Political pell-mell in post-Modi Gujarat

It has to be said in all fairness to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that they are managing political uncertainty in Gujarat with a certain straightforwardness.

Chief minister Anandiben Patel has written to party president Amit Shah to be relieved and she gave excellent reasons why she wants to step down. First, she pointed out that she will turn 75 in November this year, and she would have to step down any way. Then, she said she wanted the changeover to happen now so that her successor will have time to prepare for the "Vibrant Gujarat" investor mela in January, and, more crucially, prepare for the Assembly elections due in November-December 2017.

Shah, who rarely talks about party affairs in public, told a television news channel that Patel's letter would be placed before the parliamentary board of the party. He also praised the good work she had done in the two years since she took over from Modi.

Shah's endorsement makes Patel's exit official now. While the end to Patel's chief ministerial term was inevitable and imminent, what is left unsaid, but which is clearly visible, is the political turmoil that has enveloped the state ever since strongman Modi moved from Gandhinagar to New Delhi in May 2014.

The dominance of the BJP in its own bastion appeared to be crumbling, bit by bit, under the stewardship of Patel. First came the Patel agitation, led by Hardik Patel, for reservations, which embarrassed the BJP because during the Modi years there was not a whiff of political trouble in the state. The latest political explosion was that of the massive Dalit protest in the wake of the Una episode, where Dalit boys were beaten up and humiliated. It has become clear that the Patel dispensation has not been in control of the situation.

Of course, the BJP would not admit that there is political trouble in the state. The unavoidable inference is that Modi's legacy in Gujarat is brittle. He has not left behind a strong party or a strong government. When he was there, he was the most dominant leader, and he has not created a good second-rung leadership. In post-Modi Gujarat, BJP looks vulnerable, despite the fact that there is as yet no opposition party worth its name in the state.