Almost two months have passed since the all-important Gujarat elections concluded, with the BJP managing to hold on to power, albeit with a slim margin. The Congress, who continue to play the role of opposition in the Assembly, saw their performance improve in the 2017 Assembly Polls, with 77 seats in the kitty.
With the Gujarat Assembly session scheduled to start from 19 February to 31 March, all eyes are on the newly appointed leader of opposition, Paresh Dhanani. The 41-year-old, 3-time MLA has had a fiery record in the Assembly and will be leading a pack of first-time MLAs on the floor against the incumbent BJP.
Paresh Dhanani spoke exclusively with The Quint and laid down the roadmap for the upcoming assembly session and how the opposition plans to make the government accountable.
On the Election Performance
Although the Congress looked strong enough to unsettle the ruling BJP after its 22-year-long stint at the onset of the elections, the result eventually landed in the Saffron Party’s lap. Dhanani said:
The people of Gujarat were looking for a Parivartan. However, the BJP who are in power at both the centre and the state took up polarising of communities on religious, caste and linguistic grounds and even misused the government machinery to secure their vote bank. Yet they only managed to stick around the nervous 90s whereas the Congress managed 77-plus seats. In the remaining 16 seats that we lost, the margin of victory ranged from 250-3,000 seats. However, the people of Gujarat have given the Congress the mandate of a strong opposition and we accept it.
What Went Wrong in Surat?
Surat was supposed to be a cakewalk for the Congress in wake of anti-incumbency, which was rife among traders and merchants in the city. Hardik Patel and PAAS campaigned heavily against the BJP and the political pundits called the city for Congress. Alas, the city once again returned to the BJP’s embrace, giving them almost a clean sweep in the state.
Dhanani said:
Surat is a city of traders and businessmen who are not built to lead politically. The government used its machinery to subdue the voices of the agitated business class. Apart from this, diamond hubs and power looms were forced to operate on the day of voting so as to ensure that the disenfranchised do not get to vote against the BJP. Besides, our booth agents were not up to the mark and did not bring in the desired result we were seeking.
With 41 New MLAs, Will Inexperience Kill the Congress?
Although the opposition looks strong on paper, 41 Congress MLAs are newly elected; even the most experienced Congress men – Shaktisinh Gohil and Arjun Modhwadia – lost the assembly elections last year. Dhanani coolly countered, saying:
In politics, more than a person, the ideology matters. I feel that the people of Gujarat have elected a strong opposition and of the 77 Congress MLAs, 36 are repeaters as well. We have a good mix of experienced and aggressive politicians, which will help us ask the right questions to the treasury bench in the assembly.
What's This ‘Shadow Cabinet’?
Last weekend, the Congress held a workshop for its newly appointed MLAs where the idea of a shadow cabinet was floated.
Dhanani elaborated on the concept and said:
Firstly, we do not intend to be the shadow of the ruling BJP. For the last 22 years, the BJP has been running a power government where politics is being played for the high chair. We want to help the people of the state and against the BJP’s power government, we will introduce the Congress’ people’s government. There are 26 government departments that watch over concerned boards, corporations and companies. We want to create a system wherein people’s grievances pertaining to these bodies are brought to the opposition so that we can address them in Assembly and pressurise the government to take up more responsibilities. In the days to come, we want to see the opposition become the voice of the people of Gujarat.
How Will the Opposition Address Water Scarcity?
Even before the summer starts, water scarcity woes have already hit the state, which the leader of opposition blamed the BJP for.
As long as Maa Narmada flows in the state, there should be no water scarcity issue in the state. In the last monsoon, we saw excess rain which was stocked in various dams for the impending onslaught of the summer. The BJP, however, used the same water to fill up Sabarmati, so that PM Narendra Modi can land his seaplane; in Botad to inaugurate the Sujlam Suflam programme, the government misused the water there as well. In Rajkot’s Aji dam, just so that the PM could light a diya, they raised the water level using the water saved from the monsoon. This is why the people of Gujarat are suffering even before the summer starts. The farmers are not able to harvest their Rabi crop either.
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