The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in Gujarat for nearly three decades now, was last locked in a close fight with the Congress in the 2017 Assembly Elections. With Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) entering into the fray this assembly election, the contest has become triangular. Still, BJP’s Gujarat General Secretary Pradipsinh Vaghela, based at the party’s state headquarters in Gandhinagar, tells Abhishek Srivastava that his party has high chances of returning to power for yet another term. Edited excerpts:
What are the issues for BJP in this election?
The development of Gujarat is the main agenda. Today, Gujarat is No. 1 in everything in the country. Narendra Modi has established the politics of development in Gujarat itself. We will take forward the same agenda.
You are on No. 1 anyway, where else will you go beyond that?
We are No. 1 in India. Now, we have to go ahead at the global level as well. At present, Gujarat is compared with other states of India. It will be compared to developed countries of the size of Gujarat in the future. We will reach there.
Who is your main rival in this election? Congress or AAP?
Neither, but we believe that Congress has its cadre, workers, its vote bank. Congress gets 30 to 35 per cent votes in every election. This time we will get big chunks of its vote bank.
Which are sections that you expect to come with the BJP?
There is a large section of OBC. Tribals and SC will also come with BJP this time.
What do you think is the reason for this?
Today, about 1.5 crore people in Gujarat have got the benefit of one or the other scheme of the state or central government. All these people are coming in support of BJP.
What do you think about AAP that is contesting for the first time?
AAP has not been able to survive in any state ruled by the BJP. Its candidates forfeited security deposits everywhere in Goa, Uttarakhand, and UP. Ninety per cent of its candidates will meet the same fate here. You can see where AAP has gone ever since it was formed. It goes to JNU.
Well, JNU is not a state.
Obviously, but there is an ideological battle going on in JNU. It is why they go there and stand with the communists. This is not acceptable in Gujarat.
But voters liked them in Delhi and Punjab.
Congress was ruling in Delhi. The BJP vote share has neither decreased in Delhi nor Punjab. But the BJP government will be formed in Delhi and Punjab after the next elections.
What do you think about AIMIM?
I was the party-in-charge of the Hyderabad elections. They were instigating Muslims there. I am not sure if such people will get support in India.
The opposition is raising two issues—the Morbi bridge accident and the issue of spurious liquor. What are you talking about in public on these two issues?
Gujarat is hurt by the Morbi incident. We are very sad. The government was the first to reach the spot. For the first time in the whole country, people were rescued and taken to the hospital in the first 10 minutes after the incident took place. The government worked at such speed.
But the complaint is that the real culprits have not been booked.
No. FIR has been duly registered, and the matter is in court. The court will definitely punish the culprits. An inquiry committee has been formed, which will go into full detail. Whoever was behind it, will be punished.
There’s also the issue of spurious liquor.
Earlier in Gujarat, the people who died of spurious liquor were provided compensation by Congress governments. Now, we have taken strict action. The factories that were producing the chemical are sealed. We have punished the manufacturers and sellers of country liquor. Such stringent laws were not used during Congress rule.
BJP has been in Gujarat for more than 20 years, people are saying that now the government should be changed. How do you see this?
You must have met AAP workers from Punjab and Delhi. They must have said that there should be a change. This is their intention. The people of Gujarat repeatedly shower their blessings upon BJP. You see the results of the last elections. In the past two years, there were nine assembly by-elections. We won all of them. The BJP vote share has increased in local body elections. The talk about change in Gujarat is being done by people from Delhi and Punjab, who are trying to break Gujarat. Not by the people of Gujarat.
Then how come the results were so close last time?
Where was it close? The BJP vote share had increased, not that of the Congress.
Will the dissatisfaction of government employees over demand like OPS (Old Pension Scheme) impact the final results?
Government employees have always been with BJP and will remain so this time too. Such issues were raised in Uttarakhand, Goa, etc., but what happened? Employees know that they get jobs from the BJP. OPS is not an issue here. All these issues remain only in discussion. You must move around Gujarat properly, and take your glasses off.
