But it seems the saffron party will contest the upcoming Assembly elections on the issue of development
The 'Vikas Gando Thayo Chhe' (Development has gone mad) campaign, which has gone viral on social media over the past few weeks, has made the ruling BJP the butt of jokes. But it seems the saffron party will contest the upcoming Assembly elections on the issue of development.
On Thursday, the party unveiled 'Hu Vikas Chhu, Hu Chhu Gujarat' (I am development, I am Gujarat) as the tag-line for its fortnight-long Gujarat Gaurav Yatra, which will crisscross the state between October 1 and 15.
Union minister and Gujarat polls in-charge Piyush Goyal on Friday flagged off the vehicles that will participate in the yatra from Ahmedabad. They are headed for the places of the origin of the yatra.
Goyal said, "The Gujarat Gaurav Yatra will reflect the core of Gujarat's developmental over the past 20 years. Vikas has been BJP's second name in Gujarat and now it is reaching other corners of the country under Modi as the PM. The BJP has always focused on the development of every person."
By highlighting several problems faced by the state, the Vikas Gando Thayo Chhe social media campaign mocks the claims of development by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and the party. The campaign has gone viral to such an extent that Shah had to appeal to youths not to believe everything that they see on social media, while finance minister Arun Jaitley, also BJP in-charge for the Gujarat elections, had cautioned the party leadership against overreacting to the campaign.
Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani who was present on the occasion said, "This is not a campaign to counter the adverse campaigns by our opponents. This is a presentation of what the BJP has done in Gujarat. We do not need to respond to false campaigns."
The 10-minute audio-visual presentation will be showcased to people at 138 public rallies as part of the Yatra.
The 4,657-km-long Yatra will cover 149 rural and tribal community dominated constituencies.
It is divided into two phases. The first phase will start on October 1 and will cover the north and central zones of the state, while the second phase will start on October 2, covering Saurashtra and south zones.
Both Yatras will be flagged off by BJP chief Amit Shah from Karamsad in central zone and from Porbadar in Saurashtra zone.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will attend both Yatras on alternate days, while deputy CM Nitin Patel will lead the first Yatra. The second yatra will be led by Vaghani.
PM Modi will attend the concluding day of Yatra on October 16. According to source, more than seven lakh BJP workers are expected to attend that.
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