On a cold windy Wednesday morning after Cyclone Ockhi made landfall in Gujarat, this reporter was headed for Dhandhuka located in Ahmedabad District to cover Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally. When I reached the ground at 9:30 am, the scheduled time for the rally, the location was barren except for the news media along with BJP workers and organisers.
The PM had not turned up and neither did the crowd. Then I was told by one of the organisers that the PM will arrive post 11 am. The crowd slowly started entering the rally grounds from the back. Most of them were villagers from surrounding areas of Dhandhuka taluka, who had travelled 15-20 km to see Modi for the very first time in their vicinity.
As time rolled on, more people started coming in from neighbouring areas and they were entertained by a daayro (folk song) canvassing for the BJP. At one point it seemed like enough crowd has assembled at the rally, but many pockets of seats were seen empty as the chairs outnumbered the people.
Just after 12 pm, Modi’s helicopter arrived at the venue and he started the rally 20 minutes later. What was surprising was that no sooner had Modi began to speak, people started filing out of the venue. It started out as a procession as those who sat at the front of the rally were the first to walk out.
When this reporter spoke to some of the people leaving the rally they said that the weather is bitter cold. Some claimed that they had come from far off and had to travel 2 hours just to return home, while others claimed that the speech was too long and they had to leave early to avoid the ensuing traffic after Modi leaves.
Some of the local cops stationed at the rally told this reporter that even they have never seen people walk out of Modi rallies in such high numbers.
The sitting MLA from Dhandhuka constituency is Laljibhai Koli Patel, but he has not been repeated from Dhandhuka. Instead the ticket went to Kalubhai Dabhi. Both men along with state Education Minister Bhupindersinh Chudasma and state BJP president Jitu Vaghani addressed the rally before the PM arrived.
As the date for the first phase of polling closes in, one begins to wonder, is the love for Modi waning in poll-bound Gujarat? The answers will be known to all on 18 December.
The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases – on 9 and 14 December. The counting of votes will be taken up on 18 December.
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
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