The 2017 Gujarat assembly elections are unlike the last two elections that the BJP government fought in the state, literally without any opposition and on a strong economic and infrastructure development model, now popularly mentioned as the ‘Gujarat Model’.

Gujarat is a stronghold of BJP where it has been in power since 1998 when it won the election under Keshubhai Patel and saw the rise of Narendra Modi when he took over as the Chief Minister in 2001. The party has had back-to-back wins in 2002, 2007 and 2012, with the party forming majority government mainly attracting votes on the development and the aura of Narendra Modi.

However, the scenario in this election is panned out a bit differently. The markets are yet to come out of the GST and demonetisation shocker, which have largely hurt the small-scale businesses, the mainstay of the Gujarat economy. Past laurels of TATA Nano setting up base in Sanand, introducing the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), development of Sabarmati River-front Development and the never-ending Narmada Dam completion have all but faded from public memory, or rather not being highlighted by the BJP as all of them have hardly made life easy for the common people of Gujarat.

The realisation has led to announcing a slew of major projects like launching Bullet Trains, Sujalam Sufalam Yojana, Increasing the height of Narmada Dam, announcing 16 Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) estates and bringing in world leaders to Gujarat, Japan’s Shinzo Abe being the latest, a few months before the elections are all attempt to keep the ‘Gujarat Model’ story going.

The political game is being played by not just placating the Patidar community after the much botched-up handling of the once core vote bank of the BJP, but also approaching the young OBC, ST and Muslim leaders of these communities. The party is not taking any chances as the victory margins on a number of seats, especially in constituencies dominated by the Patidar community and Dalits, can easily sway.

The Gujarat election results would not only be a reflection of the state’s manifestations on development and economy but a true mandate on the national policies and the Modi-led central government in Delhi.