There is nothing called moral victory or loss in politics. So at the end of the day, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which will be in power in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The Prime Minister has termed the victory as historic and unprecedented. In the same breath Narendra Modi added that this victory is the result of the development agenda of his government. Other BJP leaders have credited the Prime Minister for this victory. On the other hand, the opposition parties mocked at the ruling party. According to those parties, BJP has virtually lost the election as it couldn’t win even 100 seats in Gujarat. Without entering in to such meaningless debates, it will be wise to dissect the Gujarat results and the lessons should be learnt from this verdict.
The biggest and worrying lesson that Gujarat results delivered is the fact that notwithstanding being one of the most advanced states of the country, urban-rural divide in the state has reached to an alarming proportion. In other words, this phenomenon can be termed as rich-poor divide. The main reason behind this expanding gap between rich and poor in Gujarat is the fact that BJP for years has neglected the people living in the rural areas of the state. Mr. Modi and his party is a strong advocate of capitalist economy and as a result during his rule in Gujarat since 2002, the rich has become richer and the poor has become poorer. Narendra Modi and his followers had willfully bypassed the welfare role that the state is supposed to play to lift the downtrodden. Secondly, while following the capitalist model of economy, the BJP government in Gujarat neglected the agriculture sector too which can be termed as a cardinal sin in respect to India as over 50 per cent of the country’s workforce are engaged in farming. Forget about offering the farmers minimum support price, they are even denied of irrigation facilities. The much talked about Sardar Sarovar Dam project that would help irrigation in 18 lakh hectares of farm land in Kutch and Saurastra region of Gujarat is yet to materialise. Till now only 3 lakh hectares of land are getting the benefits of this much touted project. These hard facts have failed to deter Mr. Modi and company to claim the credits for bringing water in the region and to blame the predecessors for failing to do so. During campaigning Mr.Modi may term anything as his achievements, but the point here is that the Indian electorate is smart enough to be aware of the realities. So, no matter how much the leaders shout from the rooftops, they cannot escape the wrath of the people after failing to deliver. This is exactly what happened in Gujarat. It is Mr. Modi or his party’s prerogative to follow a particular development model. There is no quarrel regarding their choice. But the fact remains that they will have to protect the interests of the rural and poor people. Gujarat election results clearly show that BJP has failed to safeguard the marginal people.
This is not only the story of Gujarat, but also the story of entire country. The divide between urban–rural, rich–poor is ever increasing. There is an urgent need to prevent this expansion. Otherwise, it will spell a doom for the saffron brigade in the coming elections too.
