Gujarat has 88.57 percent Hindu population and Arvind Kejriwal has made it clear that he has to do politics for it. They have left out 9.67 per cent of the Muslim population. When the culprits of raping Bilkis Bano were released from jail prematurely, the Aam Aadmi Party did not give a statement on this. On the contrary, when asked about this, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP’s number two leader Manish Sisodia said that this is not his issue. Sisodia said that they are going to build schools and build hospitals. With this, the Aam Aadmi Party has made it clear that what kind of politics it has to do. Now Kejriwal has made his agenda clear by talking about putting photos of Lakshmi and Ganesh on the rupee.
Obviously they are doing an experiment of Hindutva politics in Gujarat. They know that the Aam Aadmi Party will have to compete with the Congress in close to 10 percent of the Muslim vote and if Asaduddin Owaisi’s party contests the elections, then it will also compete with it. Instead, the main contest is with the BJP with close to 90 per cent of the Hindu vote. The BJP had got close to 49 percent votes in the last assembly elections. This means BJP got 60 percent of the total Hindu vote and Congress got 40 percent of the vote. They are targeting the 40 per cent Hindu vote that the Congress got last time and was getting it in the past also. This vote is permanently anti-BJP. Apart from this vote, in the 60 percent Hindu vote that the BJP gets, Kejriwal is also making a message that he too is like the BJP or can do more hardcore Hindu politics than the BJP. Apart from this, his message is that he gives everything to the poor for free. So, it will not be a surprise if they manage to break into the pro-BJP Hindu vote as well.
This possibility is also due to the fact that despite all the claims of development in Gujarat, more than 31 lakh 56 thousand families are below the poverty line. This figure was told by the Gujarat government in the assembly on 31 August 2021. This means that on an average, 1.25 to 1.5 crore population is below the poverty line. Kejriwal’s promises can appeal to this population. The state has 14.75 per cent tribal population, which Kejriwal’s welfare schemes can appeal to. He has announced to provide free electricity and water and has also announced to give one thousand rupees in cash to all adult women. Apart from this, they are also promising free education in a good school and free treatment in a good hospital. After this, for the salaried class, it has been announced to restore the old pension scheme. In this way, Kejriwal has made fierce announcements for the poor, lower middle class and middle class.
Despite this, there was a flaw in his politics. It was this that he was seen doing politics with the opposition to the Gujaratis. It means anti-Hindu and anti-national in Gujarat. Kejriwal saw the need to get out of this. So, he has taken himself out of the politics of the opposition. Now they are opposing the BJP but not doing politics in alliance with the traditional anti-BJP parties of the country. His agenda of opposing the BJP is another. Along with the governance, they have started criticizing the BJP because it is not implementing the hardline Hindu agenda. They are opposing the BJP on the issue of Hindutva. His positioning can appeal to a large section.
In the last assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party got only 24 thousand votes in Gujarat. It was 0.10 percent of the total vote. In contrast, the BJP got 49 percent and the Congress got close to 42 percent of the votes. Since then Aam Aadmi Party has done big politics in Gujarat. In the local body elections, AAP did well in Surat and won 28 seats. They have election strategist Sandeep Pathak like Prashant Kishor, who played a big role in AAP’s victory in Punjab. He would also have set the vote count of Gujarat. He knows that with his welfare and free distribution schemes, Kejriwal can sabotage the Hindu votes polled by both the BJP and the Congress. If their experiment is successful and they manage to garner respectable votes, then their politics will move forward. Keep in mind that in the past, there was news that in a meeting of party leaders in Gujarat, someone had talked about not giving much attention to Kejriwal, then Amit Shah had said that he was not only for 2024, but also for 2029. are thinking.
