BJP’s stronghold Saurashtra is enraged over Morbi

Two minor boys are led to the riverbed by a group of women. They look at the cables and nets still hanging, which were once part of the bridge, Julto Pul, they had thronged on a Sunday outing, for a bit of adventure and a lot of selfies. Below the hanging cables is the river, Machchhu, which was drained of water during the search for missing persons.

Some of the women ruffled the two boys’ hair and hugged them tightly as they tried to recall their miraculous escape. On October 30, it was here that the pedestrian suspension bridge collapsed, and hundreds of people fell into the river; 135 of them were killed, including nearly 50 children. The two boys were among the 170 lucky ones who survived.

“These two survived, but their cousins and many friends who were with them couldn’t,” the women said at once. It was only a matter of asking about what led to the bridge collapse and whether the government’s response was proper when the women burst in anger.

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“Tantra jimmadar hai...main ko nahi pakda...wo farar ho gaya hai...municipality walo ko kyun pata nahi tha ki parvangi bina pul chalu kiya toh kya... chaar din tak pata nahi chala ki bridge chalu kar diya hai. ye adhikari log kahan rahte hain-Amrika ki England me (The administration is responsible. The main accused hasn’t been arrested and is on the run. The municipality claims that the bridge was opened without its permission. The bridge was open for four days, but they didn’t know about it. Where do these officers live -- in America or England?),” said one of them in broken Hindi.

They went on, “Why was the name of the company covered when Modi saheb (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) came? What was being hidden? The beds in the civil hospital were changed, the filth was cleaned, and the walls were painted. Why did the hospital authority wait for Modi to get these things done?”

A week after the incident, the town, an erstwhile princely state, seems to have come back to its usual self, with streets and market places bustling as usual. However, there is palpable anger in the dusty town, about 221 km away from Ahmedabad. People who supported the BJP government and made this town a fortress of the ruling power are now openly criticising it.

“It was an unfortunate incident that killed so many, including children. But the government hasn’t done anything to arrest those responsible for it. It has only arrested small fish while the crocodiles are still out. People are really angry with the way the government is handling it,” said Pravinsinh Zala, a resident of Morbi, who is also the state general secretary of Karni Sena, a saffron outfit.

So far, the government has arrested nine people, including two managers of the clock-making Oreva group, which had the contract for the upkeep and management of the bridge.

In Gandhi Bazar, close to the site of the bridge collapse, 73-year-old Moiz Bharmal runs a small tailoring business. He said, “It’s a big tragedy. Although people are not holding protest marches, they are upset with the local administration. I think it will have a huge impact on the election.”

Close to his shop is the house of Arifsha Shahmadar, who lost seven members of his family, including his wife and two children. The narrow lane to his house had been blocked with three two-wheelers when DH visited.

“Please don’t visit them. They are in mourning. What is the point of writing anything? Even if it was an accident, there are people responsible for it, but the real culprits will never be brought to justice,” neighbours said while stopping the DH reporter from visiting Arifsha’s home.

Across the street, a poster of Isudan Gadhvi, the Aam Aadmi Party’s chief ministerial candidate, is pasted on the wall, asking for one chance to rule Gujarat. The roads and streets of the town are plastered with similar posters of the BJP, Congress, and AAP.

Morbi is one of eight districts in Saurashtra, a region that has 48 seats in a house of 182 Assembly seats. The incident has directly impacted the region, as there are many victims and survivors who had come from neighbouring districts such as Rajkot, Jamanagar, and Botad, among other places.

Also Read | The collapsing bridge of Indian democracy

In 2017, riding on sustained Patidar agitation for reservation, the Congress won 28 seats, nearly twice the number it had won in the previous 2012 polls. The result reduced the BJP’s total to 99 seats, its lowest ever. For the BJP, which plans to reverse the result this time around, the timing of the incident couldn’t have been worse.

The bridge collapse and the failure to quickly arrest higher government officials and the owner of Oreva, Jaysukh Patel, are some of the reasons for increasing resentment among the people. In 2017, it was the first time since 1995 that the opposition Congress impregnated the BJP fortress and won the seat. Although the Congress MLA, Brijesh Merja, defected to the BJP in 2020, he was re-elected as a BJP candidate by a margin of less than 3000 votes.

Arresting Patel could be a slippery slope for the BJP because he is not only a powerful businessman but also very popular among the Patidar community due to his charitable work. His father, the late Odhavji R Patel, is hailed as the “father of wall clocks” in India, having started Ajanta Clocks.