Neha
JAMMU, Feb 14: Who says the Muslims of Gujarat are bitterly opposed to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP to which he belongs? The so-called secularists. The Muslims of Gujarat are not opposed to them. On the contrary, most of them are with Modi and the BJP. They had voted in large numbers for the BJP candidates in the 2012 December Assembly elections. And they voted overwhelmingly for the BJP in the just-held civic elections in the State.
In fact, the most significant development in the just-held civic polls in Gujarat was the unprecedented victory of the BJP in Jamnagar district's Muslim-majority Slaya town. Slaya town houses 90 per cent Muslims. The BJP won all the 27 seats. It had fielded 24 Muslim and three Hindu candidates and it captured all the seats. The Congress, which dominated the Slaya municipality for decades, failed to open its account. The victory of the BJP in this Muslim-majority town could be described as a big slap on the face of the "secular" Congress and other "secularists", who had been dubbing Modi and the BJP as "communal". This victory of the BJP in Slaya should have been given wide publicity, but it has not happened for obvious reasons.
The fact is that Narendra Modi, who last December scored an unprecedented hat-trick, catapulting the BJP to power in Gujarat for the third consecutive time, continues to enjoy full confidence of the people, Hindus and Muslims included, of this western State. In the December 2012 Assembly elections, the BJP won 115 seats in the 182-member Assembly. It was the effective leadership of Modi which had helped the party perform exceptionally well, notwithstanding the Congress' no-holds-barred vilification campaign against him and the BJP. It was again his leadership that again helped the party to register a very impressive victory over the Congress and other "secular" formations in the just-held civic polls. Elections to the 76 municipalities were held on February 10 and results declared on February 12.
The BJP won 47 municipalities, as against the Congress' victory in only 9 municipalities. The BJP, which fought civic polls on party symbol, not only retained all the municipalities where it was in power but also snatched 10 from the Congress party, notwithstanding the fact that the Congress contested the polls on its party symbol in 57 municipalities and elsewhere, it contested elections by forming "Nagrik Samitis". The BJP won 1153 seats out of 1921 seats and the Congress only 447. In the previous election, the Congress had won 608 seats and captured 20 municipalities. In other words, the Congress lost control over 10 out of the 20 municipalities it controlled before the elections and its rivals, especially the BJP, snatched from it as many as 161 seats. The Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) of former BJP Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, which miserably failed in the Assembly elections, again failed to impress the Gujarat electorate. It could win only 54 seats. As for other "secular" parties, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 13 seats, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 16 and the Samajwadi Party (SP) just two seats. The impressive victory of the BJP in the Gujarat civic polls and its spectacular victory in Slaya town yet again establish that the people are losing their faith in the Congress party with each passing day. All in all, it can be said that an anti-Congress wave is sweeping Gujarat, with people across the nation wishing Modi to become Prime Minister. Indeed, Modi has become a rallying point across the nation. |
