Vadodara, 29 September 2012

Gujarat State Elections of 2012 are perhaps the most hyped elections in the history of independent India and rightly so because of the magnanimity of the stakes. It is going to be a much closer fight than what external observers believe .

Modi is making the headlines in national print and electronic media on a daily basis. But he is fighting a lone battle against the political and monetary might of Sonia Gandhi. The war is waging on multiple fronts and the Congress Party has most factors under its control .

But will this help it to win over the most important factor , the people of Gujarat?

The vote share of the Congress Party has shown some rise in the past elections. There are always people who are strongly pro-BJP and strongly pro-Congress . But a considerable amount of population are fence-sitters. It is these fence-sitters that the Congress wishes to win over.

Sonia is supposed to make her first visit to the state around 2nd October and she would take this fight to the next level. Rahul , it seems , is more interested in playing Hide and Seek than actually playing the game. It is a Do or Die situation for the Congress Boss if she wants her ‘Clown Prince’ to be in the reckoning for the PM post .But the means employed by the Congress to achieve a favorable end is the sad part!

On one hand the PM is getting accolades from various ‘arm-chair economists’ for his so called reforms. He also explains us the value of money in his speech and advices that money doesn’t grow on trees . Oh wait , was he speaking in Italian?

The Gujarat unit of his own party seems to have totally opposite ideas! Arjun Modhwadhia & co. are on a freebies- promising spree that would embarrass even Santa Claus . If you are a lower middle class woman in a city , they would build homes for you .If you live in a village , they would give you a plot and also a loan for construction . You are lucky if you are a farmer, getting cheap loans and also acquitted for electricity theft . But you are the luckiest if you are a student . You get new colleges , new hostels , decreased fees , cheap education loans and a swanky Lenovo laptop . You must be rolling on the floor laughing , right? Has Gujarat Congress inherited Bill Gates’ empire? In reality they are banking on the endemic myopia and amnesia of Indians . They have got away with fake promises for decades and they think they will get away this time as well!

Another worrying aspect of this electoral battle is the manner in which Congress is employing dirty tricks to muscle its opponents.

It is skilfully manipulating mainstream media for its gains. A leading Gujarati daily merely serves as a Congress mouthpiece , in the process cheating and deceiving its readers . On the other hand it banned a Gujarati news channel for simply reporting the truth(the issue later sorted out). The CBI has been rather impotent in punishing the guilty in most cases including 2G Case ,Bofors, etc.

Leave the political big guns alone , CBI has also failed to find justice for Ruchika Girhotra and Arushi Talwar . But in case of Gujarat , CBI becomes more efficient than even the FBI . This political vendetta has put a no. of courageous police officers behind the bars , dealing a major blow to the morale of Gujarat Police. On the same lines the Governor openly bares her political inclinations interfering in the smooth functioning of the state govt. The Congress also has its mercenaries in the form of Sanjiv Bhatt , Teesta Setalvad and other NGOs whose sole aim is the downfall of Modi.

I am a proud citizen of Gujarat who has witnessed the transformation of Gujarat in the past 10 years . It is Modi who has put Gujarat on the world map. The Gujarat state govt no more maintains a state of inertia which is characterized by most Indian States. Even if you are not a Modi fan , he must have changed your life for the better , in some way or the other . It is his vision that the nation needs the most . We made a historic mistake by not making Sardar Patel the PM .With the lesson the present Sardar has taught us , will we commit the same mistake again?