Gujarat elections | Above health, housing, education, one concern: ‘Won’t do anything to blemish Modiji’s honour’ | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
Like Sonia's “Maut ka Saudagar” and Mani Shankar Aiyar's “neech” barbs in 2012 hurt Cong, AAP leader Gopal Italia's remarks on Modi, mother might have dampened “initial excitement” over the party
They may be unhappy about housing, education, health facilities, but across the state, the sentiment is common: “Can’t humiliate Modiji.”
Among those who asserts this is Champaben, of village Kathpur. Tucking in her pallu tightly as she gets down to chores, she says: “We do not have a house. Every time we ask for one under the Awas Yojana, the local sarpanch dismisses our plea and helps his cronies. Our village does not have a health centre nor a school for children after class 5… Pan ame Modi saheb nu maan raakshu (But we will not do anything to blemish Modi saheb’s honour).”
The Chaudharys of a small village in the outskirts of Khedbrahma town are much higher on the social spectrum. Located here after displacement due to the Dharoi dam, they wear their affluence from the compensation in the shape of bright saris, gold chains, bangles, heavy earrings — and their “bond” with Modi. “ It will be an insult to Modiji if Gujarat does not support him. We have to strengthen the hands of Modiji,” says Veenaben.
Modi was the CM of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. Eight years later, as the BJP seeks its seventh consecutive term in the state, it is still his name that blunts the fiercest attacks against the BJP, plugs the chinks in the armour of its state leaders, is expected to carry the weaker candidates past the finish line, and overides the largely muted religious and caste refrains.
In fact, it’s an attack or remark against Modi that has the potential to consolidate voters for or against the BJP. If then Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s “Maut ka Saudagar” barb at Modi in 2007 determined the course of that election to some extent, Mani Shankar Aiyar’s “neech” remark cost the Congress five years later. According to BJP leaders, AAP Gujarat unit president Gopal Italia’s old purported remarks against Modi and his mother this time dampened the “initial excitement” over the party’s surge in the state.
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