The poll-bound Gujarat has been hosting quite a few rallies and Yatras lately, organised both by Congress and BJP. The assembly elections are due in Dec this year and the people of Gujarat or at least many communities have already made up their minds, whom to support.
The ruling party in Gujarat was quite confident on getting the throne once again, but that was some time back. Recently with the growing influence of the Congress campaign and the frequent visit of Rahul Gandhi has left BJP on shaky grounds.
The agitated Patidars have already indicated their support to Congress and the Dalits, Muslims and OBC also do not seem to be very happy with the ruling BJP. As if this was not enough to keep the ruling party enough worried, now even the Tribals of Gujarat are showing their anger against the government and might extend their support to Congress.
The Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, completed the second phase of the Gujarat election campaign ahead of the polls. During his visit, he had held many public meetings, interaction with students and traders and even met the workers of Anganwadi. Rahul also paid a visit to the tribes who were displaced due to the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
When the tribals were asked about their views about the ruling government, the angry people said that they have lost their farms, their lands, their houses, everything, they have given the water of Narmada to Gujarat and the government claims that it is because of the BJP government that Gujarat got the water. The tribals said that it is their community that has done the development of Gujarat. The desired to question the government that whose development had they worked for, neither the Patidar nor the tribals and nor anyone else.
These Tribal communities are furious, they were displaced from their houses in 1991-92. They were promised lands, jobs or compensation but none of the promises were kept by the BJP government ruling under the leadership of Vijay Rupani.
The tribals complained that they fought for their land in 1991-92, during that time they were promised jobs and lands, but the government did not provide any of them. The Tribals said that they are demanding for job and land to those who earned their living by farming.
These Tribals even went on hunger strikes from July 15, 2016, to July 15, 2017, but their protests went unheard. They had laid down a list of 28 problems faced by them and the government promised to solve all of the 28 issues, just two months back, after which they ended their hunger strike. But the people are still complaining that is has been two months since the meeting and talks, but the government is not doing anything.
The angry tribals, who are repeatedly being disappointed by the ruling government has now announced that” it has been 22 years that the BJP has stopped our progress, now the time has come, even we will show them how much power do we hold to shake your throne.” The agitated people whose land were taken away by the government and who did not even get proper compensation have given a warning signal to the BJp that they will vote against the ruling government this time. We will remove BJP the angry Tribals echoed.
They said they will vote for Congress, the party had earlier also done for them and helped them, it will once again. They also showed their trust in Rahul Gandhi saying that “He has vowed that he will keep up his promises and we trust him.” The Congress leader has promised them compensation within six months, of the formation of the Congress government in the state.
While addressing the Tribals, Rahul had said that even they should benefit from the development of Gujarat. He claimed that, of what was not in the past 22 years, the Congress party would do it in six months.
The rising anger of the minorities, the Patidars, the Tribals and much more is a matter of concern for the ruling BJP in Gujarat. If the party wishes to come to power back again it needs to start acting now and solve these issues of the Congress might win the polls.