Viramgam and Gandhinagar (Gujarat): Dotted with traditionally designed houses and shops with colonnaded roofs and jharokhas opening up into evenly separated balconies, Viramgam is a quintessential Gujarati town. Densely populated but narrow streets etch a veneer of a community living in an era gone by. However, what amuses tourists is the very thing that has left residents disgruntled.
“Look here. There is no sewerage, no proper roads. Our lives are miserable during the rainy season,” said a trader who deals in imitation jewels.
“There has been no change at all in Viramgam in the last many decades. There is no proper college, no industry, nothing that counts as vikas,” said a sugarcane juice seller.
Most residents recall an urban legend as the primary cause for the supposed lack of development in this north Gujarat town. “When (former prime minister) Morarji Desai came here, people of Viramgam who were angry with him for some reason garlanded him with shoes. The insulted Desai had then pledged to never let any development happen in Viramgam,” said Umesh, a college student.
The alleged incident has taken the shape of modern folklore – even as one of the Gujarat election’s most high-profile candidates, Hardik Patel, who led the Patidar agitation a few years ago is contesting from here as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. Viramgam, which goes to polls on December 5, has hence become one of the assembly constituencies to look out for.
A poster of BJP at Viramgam in Gujarat. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire
However, having lived through political negligence by elected leaders, most residents of Viramgam aren’t particularly enthused by either Hardik or for that matter any other leader’s candidature. “Viramgam’s curse will not end so soon,” said the sugarcane juice seller.
The Patidar agitation was particularly strong in Viramgam, because of which people elected a Congress legislator, Lakhabhai Bharwad, in 2017. However, he appears to have become one of the most disliked persons in the seat, irrespective of caste and community. “No one even saw his face for the last five years,” said Usman, an auto-rickshaw driver.
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Hruthik Patel, a bangle seller, echoed the same sentiment. “The lockdown completely destroyed our businesses. We didn’t even hear a word from him. He did not even visit us in our most troubled times.”
Patel said that he will vote for BJP, and so will most from the Patidar community. But he said his preference was for the party, not the candidate.
“Hardik is everything that is wrong with politics. He first joined the Congress, trashed even the Prime Minister, and then switched over to the BJP. BJP rewarded him with a ticket; now all cases against him will also vanish,” Hruthik Patel. He adds that he will still vote for BJP because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who “built” the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and “revoked” Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Most Patidars around him, both young and old, seemed to agree.
Usman, the auto-rickshaw driver, on the other hand, preferred the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Kuvarji Thakor. “Our Congress legislator was an absentee leader. I will try out AAP. Only AAP is talking about common people’s concerns,” he said.
There is an understanding – particularly among Muslims of Viramgam – that as a member of the influential Other Backward Class Thakor community, the AAP candidate is best-placed to defeat the BJP. “BJP ignored Viramgam despite being in power for 27 years. Why should we choose BJP then? AAP is calling for parivartan [change] and will draw traditional votes of Congress too,” said Usman.
As the BJP’s core voters, especially the Patels and other ‘upper’ caste groups, look beyond Hardik, the contest may come down to a battle between ‘upper’ castes and others. The candidate who will consolidate votes of most OBCs, Dalits and Muslims will emerge as a winner.
A poster of BJP at Viramgam in Gujarat. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire
Alpesh Thakor
Around 60 kilometres south of Viramgam is Gandhinagar (South) where Thakor community leader Alpesh Thakor is contesting as the saffron party’s candidate. Like Hardik, he too was in the Congress before switching over to the BJP.
A strongly urban seat with substantial BJP support across caste groups, Aplesh’s position is much more stronger than Hardik’s. “Who cares about Alpesh? We all will be voting for the BJP because of its Hindutva ideology,” said Paresh Patel, who runs a grocery store in Gandhinagar.
“This is a seat where BJP may field a donkey but people will still vote for him,” he added, as others around him laughed.
Many with whom The Wire spoke with said that the Congress candidate Himanshu Patel is a “local” and a “good-natured” candidate but in the “wrong party”.
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Kalpesh Thakor, a college-going student who wishes to start his own business soon, said he will vote for BJP because others, according to him, were merely making false promises. “I will choose whose development work I have seen, not those who are only talking big. Look at the Metro rail in Gandhinagar, the flyovers, the roads. Gandhinagar was never like this. BJP turned it around,” Kalpesh said.
Like Hardik, Alpesh’s candidature isn’t a rallying point for most voters. “Amit Shah has given Alpesh a safe seat. Amitbhai wants to encourage young leaders. It shows BJP’s positive thinking,” Kalpesh’s friend Sam said.
Alpesh Thakor and Amit Shah. Photo: Twitter
However, those from the Thakor community in the seat see him as a community representative more than a leader in his own right.
Most BJP voters didn’t seem to think highly of Alpesh. What united them the most is their hatred towards AAP, which they think has spoiled the BJP’s prospects in the state.
“Kejriwal is a liar. AAP has only fielded goons or rich people. They are misleading Gujaratis,” a BJP supporter chatting with his friends said.
Both Alpesh and Hardik who had emerged as prominent opposition faces in 2017 appeared to have lost their independent stature.
While Hardik led a pro-reservation movement for the Patidars, Alpesh opposed him on the plank that any quota for Patidars will hurt the OBC community. Alpesh emerged in the political scene by leading a de-addiction campaign in his community and was the first to join the Congress. He won from Radhapur in north Gujarat on a Congress ticket in 2017 but left the party midway to join the BJP. His flip-flop hurt him as he lost the subsequent by-elections from the constituency when he contested from the BJP.
With both burying their differences, and having joined the BJP, they may have reduced themselves into pawns in the larger BJP’s gameplan. Hardik, who until recently was one of the working presidents of the Congress, is contesting his first election, while Aplesh has switched his seat. Now, both depend heavily on the BJP to secure their seats.
The third leader who had emerged as an opposition face, Jignesh Mevani, who had won the Vadgam seat as an independent with Congress’ support, has joined the Congress. Since then he has only upped his ante against the BJP.
The trio stands formally broken.