Gujarat: Bhupendra Patel’s humble presence
10 min readNothing goes unnoticed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat—he likes to maintain an eagle eye on affairs in his dwelling state. On May 23, in an unprecedented transfer, the prime minister’s workplace (PMO) initiated stringent motion in opposition to two senior officers within the Gujarat authorities. In the morning, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) arrested flamboyant IAS officer Ok. Rajesh, joint secretary with the overall administration division, on fees of corruption. Barely had the mud settled over the arrest than the chief minister’s workplace, Swarnim Sankul, acquired one other order from the PMO within the late afternoon. This time, the axe fell on Dhrumil Patel, the extremely influential private assistant of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, for his alleged involvement in a cash-for-postings scandal.
It is maybe for the primary time that such senior officers had been being publicly frolicked to dry within the state. Dhrumil was the primary appointment after Bhupendra Patel took over as CM on September 12, 2021. A seasoned lieutenant of Anandiben Patel , the CM’s mentor and the present governor of Uttar Pradesh, he had been despatched to Gandhinagar to help the ‘inexperienced’ Patel.
Sources say the PMO was sending a message to the state paperwork, and maybe to the brand new CM too. In a refined method, Modi was additionally asserting that he has taken over the reins in Gujarat six months forward of the meeting election. “Bhupendrabhai’s nature is mrudu (soft), but his decisions are makkam (firm),” Modi had mentioned in Gandhinagar in late April. By May 28, the PM was shedding his endurance and expressing his displeasure overtly with Patel’s fashion of functioning. At the inauguration of the Matushri Ok.D.P. Multi-speciality Hospital at Atkot in Rajkot, Modi was seen wanting the opposite method because the CM stood with folded fingers earlier than him.
When Patel was chosen as a replacement for Vijay Rupani in September 2021, it was seen as a bid to quell the unrest among the many BJP cadre, say sources, as they felt “neglected at the government level”. The first-time MLA from Ghatlodia, Ahmedabad, Bhupendra Patel, 59, was additionally seen because the BJP brass’s resolution to the sturdy anti-incumbency build up within the state. In an extraordinary transfer, Patel additionally received a wholly new council of ministers, all of them—barring Rajendra Trivedi and Kanubhai Desai—newbies and with no expertise of working the state.
Eight months on, the get together employees, at the very least, appear mollified. The new CM holds an open home for guests with out appointment twice every week. On May 24, when india right now visited, Patel’s third-floor workplace was crowded with near 500 folks ready to satisfy him. There had been folks from all walks of life—widespread residents, politicians, businessmen and even aspiring legislators. Most of the instances appeared to revolve round requests to resolve land disputes. A gaggle from Rajasthan wished the CM’s help to run their cow shelter in Gujarat. Patel took their memorandums one after the other, made some remarks on the paper and handed them over to Nimesh Dave, his officer on particular responsibility, for additional motion.
Bhupendra Patel’s chambers appear to be an embodiment of his concepts concerning the administration. There are small statues of non secular guru Dada Bhagwan, Swami Vivekanand and Lord Buddha plus a cutout of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, reflecting the CM’s non secular facet and his satisfaction over his neighborhood, the Patidars. A large TV display screen occupies a facet of the wall in entrance of the CM’s chair. The balcony has a picket swing and affords a spectacular view of the state secretariat. Patel has chosen Mondays and Tuesdays for his meet-the-people periods, probably in order that he can take their suggestions earlier than the weekly cabinet assembly on Wednesday. “Vat paadi des tamaara (I will get you weight at home),” he tells the folks. He believes the guests would get respect of their villages or cities if they’re seen to have entry to the CM.
Slow tempo, targeted areas
The soft-spoken Bhupendra Patel is the primary Gujarat CM to want trousers and shirts over the normal kurta-pyjma. He can also be identified to be circumspect about daring administrative choices. “What is the hurry? I am here to play a Test, not a T-20, match,” he apparently instructed a gaggle of actual property builders at a gathering final yr. What he has executed is journey broadly within the state to get to know the folks outdoors Ahmedabad. The CM’s workplace rolls out the figures—Patel has travelled 61,000 km, interacted with 22,000 folks and attended 300 authorities/ non-public conferences within the first 200 days of his tenure. He additionally claims credit score for transparency in transfers and postings of presidency workers (the Dhrumil Patel scandal however). Indeed, on May 28, 1,051 state workers had been transferred inside their districts. “It was the first time that such large-scale transfers took place in 24 hours, and through the online method,” states a notice issued by the CM’s workplace.
On his journeys, the CM has additionally made unannounced stops at public development websites for inspections; his go to to the Rajkot-Ahmedabad freeway web site in January had made information. Critics, although, say his journeys are extra about visiting spiritual locations than work-related. They may need a case right here. An ardent follower of Dada Bhagwan, Bhupendra Patel maintains that his chair is nothing however a blessing from his guru. “He speaks little,” says a BJP chief from Ahmedabad, “and when you ask him about his political ambitions, he points towards the statue of Dada Bhagwan. The guru, it seems, will show the path.”
As elections close to, Patel has ensured that the state price range has satisfactory provisions for 3 key constituencies—farmers, tribals and ladies—consistent with the BJP’s ballot technique. Even at an early May chintan baithak (brainstorming sitting), Union dwelling minister Amit Shah was heard exhorting BJP employees to concentrate on these three sections as they had been essential if the get together was to retain energy after December.
No one can accuse Patel of not following orders from New Delhi. A Gujarat Natural Farming Development Board, in accordance with Modi’s thrust on natural farming, has been constituted, the compensation to farmers whose land has been acquired for erecting energy transmission towers has been doubled to fifteen per cent (above the market fee); the state additionally bears 10 per cent of the fee (as much as Rs 1,500) if a farmer desires to purchase a smartphone. There can also be a Rs 1,046 crore provision to finish electrification of their farmlands.
As for the tribals, monetary help for college kids from the neighborhood pursuing a Ph.D. has been elevated from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Plans are additionally underneath technique to erect 500 new cell towers in tribal areas for higher connectivity. Around 16,500 tribal households have been awarded land rights underneath the Forest Rights Act. The state has additionally elevated the price range for girls’s empowerment programmes by 42 per cent—178 authorities programmes focus solely on this. But Patel’s largest success thus far has been the ‘Suposhit Mata, Swasth Bal Yojana’, for which Rs 850 crore has been put aside. Under the scheme, 1 kg toor dal, 2 kg chana dal and one litre edible oil is supplied free each month for 1,000 days to pregnant ladies and lactating moms.
The Dalit, tribal problem
For CM Patel, profitable the hearts of the 15 per cent scheduled tribe (ST) and 6 per cent scheduled caste (SC) inhabitants would be the largest problem. Out of the 182 seats within the meeting, 26 are reserved for STs and 13 for SCs. In 2017, the BJP had received 21 of those 39 seats (13 ST and eight SC), with the Congress taking 15 (Independents had received three seats). An India Today-My Axis exit ballot survey mentioned that 48 per cent of the STs and 32 per cent SCs had voted for the BJP in 2017.
The scenario has modified since then. The tribals are vehemently against the Union authorities’s plan to interlink three rivers—Par, Tapi and Narmada, calling it a plan to displace them from their native lands. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had introduced the mission, geared toward growing irrigation services in Gujarat and Maharashtra, in her price range speech this yr. On March 30, the state authorities needed to request the Union authorities to place the mission on maintain following the protests.
On the political entrance, the BJP faces a troublesome problem from the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), a regional drive within the tribal areas. The BTP is prone to be a part of fingers with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) within the coming election. BTP president Mahesh Vasava, the MLA from Dedipada in Narmada district, has been working a vociferous marketing campaign in opposition to the BJP authorities. He had known as on AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal within the nationwide capital in March. Vasava alleges the BJP is attempting to painting all of the tribals as Maoists. He additionally objects to being known as vanvasis (forest residents). “We don’t just live there, we are the owners of the forest,” he argues.
Talks of an alliance between the BTP and AAP are nonetheless on the main degree although. State AAP convenor Gopal Italia says, “It is a big political decision for both parties, so we cannot rush matters.” But former BJP legislator Bharat Pandya brushes apart the potential of a dent within the BJP’s tribal votes. “Our government is working for their betterment, the tribals have full faith in PM Modi,” he says. At the identical time, the get together isn’t taking any probabilities—a bunch of interactions and rallies have been scheduled for PM Modi within the tribal areas.
It hasn’t helped that the Bhupendra Patel regime has been known as out for its ‘anti-tribal’ stand. The CM, who additionally holds the house portfolio, has are available in for some fiery criticism from even the RSS affiliate organisation, the Samajik Samrasta Manch (SSM), for shielding Yogeshdan Gadhvi, a folks singer accused of bad-mouthing the SC neighborhood. A preferred face on TV, Gadhvi allegedly used derogatory language to explain the SC neighborhood at a celebration perform and within the presence of state BJP president C.R. Patil on May 14. An offence underneath the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was filed in opposition to Gadhvi, however he has not been arrested but. CM Patel apparently junked a letter by SSM secretary Vijay Jhala demanding stern motion in opposition to Gadhvi. This has created rigidity between the RSS outfit and the state authorities. “There were some 1,250 cases of atrocities against SCs registered in Gujarat (except Saurashtra) in the past year. This is worrisome,” says Jhala.
The RSS and the Patel authorities have been on a collision course over the dealing with of such instances. In November 2021, RSS Gujarat prant sanghchalak Bharat Patel needed to publicly condemn the assault on an SC household of six in Kutch for coming into a temple and put strain on the federal government earlier than it introduced a compensation of Rs 21 lakh for the victims. Ten folks had been lastly arrested within the incident. In April, the RSS and the state authorities confronted off once more after Jignesh Mevani, the livewire Dalit chief and Independent MLA from Badgam, was arrested in Banaskantha by the Assam police for an alleged derogatory social media publish on PM Modi. The RSS believes the “unnecessary” motion made Mevani a hero and gave him extra ammunition in opposition to the federal government. “We had started cornering Mevani in a planned manner,” says an RSS functionary, “but his arrest created a sympathy wave for him. He has now revived his anti-Hindutva agenda.”
It has proved true, since his launch on bail on April 29, the firebrand chief has been hyperactive in north and central Gujarat, addressing rallies and assembly folks. The response has been overwhelming and has BJP supporters apprehensive. Mevani says he’ll proceed his combat in opposition to the oppression of the underprivileged. “As a person, Bhupendra Patel is a gentleman, but his government has failed us completely,” Mevani instructed india right now. He highlights the notorious incident in Una the place Dalits had been flogged in 2017. “No chargesheet has been filed in the case even after five years,” he says.
Political video games
When it involves political manoeuvring, CM Patel takes a again seat to the aggressive state BJP president Patil. The latter has deliberate an enormous ‘booth-level’ marketing campaign between June 12 and 14, the place the 12,000 state office-bearers will go to each ward and work together with employees and voters. Frontal organisations like the ladies’s wing and the SC/ ST, OBC and youth wings have to satisfy 300 get together employees from each caste. Prominent BJP leaders have been requested to undertake one of many 48,312 kids on the state’s malnourished checklist for a yr. They will likely be answerable for the youngsters’s eating regimen and well being. Meanwhile, the get together poached the face of the Patidar reservation protests, Hardik Patel, from the Congress on June 2. His entry ought to enhance the BJP’s ties with the neighborhood.
Bhupendra Patel
In 2017, the Congress marketing campaign had a tagline, ‘Vikas gando che (Development has gone berserk)’. In a counter, the BJP had provide you with ‘Hun chhu vikas, hun chhu Gujarat (I am development, I am Gujarat)’. A senior BJP chief says the marketing campaign this time will concentrate on six factors—Modi, karyakarta (employee), vikas, jan vishvaas (public belief), vyavastha (system) and vatavaran (work tradition). “That will be enough for us to win the election,” he feels.
Bhupendra Patel had identified in March that Gujarat’s fiscal deficit has not touched 2 per cent post-Covid regardless of the Centre permitting a leeway of as much as 4.5 per cent. “That is because of good governance,” he had claimed on the time. The CM had additionally outlined his high priorities—caring for the final man within the queue in addition to decreasing the carbon footprint. When requested about Modi, Patel smiled. “We have to take forward the good work initiated by him…there is only one Narendra Modi and no one can match him in the entire world,” he had mentioned. That about sums up the CM’s place on rather a lot many issues within the state.
