Chanasama, one of the major towns of north Gujarat, the region from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails, recently created a record of sorts—voters of 14 booths in six wards joined the BJP. According to Bhargav Bhatt, in-charge of the BJP's enrollment drive in Gujarat, the only exclusions in this are the ones who are not alive and those who are no longer staying in Chanasama but whose names have continued in the voters' list.
With over 100 homes of Rabaris (cattle breeders) and 10 homes of those belonging to scheduled castes, Chanasama turned saffron during the party's Sadasyata Abhiyan (membership campaign). A large number of Congressmen, including Chanasama Congress president Prafull Vyas, recently joined the BJP in the enrollment drive. “I not only joined the BJP, I added 1,000 other members. Removing Article 370 was the master stroke,” Vyas said.
Meanwhile, there may still be a handful of “committed” Congressmen who insist they do not want to leave the grand old party, even though their families have joined the BJP. For instance, 60-year-old Ramesh Patel's children and his nephews have embraced saffron, but he does not feel like joining the BJP. “I am with them (the BJP), but I do not want to leave the Congress. It is dharam sankat (moral dilemma) for me. If I leave the Congress then I will be referred as a traitor. Also, it is bad to leave the party when it is going through a rough phase,” he said.
People joining the BJP in droves from Chanasama holds significance as it was one of the epicentres of the Hardik Patel-led Patidar agitation in 2015. In the town dominated by Patels, 71-year-old Prahlad Patel, who always voted for the BJP lent his support to the agitation. When it came to reservation, children of Patidars were always left out. “I admit that for some time I supported the agitation for my vested interest,” he said, adding that with the BJP-led NDA giving 10 per cent reservation for the economically needy, he started supporting the party again, this time by also becoming a member.
“It was very bad during the Patidar stir. The BJP had managed to win only one taluka panchayat seat from Chanasama and it took time to bring back people to the BJP,” recalled Mukesh Patel, a district-level leader.
The saffron surge is not limited to small towns and villages. In cities, known faces from various fields have become BJP primary members. Sample these—singers Shyamal and Saumil Munshi, Padma Shri awardee cardiologist Dr Tejas Patel, and Dr Nayna Patel, famed doctor behind Anand's tag as surrogacy capital of India. “The party has been doing good. It gives opportunities to women and has done a lot for women's empowerment. Article 370 was icing on the cake. Voting for a party is a different thing and joining and providing moral support is altogether different. It is good to be by their side,” she remarked.
The numbers speak for itself. Out of the 4.5 crore electorate in the state having a population of 6.5 crore, the BJP has over one crore members. “Before this campaign, we had 1.13 crore members. Forty-six lakh new members have been added and the numbers will only increase,” Bhatt said.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said that while at the national level the party had set a target of increasing the members by 20 per cent, in Gujarat the party targeted to add 50 per cent. He said that out of the 1.13 crore members, the party had succeeded in identifying 74 lakh people booth wise. The rest, probably, made calls from Gujarat but stayed in other states. “Whether it is surgical strike or revoking Article 370 and 35 A, it is about what was in the hearts of people of Gujarat. These are the reasons why people from all walks of life are joining the BJP," said Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
“In Gujarat, the national enrolment drive worked on five counts— ideological, social, geographical, youth and sector wise,” said Pandya.
In the recent past, barring exception of performance in the elections to civic bodies post Patidar stir in 2015 and the assembly election of 2017 when the ruling party barely managed to retain the power by getting 99 seats, the equations have been in the BJP's favour. In the last two Lok Sabha elections of 2014 and 2019, the BJP had a vote share of 58.99 per cent and 62.54 per cent, respectively. The Congress got a vote share of 32.83 in 2014 and 32.28 in 2019.
“People have faith in Narendra Modi and Amit Shah's leadership. Gujarat has been always different and there is religion based nationalism. We had Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Gujarat is both a model of svarajya (self rule) and surajya (good governance), said Pandya.
“After a long Congress rule in Gujarat, people saw the BJP as an option. Moreover, people of Gujarat are also religious and calculative. The RSS set the foot in Gujarat in 1952 and Laxmanrao Inamdar alias Vakilsaheb played a big role. There were yatras like the Ram Rath Yatra and the Ram Temple movement,” said Vishnu Pandya, a right-wing ideologue. A similar trend of people joining the Congress during the times of Indira Gandhi was witnessed, he remarked.
Hari Desai, founding director of Sardar Patel Research Institute, however, views it differently. According to him, a perception has been created that there is no Congress and that the BJP is to rule in the country forever.
Those who have joined the BJP are on cloud nine. For instance, 65-year-old Amthabhai Desai, a farmer from Digadi village, felt that with the revoking of Article 370, it is now that the country has actually attained freedom and not in 1947. “We can now do business in Kashmir. We will like to set up a dairy there,” said Desai, a Modi fan like others.
