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Gujarat : Election Commission warning on “hate speeches”

	November 11, 2002

As elections to the Gujarat Assembly in mid-December approach, the Election Commission (EC) is trying to check the spread of communal virus through the speeches of different party leaders. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) J.M. Lyngdoh has stated that people who make communal speeches should be prosecuted and the EC would enforce the law “rigidly” in Gujarat in the elections. He was explaining how the Commission would ensure a trouble-free poll in the State when there were Press interviews and statements by leaders on communal lines. On whether the Commission could use its authority to send out a message to contain such speeches and statements, he said, “Yes. We will do that.” Stating that the Commission had been routinely doing that in every election, Lyngdoh said the EC would very closely monitor all election speeches. On reports that the Union Home Ministry has declined the EC’s demand for 400 companies of Central paramilitary forces for the conduct of a free and fair poll in Gujarat hit by communal violence, the CEC said the issue had been settled with a discussion with the Home Secretary. “It could be 425 or 375. It should be all right”.



A confident Congress

Meanwhile, the Congress held a high-profile meeting Mt Abu (Rajasthan) where the strategy for the Gujarat poll was discussed. It was also meant to queer the pitch for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre. A formal launch of a campaign in Gujarat is scheduled soon in Karamsad in Anand. Karamsad happens to be Sardar Patel’s birthplace. He was the first Home Minister of free India.

The Congress believes the Gujarat poll would give it an opportunity to find out where it stands in a communally surcharged environment. The party also believes the BJP has committed a grave mistake by going back to its divisive policies.

According to Congress leaders, the BJP’s electoral graph is declining in Gujarat. Despite sticking to divisive politics, it has lost a string of municipal, district and sub-district elections. The Gujarat unit of the Congress is also enthused by the declining support for the BJP in the powerful Patel community. The Congress attributes this alienation of Patels to the sidelining of former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel in the BJP.

The Congress ruled out any alliance for Gujarat Assembly elections, but said it was not against seat adjustments with “like-minded” political parties to take on the BJP in the December 12 poll. “We will not form an alliance for this election, but there will be some seat adjustments,” AICC general secretary in charge of Gujarat, Kamal Nath, has pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Congress started the process of selecting its candidates with the Steering Committee holding a meeting in New Delhi. The Congress has already decided to re-nominate all its 50 plus MLAs in the State.

Stating that talks were on with “like-minded” political parties, including the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Lok Janshakti Party headed by former Central Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, State Congress chief Vaghela said it was “not a must” for these allies to put up their candidates “if they are serious about defeating the BJP”. Vaghela also claimed that his party was strong enough in Gujarat to take on the BJP alone, but would like the cooperation of these political parties to defeat the BJP and appealed to them to extend their resources in doing so.



Samata, JD-U to go it alone

Distancing themselves from the BJP, the two key NDA allies — Samata Party and Janata Dal-United - announced that they would go it alone in the upcoming Gujarat elections. While the Samata Party will field 50 candidates, the JD-U will contest 20 to 25 Assembly seats.

“We will have no alliance with the BJP in Gujarat. There will be no common manifesto or programme. We will have our own manifesto and they will have their own,” Samata Party spokesman Shambu Shrivastava announced. JD-U president and Union Minister Sharad Yadav pointed out that his party had fought the last Assembly elections in Gujarat all by itself and four of its candidates won. The JD-U ranked third after the BJP and the Congress in the State. The party would field its candidates mostly in Saurashtra, Kutch and central and south Gujarat.

The BJP is more worried on how the two parties approach the communal riots in the State during the poll campaign. Though both the parties are not strong enough to give the BJP a serious challenge in Gujarat, their stance on the communal violence and the way Narendra Modi dealt with it may embarrass the party. Many of the BJP’s allies, especially the Samata, had expressed displeasure with Modi for looking the other way when Muslims were allegedly attacked after the Godhra killings. The riots are expected to figure prominently in the Congress campaign, with the party trying to mobilise the secular votes and the BJP those of Hindus. This may force the Samata and the JD(U) to take a stand on the issue. Samata leaders have admitted that the riots may figure but will not be the only issue during the campaign.

But the Samata also claims that this will not cause any friction between the party and the NDA at the Centre. It has been pointed out that in the last Assam Assembly elections the party put up its candidates against the BJP-AGP (Asom Gana Parishad) combine but this did not lead to bad blood in the NDA.

In Gujarat, the Samata controls four municipalities and a district panchayat. It has about 90 sarpanches in the Saurashtra region. “The party has been gaining strength over the last few years under the leadership of Praveen Singh Jadeja, who was a minister in the Chimanbhai Patel Government.



“Chargesheet” against BJP “misdeeds”

State Congress president Vaghela talks about making Gujarat riot-free and secure, and reclaiming for it the status of being India’s No 1 State. He explains how, under BJP rule, investment has declined, power shortage has worsened, administration has got corroded and the finances of Gujarat have dipped to the point where it has to take overdrafts for routine expenses. Time was when Gujarat was counted among the few well-administered States, with a measure of financial prudence that was the envy of others. If the post-Godhra mayhem has exposed administrative degeneration, rising deficits and sinking public sector performances point to its precarious financial health.

Next week, the Congress is planning to make public a “chargesheet” against the ruling party’s “misdeeds” in Ahmedabad. Vaghela’s confidant and Member of Parliament, Madhusudan Mistry, has prepared a fifty-page “chargesheet” listing the unfulfilled promises and instances of non-governance by the BJP in the last four and a half years. Even if one discounts the Opposition bias, the allegations do carry some weight.

In 1998 the BJP came to power with the promise of eradicating fear, hunger, and corruption. The Congress alleges, however, that Gujaratis are not any safer under BJP rule. In fact, the situation is worse than before for some sections like Dalits and religious minorities. Gujarat ranks fourth in the national averages in atrocities against Dalits with 892 crimes in 2002, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

In 1998, when the BJP published an action plan for unemployed youths of Gujarat, the State had 7.02 lakh people who were educated and unemployed. By 2001, the number increased to 8.95 lakh. And the general rate of unemployment increased by 29.89 per cent. According to State Government figures, Gujarat now has 12.06 lakh unemployed people.

The BJP had also promised preference in employment for the so-called sons of the soil. But in Ahmedabad, the steel business employs 62 per cent non-Gujaratis. In Vapi, the paper industry has 90 per cent non-Gujarati labour. Baroda’s chemical industry has 77 per cent outsiders and the ship-breaking yards in the State, more than 87 per cent.

In view of the low level of Gujarati presence in the armed forces, the BJP had also promised that it would set up armed forces training colleges in Radhanpur and Shamlaji. This promise has remained unfulfilled too.

During BJP rule the most glaring problem has been the State’s fiscal situation. Over the last year, the Government has had to resort to the overdraft facility 21 times. Thanks to the riots earlier this year, Gujarat’s monthly revenues have come down to Rs 175 crore [approximately US $36.08 million] from around Rs 500 crore [$103.09 million], the Congress claims. The State has a budgetary deficit to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore [$1.65 billion].

Following the communal disturbances, Gujarat has collected almost 12.80 per cent less sales tax compared to the pre-riots months.

Earlier, in Gujarat, the BJP could get an absolute majority in the last Assembly elections because the word ‘Congress’ had become synonymous with corruption. But now the Congress alleges that in the last three years of BJP rule, corruption cases have increased 45 per cent. The Gujarat Vigilance Commission is registering 10 new cases against the Government and its employees everyday, the Opposition party says.

Gujarat’s 60 lakh farmers were promised the moon by the BJP before it came to power. “Har khet ko pani” (water for every farm), compensation in case of failure of rain, and a raise in the limits of farm insurance up to Rs 10,000 were among these. But the Congress says that in the last four years more than 150 announcements favouring farmers have been made, but without any follow-up. After 2001 the Government has not even paid crop insurance money to farmers. In cases where the Government came forward to help farmers, it indulged in corruption.

But the BJP Government’s biggest failure has been its inability to provide electricity to farmers for nine hours a day, a promise it had made repeatedly. The State faces a deficit of 2,098 megawatts and is able to provide just five hours of supply. It has also mismanaged the planning and construction of nine power projects, as a result of which Gujarat purchases almost 45 per cent of its energy requirement from other States. In turn Gujarat’s contribution to national agricultural production has reduced.