By Japan K Pathak, 5 February 2014

Ahmed Patel’s rally and Modi’s Gyan

Over a dish of dinner in a wedding reception in Amdavad we asked senior BJP leader associated with party’s Dahod unit about the success of Ahmed Patel’s recent rally in Dahod. We said Ahmed Patel’s rally in Dahod was really a big one. Not as big as Modi’s rallies, but big compared to any recent Congress rally in Gujarat. The BJP leader said, good presence in Ahmed Patel’s rally was good for BJP! BJP leader was of opinion that size of this rally would be eye-opener for those BJP workers who are not active enough believing that winning Lok Sabha seats would not be difficult under Modi wave!

During interaction session in recently held BJP state executive meet in Gandhinagar, Modi asked district BJP leaders how BJP was doing in their areas!

Most BJP leaders ridiculed Congress’s presence and strength.

Modi heard them all silently and later threw a question: how Congress’s such situation has impacted BJP cadre’s mindset?

Everyone was silent now.

Modi further asked,”suppose if your child is doing something with your pen, and you want your pen back to sign a document, will your child give it to you happily?”

He continued, “even a child will not leave something in his possession easily, how Congress will give up its seat easily to you?”

The message was conveyed.

AAP not worth reporting as of now

Section of Ahmedabad based media pushed it continuously(and it’s still going on) but Aam Aadmi Party failed to show any serious presence in Gujarat.

“We will make 6 lakh members before 26 January in Gujarat,” state convener of AAP Sukhdev Patel was heard claiming when his party was dominating the pages full of coverage in local newspapers early in January.

After a few days, we heard Sukhdev Patel saying that one lakh members were already made in Gujarat. Friends in media published this as it is.

When we tried claim-check, AAPians said most of them became members online!

Post 26 January we never heard about the status of membership drive in Gujarat and elsewhere(AAP had claimed to make one crore members nationwide by 26 January).

All we read was a report that AAP was scrutinizing its members list suspecting that some of the members were planted by other political parties!

And as if this much of dose of fun was not enough, we also read reports on AAP making allegations that state government was snooping on its members!

Then there were broom rallies and arrival of news-anchor turn politician Asutosh.

A small token rally was organized in Lal Darwaja area of Ahmedabad under the leadership of Asutosh. We spotted that just to show some presence, a small group of AAP leaders had brought their children too. Needless to say, next day in local newspaper this rally was described as a big rally.

In the meantime we continued to read AAP supporting articles on edit pages of Gujarati newspapers. Interestingly, those authoring AAP supporting opinions on edit pages are connected to various foreign funded NGOs.

Then AAP announced a rally where all broom yatras from all over the state would mix to walk to capital Gandhinagar. The rally was a small negligible one. The figure of participants was not even in few thousand! Though it was AAM aadmis’ rally, one could find all reach people there. They didn’t walk, but drove luxurious SUVs to Gandhinagar. It was like a car rally!

Fair enough!

Our readers ask us why don’t we publish all news regarding AAP’s activities in Gujarat. We reply they are not worth reporting, because AAP has negligible or no presence. Its presence in Gujarat is limited to sympathetic coverage in media, some NGO guys, and few dozen people attracted to AAP through rosy picture shown in TV and print. AAP in Gujarat enjoys even worse presence than JD(U), SP, LJP, BSP.

Not worth reporting as of now.