The BJP secured a historic victory in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections. The party has won for the 7th consecutive term and has decimated the opposition by making them lose their status as the opposition party.
The party has won a whooping 156 seats of the 182 seat legislative assembly, the highest ever secured by a party till date. This is the first time in the electoral history of Gujarat that the BJP has crossed the majority mark in terms of vote share with 52.5% votes.
The last time that a party got such a huge mandate was when Congress chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki secured 149 seats in 1985 elections that were held against the backdrop of former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assasination.
However, the DMK in its editorial today tried to peddle half-truths claiming that it’s not that big a victory for the BJP.
Let’s counter the claims one by one.
Number 1
The DMK mouthpiece claimed that while the BJP polled only 1,67,07,957 votes there were 3,23,81,808 votes that were polled against the BJP.
But the number quoted as anti-BJP votes by Murasoli is outrightly false and misleading. Here are the real numbers from the Election Commission.
Total votes polled – 3,14,79,134.
BJP – 1,67,07,957
INC – 86,83,966
AAP – 4,112,055
Others – 13,81,739
NOTA – 5,01,202
SP – 92,215
NCP – 76,949
Total non-BJP votes (INC+AAP+SP+NCP+NOTA+Others) – 1,48,48,126
So, the votes polled for BJP is 18.59 lakh votes more than the non-BJP votes combined.
The inability to do even basic addition and subtraction by DMK folks at Murasoli is a testimony to their Dravidian Model of education.
Number 2
Murasoli claimed in its editorial that the BJP was able to win because the party had announced ‘freebies’. The mouthpiece had tried to spin a narrative that the BJP is hypocritical in its stance on ‘freebies’ saying that while the Centre attacks ‘revdi culture’, it is implementing the same to fetch votes in Gujarat.
However, the people of Gujarat were not wooed by freebies but by good governance. The standard of living of a Gujrati has seen improvement without the state having to dole out freebies.
The BJP won 80 out of 98 rural assembly seats with a strike rate of 82 per cent. This is a testimony to the developmental politics and good governance track record of the BJP.
The successful raising of the Sardar Sarovar dam and the fact that water has reached the dry parts of Gujarat through the SAUNI Yojana has led the people of Gujarat to bequeath their trust on the BJP.
The Jyotigram Yojana, commissioned in 2006, has ensured eight hours of electricity supply for irrigation for all of Gujarat’s 18,000 villages and 24×7 uninterrupted domestic power supply at a nominal charge.
The uniterrupted electriciy and water supply has allowed farmers to increase their agricultural productivity thereby an increase in their income. This has led to the BJP sweep the agrarian regions like Saurashtra.
The BJP has also managed to gain the trust and goodwill of the tribal communities by ensuring holistic development of tribal communities through the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana. This has helped the party win 24 out of 40 SC/ST seats in Gujarat.
This is the trackrecord of the consecutive BJP governments in the previous years.
Now, let’s take a look at the visionary manifesto document of the BJP for this election.
- Make Gujarat a $1 trillion economy by maintaining its position in manufacturing, focusing on services and building capacity for new-age industries.
- 1 lakh Government jobs to women.
- Set up two seafood parks in South Gujarat and Saurashtra and build India’s first Blue Economy Industrial corridor around this region.
- Creating anti-radicalization cells to identify and eliminate potential threats, and sleeper cells of the terrorist organizations and anti-India forces.
- Create world-class sports infrastructure to host the 2036 Olympics Games in Gujarat.
- The family card yojana will enable every family to avail benefits of all state government-run welfare schemes.
- Shramik credit cards for labourers with collateral-free loans up to ₹2 Lakhs, Every citizen is to be ensured with a house under AWAS Yojana.
- Develop a Saurashtra Express Highway grid to connect important economic hubs and national highways.
- Spend ₹1 lakh crore under the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana 2.0 for the all-around socio-economic development of tribal.
- 20 lakh new jobs generation in the state.
- The ruling party has assured ₹10,000 crores for farmer infrastructure, ₹25,000 crores for irrigation facilities, two seafood parks in South Gujarat and Saurashtra, etc.
There is a difference between the ‘freebies’ of the ‘Dravidian Model’ and the welfare schemes of the Gujarat Model. The Dravidian Model of freebies is a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer’s money in providing substandard services – the case in point being the free bus for women scheme of the DMK government. Other example of freebie promises include providing ₹1000 for women which is yet to be implemented by the DMK government.
Whereas in the Gujarat Model, welfare schemes are oriented in improving the quality of life for the poor. Be it the free LPG scheme or the Ayushman Bharat scheme, these have resulted in the empowerment of the people.
The Dravidian Model of freebie keeps the poor perpetually poor for want of political gain while the Gujarat Model of welfare ultimately results in the empowerment of the individual and the community.
Number 3
Murasoli claims that this victory for the BJP isn’t a big deal as it it banked on son-of-the-soil strategy and communal politics coupled with freebies.
The son-of-the-soil strategy part may be true but the other two are just humbug. The fact that the state has remained peaceful which was earlier marred by frequent communal riots has made the people of Gujarat trust the BJP in maintaining law and order.
But here is a bitter truth that the DMK will find it difficult to digest. The DMK in 2021 won by a wafer-thin margin of 5.66%. The DMK itself polled only 37.7%. On the other hand, the BJP in Gujarat has polled a whopping 52.5% and has secure victory by a huge margin.
The BJP has managed to win Gujarat back-to-back and this time it has won without any major alliance. History is testimony to the fact that the DMK has never managed to win an election without an alliance with major parties.
So, dear DMK folks at Murasoli, please educate yourself and rotate your cane within the four walls of Arvialayam.
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