Gujarat on the fast track of progress

The last five years in Gujarat politics have been a roller coaster ride. The term started with people showing strong faith in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially due to the influence of a stalwart leader such as Narendra Modi. But the paradigm started shifting in 2015. The Patel community’s agitation for reservation and other movements by Dalits and OBCs created many challenges for BJP. Despite all odds, the party is working hard to return a winner, ahead of the Assembly polls, to be held from December 9 onwards.

3 CMs in 5 years

When Narendra Modi took over as the chief minister on December 26, 2012, the entire nation started looking at him as not just the head of a particular state but as a national leader. Seven Cabinet and nine state-level ministers took oath with him at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium and people from 83 countries witnessed the ceremony. He was poised to be BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha polls to be held one-and-a-half years later.

In just 15 days, he was at the centre of global political and business circles through the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, held from January 11-13, 2013. With this chapter, the global society started believing him to be the future leader of India. Then the Lok Sabha polls were held under his leadership in 2014, and with a landslide victory, Modi became the prime minister of India.

Voters had given a clear majority to BJP in the polls held in 2012, and the situation remained the same in the Lok Sabha polls held in 2014, with all 26 seats from the state going to the BJP.

After that, however, the graph of popularity slowly started dipping. Modi left Gujarat and settled in PMO, and a senior member in his Cabinet, Anandiben Patel, took over as the first woman CM of Gujarat.

Patel also enjoyed a good amount of popularity after she presented her first budget, in which she tried to cater to every section of the society, especially women. Suddenly in mid 2015, BJP loyalist Patel community started a movement for reservation. The community had started supporting BJP politically in early 1990s, after the then ruling Congress party and its leaders started ignoring them.

Nearly 20 years later, however, the community had raised its head against the BJP. A young Hardik Patel, who was spearheading this agitation, put forth many challenges in front of the government in the state.

Consequently, in December, 2015, the party suffered a terrible loss in the local government bodies polls in rural Gujarat. The impact of the agitation was such that CM Patel had to resign from the post. Vijay Rupani then took over as the head of the state on August 8, 2015, and senior Cabinet member Nitin Patel was made deputy CM.

14 months of Modi rule

In the initial one-and-a-half years of this five-year term, while Modi was almost set to be the prime ministerial candidate for BJP, he started announcing many schemes and plans for the people of Gujarat. In the very beginning itself, his government published a government job calender for 10 years, promising employment to 10 lakh youths in the state. The mega recruitment drives started and gave the Modi government immense popularity among the masses. By that time, industrial investments had also started pouring in the state, further increasing the employment opportunities. Young voters in Gujarat seemed very pleased with the Modi government.

Then in 2013, a populist budget presented by the Modi government gave yet another push to his popularity. Announcement of schemes such as Mukhya Mantri Amrutam Yojana, which offered free treatment to poor people in government and private hospital, and aid to agriculture-based industries and service sector, farmers, and neo-middle class made the foundation strong for BJP’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Modi government further won over people’s hearts by rolling back several unpopular decisions. A Special Investment Region (SIR) at Mandal-Becharaji incorporating nearly 50 villages, which was earmarked earlier, faced criticism and opposition by local farmers. The Modi government held several meetings with farmers and decided to denotify the villages, giving major relief to farmers in the region.

The government also started to construct houses for homeless families in urban areas, a  pre-poll promise.

Patel’s ‘Gatisheel’ Gujarat

One of the senior-most member of the Modi Cabinet, Anandiben Patel was chosen as his successor in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. She gave the slogan ‘Gatisheel Gujarat’ to her government and attempted to make the administration accountable for speedy delivery of public services. She also set achievement targets for various government departments. In fact, many termed her the CM who was the best administrator in Gujarat.

Her government presented the ‘gender’ budget in July, 2014, which remained focused on the issues faced by women. Nearly Rs 1,800 crore was earmarked for the welfare of women and children under 500 different schemes. In May, 2015, Patel’s government faced the first challenge in the form of reservation quota demand, put forward by the Patel community. The agitation soon spread across the state. The BJP government was put on the backfoot. The Patel government then offered the Mukhya Mantri Yuva Swavlamban Yojana (MYSY), with an annual budget of Rs 1,100 crore, as substitute for reservation, which the Patel community, however, rejected.

Meanwhile, the Patel government undertook several initiatives, such as announcing Rs 800 crore package for farmers, clearing Metro rail project in Ahmedabad, allocating and constructing affordable houses, and government officials approaching the people at their doorstep. The feather in the cap was the Rs 25 lakh crore MOUs signed at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2015.

Miraculous pair of Rupani and Patel

The party then chose Vijay Rupani as the CM and Nitin Patel as the Deputy CM of Gujarat. Rupani gave the slogan of ‘Transparent, Decisive, Sensitive, and Developing’  government. He started the Seva Setu programme, under which the government officials would visit villages, cities, and towns, hold dialogue with citizens to know their issues, and give on-the-spot solutions.

Then, Narmada waters reached different parts of Saurashtra and Kutch regions through the SAUNI scheme during Rupani’s rule, and the issue of water scarcity was solved permanently. Rupani further decided to initiate a probe against two senior IAS officials accused in the industrial land scam case and initiated a departmental inquiry against one of them.

In 2017, north Gujarat was badly hit by floods and two districts — Banaskantha and Patan — were devastated. CM Rupani then decided to run his office from the flood-affected region so that the relief work could be expedited.

KEY CHALLENGES THAT LIE BEFORE THE STATE GOVERNMENT

• Unrest: The most important challenge before the government is unrest in various communities. The Patidars are taking to the streets demanding reservation, while OBCs feel the community should not get benefits of reservation at their cost. There is also anger in the Dalit community over atrocities on its members.
   
• Farmers: Many are struggling to get the right prices for their produce, and are also looking for achhe din in the form of higher Minimum Support Prices. Several places still await Narmada waters while state government has supplied irrigation water to some
   
• Job creation: The Congress has made the issue of unemployment a huge issue, claiming that the number of unemployed youths in Gujarat runs into several lakhs. For BJP, which sees youths as one if its key support base, it is crucial to address the issue of job creation at the soonest to prevent any base erosion.
   
• Land acquisition: The state has seen several protests over the issue in recent years, forcing the government to go slow. However, with industrial investment likely to continue, the state will have to find a balance between farmers’ interests and investments.

TOP TRIUMPHS

Fee Regulation Act
Introduced earlier this year, the law aims to regulate school fees. It was brought in to counter criticism that education costs in the state have gone through the roof recently. Several schools were forced to lower their fees, and several others, however, resisted. The law brought much-needed relief to parents, but its overall impact remains debatable.

Narmada Dam project
Work on Sardar Sarovar Dam was completed two months ago, over 50 years after it started. Its height was raised to the maximum possible 138m, raising water storage capacity nearly four times. This would help resolve water woes of north Gujarat and Saurashtra. The dam is likely to be a major issue ahead of coming elections.

Ahmedabad Metro project
Though conceived more than a decade ago, the Ahmedabad Metro project was finally kicked off in 2014. In a year or two, the city will boast of a Metro rail. The over 32-km project will comprise of east-west and north-south corridors in the first phase, and likely extended to the airport and the state capital, Gandhinagar, in subsequent phases.

Tougher prohibition law
Earlier this year, the Gujarat government framed a law with the aim to strengthen the existing prohibition laws in the state. The law provides for up to 10-year imprisonment for selling, possessing, or transporting liquor illegally. Moreover, it also fixed accountability, as officials found helping bootleggers could be jailed for up to seven years. The law was amended in wake of tremendous public pressure.

Toll tax exemption
Toll tax exemption for passenger cars on 12 state highways was among the last decisions announced by Anandiben Patel, before her resignation as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, in August 2016. The move put a burden of Rs 150 crore on the state exchequer, but was widely lauded by nearly 1 lakh private car owners.

SAUNI Yojana
The Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana (SAUNI Yojana) was launched to divert excess flood water of Narmada to Saurashtra. The water will be distributed to 115 reservoirs in 11 districts of Saurashtra though four 1,125km link pipelines. The project cost is estimated to be more than Rs 12,000 crore.

Vibrant Gujarat summits
The scale of the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Summit has touched a new high in the last few years, especially after Modi became Prime Minister. Started in 2003, when Modi was chief minister, it has emerged as the premier business event in the country. In the 2015 Summit, MoUs proposing an investment of Rs 25 lakh crore were signed.

Ro Ro Ferry
Conceived decades ago, a Ro Ro Ferry service between Saurashtra and south Gujarat became a reality just last month, when it was inaugurated by PM Modi. The Dahej-Ghogha ferry service will bring down the travelling time between the two regions from almost eight hours to under two hours. It will also reduce the congestion on roads, since a large number of people would opt for it.

Stringent cow protection law
If beef consumption has become and issue in other states, how could Hindutva’s original laboratory be left behind? Earlier in 2017, the Gujarat government increased maximum sentence for cow slaughter from seven years to life term. The law also allows permanent seizure of vehicles used in cow slaughter or to transport beef. It is among the most stringent laws for cow protection in the country.