Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Nikol, located in the eastern part of Ahmedabad. While he announced Rs 5400 crore projects for the city and called upon citizens of the country to switch to “Swadeshi”, it is also interesting to know the factors that probably led the Bharatiya Janata Party to select the area for the event.
For the BJP it was killing two birds with one stone. The party which has been in power in the state for the last three decades and for two decades in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, it is important to reign supreme, politically, and at the same time ensure that the citizens are happy with the way civic affairs are managed.
Sources in the know of the developments said that the party is little edgy about the increasing clout of the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party in Gujarat. This is more so after Gopal Italia’s victory in Visavadar bye-election. A young leader, Italia is a Leuva Patidar and people from this Patidar sub-caste are reportedly looking up to AAP. Kejriwal had held a rally in Nikol in 2022.
The BJP also smartly selected the date — August 25. It marked 10 years of the biggest Patidar rally organised under the banner of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti. The agitation was led by Hardik Patel, who is now with the BJP. Fourteen Patidar youth had lost lives in the firing during violent protests. It is alleged that Patidar women were beaten up as part of the combing operations.
They were demanding quota and other benefits for the community. Call it the pressure of the Patidar stir or anything else, the Centre finally gave in and announced 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections, the ones who were not already under some quota.
A large number of Patidars are coming/joining AAP, especially after Italia’s victory. It is a business community, but it does think and talk about how the BJP managed to take away Patel. This is a community that fights when the need arises, he said, citing the example of protests when “Patidar women were beaten up by the police during the agitation”.
He even alleged that the BJP had to bring in people for the rally. There were also teachers and students, he added.
The tall claims of the AMC about the pre-monsoon plan fail in Ahmedabad and the eastern part of the city is no exception. At times waters do not recede for days together and the citizens also have to live bear with the sewage water all over the place.
The roads are bad. The condition is so bad that at places it even becomes difficult to find a road between the potholes.
Nikol and nearby assembly constituencies are represented by the BJP and also have BJP corporators. However, in recent times the elected representatives have faced the ire of the public due to poor civic infrastructure.
“The BJP has been in power in the AMC for 20 years and infrastructure and civic amenities have been neglected. People from the eastern part of the city also pay taxes then why this difference,” said Manish Doshi, Gujarat Congress spokesperson.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yagnesh Dave, however, said that there is no particular reason why Nikol was selected. This time it was decided to hold the programme in the eastern part of the city, he said.
These areas are BJP’s strongholds, he said, claiming that there are no issues.
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