This is the place where selfstyled godman Asharam Bapu had blessed then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in September 2005 with the declaration that amalgamation of religion and politics can be good for the people.
The occasion was dedication of the renovated Bindu Sarovar for ‘Matri Tarpan’ on the banks of mythical Saraswati river which once flowed here.
The ‘revived’ Bindu Sarovar is now full of filth, making it unfit for any pious activity as people in the town only complain about promises not kept.
It is an exemplary case when personal reputation of a candidate would be of no help if the people in his constituency have a grudge against the party which has fielded him in the election. BJP nominee former Health Minister Jay Narain Vyas would have to lose this election because of the ‘jhuthana’ (lies) spread by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and arrogance of party president Amit Shah, opine ordinary people of the town with an ancient connection.
Sitting at the cross-road under the steel foot overbridge connecting the newly built Cancer Hospital with the General Hospital, an old man points out towards the huge buildings and adds “but there are no doctors”.
Another man, forcefully retired from a mill, joins in to say how the BJP men had conspired to close the textile mill, razed it and handed over the land to real estate dealers for building flats for the rich.
These conversations took place hardly half a kilometre away from the famed Bindu Sarovar where Chief Minister Narendra Modi had accepted the blessings from self-styled godman Asharam Bapu in 2005.
Prediction of Asharam Bapu, now in jail facing rape charges, about amalgamation of religion and politics being good for people doesn’t appear to be true if people’s remarks are to be taken seriously.
BJP spokesman Jay Narain Vyas had won and lost from here earlier too. But irrespective of the electoral verdict, he enjoys a reputation few politicians can boast of. The sitting Congress MLA Balwantsinh Rajput, the winner of 2012 election, has now defected to the ruling BJP and lost the keenly contested Rajya Sabha election in August this year.
Ideally, Rajput should have been the BJP nominee this time but he has been suitably rewarded with the chairmanship of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), a job that involves granting plots, electric & water connections and other facilities to existing and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Thus, Jay Narain Vyas as the BJP nominee has the onerous task of defending his personal reputation against the antiincumbency generated by Modi-Shah duo’s ‘arrogant’ style of functioning.
“Modi claims he did everything in India, is it not insult to all of us?” asks Bhulabhai at his kiosk on the Bindu Sarovar road.
The people’s mood is no different in neighbouring Unhja which hosts Asia’s largest wholesale market for spices. Here too, BJP MLA for five terms in row, Narainbhai Patel is on the defensive in the face of Patel anger sweeping the north Gujarat region for last two years.
The Unjha Agricultural Produce Marketing Yard, which has a turnover of Rs 4,000 crore per annum, was helmed by Naranbhai for many years. People here acknowledge his work but are upset over the issue of police atrocities on Patels in the days of their agitation demanding reservations in jobs and educational institutions.
“Even Ram temple is not an issue here when compared to Patel anger against the BJP”, said a trader at the yard with an ambient fragrance of cumin seeds, fennel seeds and coriander.