Vijay Rupani may have succeeded in beating Nitin Patel to get the top job in Gujarat with the backing of BJP president Amit Shah, but he faces many challenges. He has just 14 months to set the house in order with the Assembly polls due in December 2017.
In the past one year, the State has witnessed major agitations, starting with the Patidar quota agitation in July 2015. This was followed by a counter-agitation launched by the Other Backward Class that did not want to share its pie of quota with the socially upward Patidars. Of late, the Dalits are up in arms against atrocities allegedly perpetrated on the members of their community.
Patel agitation During the Patidar agitation, a dozen persons were killed in police firing, while one constable died in clashes. Similarly, during the Dalit unrest, one constable died in stone-throwing, while over 24 Dalits attempted suicide, and two of them died. Besides, the poor monsoon in the last two years has caused distress in agriculture and rural economy. This forced several farmers to commit suicides. Farm activities slumped to the lowest in a decade.
“Gujarat is going through a very bad period. One the one hand, there is social unrest and on the other, the economy is in bad shape. Small and medium enterprises are shutting down,” said a senior bureaucrat.
Anti-incumbency and administrative lethargy have contributed to the situation. Last year, the BJP faced a humiliating defeat in the panchayat polls, losing in 23 of the 32 district panchayats and 130 of the 230 block panchayats.
“There are challenges, but we will be able to overcome them before the Assembly polls. We have a strong team and a robust organisational base,” said Pradipsinh Jadeja, a Minister.
During the Anandiben Patel administration since May 2014, the government was hit by the bickering in the BJP. “There was hardly any coordination between the government and the party. Mr. Rupani will have to create synergy between the two,” another Minister said.
