Congress’ Gujarat Puzzle – I

PRESS note journalism – turning news stories out of official releases – is the laziest form of reporting, and hence rightly derided by more energetic of the hacks. But at times they can present a telling picture, revealing a phenomenon in all its sharpness.

So this is about press notes of the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP of January 24. Taken together, the two presented succinctly the why and how of Gujarat's present politics - and more importantly a picture of Congress's state of morass.

The Congress communication headlined the struggle of people in Kutch, Saurashtra, and north Gujarat for water and painted a grim scenario. It quoted from information already in public domain, about the waste of Narmada waters in the absence of third tier distribution network of canals across the state. Understandably, putting all blame for this on mis-governance of the ruling party.

Ideally, one would expect this to be a juicy prospect for the Congress party ahead of local body elections in February. But that’s where the contrast lay. For, the BJP communiqué of the same day headlined party’s victory on 53 seats in various municipal bodies across the state uncontested!

Meaning Congress conceded these many seats even before a single vote is polled. Of the 53 seats claimed by BJP as won uncontested, 34 come from Saurashtra region as per the release. They include 20 of 21 in Halvad of Surendranagar, 10 of 21 in the Kutiyana municipality of Porbandar, nine in Jafrabad town of Amreli district, three in Talaja of Bhavnagar. And as if to rub it in, two Muslim candidates also won in Junagad by-poll on BJP ticket, again uncontested.

I made a dozen calls and checked municipal water availability in all the towns named above. It is once in two or three days. Junagadh city is divided into two halves cut in the middle by a railway track. The old city on the right gets water once in 2-3 days, while the new city has no piped water delivery system. The municipality has put up large tanks at the entrance of societies that are regularly filled using tankers. In Rajkot, similar story is repeated with even greater dependence of private water suppliers. Of smaller towns less said the better.

In Amreli, a rich farmer friend of mine says that there are villages where it’s difficult to marry off boys as girls know they would spend half their life fetching water. From personal experience I can say that roads can be really bad in Saurashtra, otherwise a USP of much of Gujarat.

So can we safely conclude that electoral victory in present day Gujarat is not connected with governance delivery? While an answer to that would need a longer post, what seems clear is that Congress is rudderless. I found out that the fiasco of losing seats uncontested happened because local leaders at these places stuck sweet-deals for themselves with the BJP units – clear case of cadres having no faith in the leadership. Otherwise, how can one explain that despite a fertile situation on the ground the party has no ranks, no cadres, and obviously no leadership to turn it to its advantage. As a folk saying goes, you can bring the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.