STRIVING TO MAKE A MARK

IN A MATTER OF MONTHS, AAP HAS EMERGED AS A SERIOUS CHALLENGER IN THE GUJARAT ASSEMBLY ELECTION. CAN IT DENT THE BJP IN ITS HINDUTVA FORTRESS?

- Jumana Shah

AFTER DECADES of two-party contests, Gujarat faces a triangular battle in the assembly election this time, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) making an aggressive play in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. The BJP still retains an air of invincibility, but the ballot box can throw up surprises, as it did in 2017 when the saffron party got a scare winning just 99 seats (of the total 182), its lowest tally since 1995. This time, AAP is the loose cannon in the field. Two months ago, when the newbie party started out making promises aimed at the middle classes, it looked like it would just eat into the Congress votes. Now, with a decisive announcement on the chief ministerial face—former TV anchor Isudan Gadhvi is their man for the job—and party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s unapologetic projection of AAP as a ‘Hindu party’, it is anybody’s guess which party’s vote it will cut into, if any.

Historically, Gujarat has seen mostly bipolar contests between the BJP and Congress. This is the first time a regional party like AAP is finding largescale resonance here. Regional players like the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) are restricted to a handful of tribal seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) invariably contests in alliance with the Congress, limited to two seats at best. AAP has been knocking at the gates in Gujarat since 2014, but it had to wait till 2021 to finally get some traction—the party won 27 of 120 seats in the Surat municipal corporation polls.

The primary reason for AAP’s rise is not just its promises (see Kejriwal’s ‘Guarantees’), but the fatigue with the BJP’s