Jasu ben, a Dalit from Sukhpar village near Halvad city in Saurashtra, works on the cotton farm. In the 2002 assembly election, she voted for BJP along with fellow villagers. Today, she is upset that in last five years, the government has done nothing to give homes to landless labourers.
She says, "Modi to amane gamta nathi. Amne ghar nathi didha. (We do not like Modi because he has not provided us houses)."
Her employer Navagun Thakore, who belongs to Koli Patel community, says: "Jayanti bhai Kawadia of BJP is our local leader. He had promised that he will donate money for construction of Ram temple in our village, but it has not happened. My family has given Rs30,000 and poor people have also donated, but we could build only the plinth of temple. For us, Modi is not important as he will not come to our village to solve our problems. Jayanti bhai should help us. BJP leaders like him are not for poor people in our area."
Modi's carefully woven image of the pro-liberalization, pro-reforms leader and his support to right-wing economic policies are appealing in urban area and even outside Gujarat, but in villages the message is not percolating. As it happens in every election, local community leaders matter as much as the leaders in Gandhinagar.
Modi's rule also saw the marginalization of second-rank leaders. Hardly any poor people or Dalits rediff.com spoke to identified Modi as 'garibo na beli' (Provider for poor).
Musabhai resides in Drobana, which is along the border with Pakistan. Their role in guarding the borders is quite admirable and important. He says that his village does not even have basic facilities. They do not get enough food as government shops give ration only to people below poverty line.
He says, "Aa sarkar man garibo na kaam nathi thata. (This government does not work for the poor people.)"
If urban voting is low and rural voting is higher, Congress will have better chance to emerge on top. There are 52 seats in the state where the margin of vote between two parties is quite low and if voting is unusually low or high, the results will be surprising.
Congress has had a fair chance to mobilize the poor, who seemed not to have benefited out of real estate boom or the BT cotton production. Higher the voting in urban areas and towns, the better are the chances of Modi.
Image: Jasu ben is among the many voters disillusioned by the Modi government's policies.
Also read: A glimpse of Narendra Modi's election strategy
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