There’s one thing that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are never short of is ambition. Even as the BJP remains staunchly settled in Gujarat since 2001, they take elections much more seriously than the main Opposition, the Congress party.
With crucial Assembly elections in 2022, the Sangh and BJP are gearing up for a good performance. The BJP has been ruling Gujarat uninterruptedly since 2001 in Gujarat.
more prepared than any other political parties of Gujarat, in promoting and creating headways for their leaders and agendas, ahead of the upcoming 2022 elections.
The Sangh leaders, for instance, will flag off their activities with senior RSS leader J.NandaKumar who will arrive in Gujarat on August 16. J.Nandakumar, an RSS ideologue and national convenor of Prajnapravah, a Sangh affiliated organisation will attend programmes organized by Akhil Bharatiya Vichar Manch. General Secretary of RSS Dattatreya Hosabale will arrive in Gujarat at the end of August to meet officials from Gujarat and Saurashtra and discuss the current political situation in Gujarat.
On August 18th and 19th, the provincial team will meet key office bearers from various fields and will also work towards strengthening the organization of the RSS. After a series of these meetings, the provincial team will finally have a sit down with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, who will visit Gujarat on September 28. The meeting will be held in Surat on September 29.
The RSS and BJP are on a war footing in Gujarat to yet again redefine parameters of electoral success by focussing on the upcoming 2022 assembly elections at hand.
Ruling since 1995
Interestingly, BJP, prior to any major elections or polls at hand, has always remained hopeful and in a buoyant mood. Since it first assumed power in Gujarat in 1995, BJP has constantly piled leaders from the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on prime government positions. Thus, ensuring the policies and programs laid down by the Sangh Parivaar are implemented from the core. Except for a brief period in late nineties when Shankersinh Vaghela’s RJP and Congress ruled the State, the BJP has its fort well safe guarded in Gujarat.
BJP’s footwork to ensure votes are in their favour has always been their winning streak. Their win during the 1995 assembly elections were not by fluke or a temporary wave. They had started by building their base among the OBCs, tribals and Dalits since the 1960s, especially when its predecessor Jan Sangh actively moved around in the state in 1951. But those who voted then and every time thereafter, considered the party’s stress and affirmation on Hindutva or at least the same can be said for the urban middle-class voters.
In the 1995 elections, they had a straight head-on with Congress contesting for all the 182 seats. BJP bagged 122 seats out of 182 and Gujarat became the first State in India to form a full majority BJP government.
