gujarat by the end of this month, and the visits would only increase from October onwards.

Meanwhile, BJP national president J P Nadda was reaching Gujarat on Monday for a two-day visit. On Tuesday, Nadda, Chief Minister Patel and party’s state president C R Paatil would attend a gathering in Rajkot with the party’s elected representatives in village panchayat, urban and cooperative bodies.

Nadda is slated to hold a roadshow in Morbi town, and later in the evening, he is expected to attend a ‘Veeranjali’ programme to pay tributes to national heroes.