Over the last few months, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been campaigning aggressively in Gujarat, which is a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the home State of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The findings of the survey of Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) indicate that the AAP has been able to make its footprints visible in rural and urban Gujarat through AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s sustained campaign. But if the party leadership believes that they can challenge the BJP by questioning the ruling party about the work done by the State government in the areas of school education and public health, they may be making a mistake.
In the survey, 54% of the respondents believe that the facilities in government schools have improved, while only 16% did not think so (Table 1). There is a shared belief that not only the quality of education, but also other facilities such as midday meals, classrooms, and games and sports facilities have improved. People also believe that the morale of both teachers and schoolchildren has improved over the last five years (Table 2). It is, therefore, unsurprising that a sizeable number of people are satisfied with the State government’s performance in the area of education (Table 3).
People also seem to be happy about the facilities available in government hospitals in Gujarat. A majority (60%) of the respondents believes that the facilities in government hospitals have improved over the last five years; only 15% do not believe this. The improvement in government hospitals is more in cities and towns than in villages (Table 4). It is not surprising to note that 30% said they were ‘completely satisfied’ with the work done by the government in providing various facilities in government hospitals (Table 5).
However, we received a mixed response on the provision of civic amenities (Table 6). While people said the provision of drinking water and electricity has improved, they were more divided on cleanliness of sewers and the condition of roads.
Sanjay Kumar is Professor, CSDS, and Co-director, Lokniti-CSDS
