Patel patriarch Keshubhai back in Gujarat's political narrative to trouble BJP

Things seem to be coming a full circle in poll-bound Gujarat. And to make matters worse for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) it is the former chief minister and Patidar patriarch Keshubhai Patel who has come back to dominate the political narrative, particularly in the politically and economic affluent community of Patels.

Observers say that despite the best efforts of various forces within the BJP owing allegiance to the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Keshubhai could not be relegated to the oblivion in the last two decades. He has come back to politically haunt the BJP narratives at various intervals but this time his place in the political narrative is very significant with a large section of the community having alienated the BJP to support the Congress.

In fact, Hardik Patel who has emerged a youth icon among the Patels has started talking about Keshubhai at length in his rallies, much to the discomfort of the BJP leaders who can no longer be the claimants of inheriting his political legacy.

“Keshubapa was the true Patel leader who worked for the farming community. He was the one who understood their problems,” he said at his mammoth rally in Poona area of Surat on late Sunday night.

He underlined that had Keshubhai continued in power, the Kalpasar scheme would have been completed and water would have reached the parched areas of Amreli, Bhavnagar and other parts of Saurashtra. This would have prevented the farmers from these areas to migrate to other places like Surat to look for jobs and livelihood.

Kalpasar was the flagship programme of Keshubhai regime that aims at the creation of a freshwater reservoir in the Gulf of Khambhat that will store the waters of Sabarmati, Mahi, Dhadhar and Narmada along with those in Saurashtra that flow into the gulf. This water is to be used be used for irrigation, water supply and industrial requirements in the Saurashtra region.

The project also aims at reclaiming the land that has fallen prey to salinity ingress and also developing the fisheries. It was originally scheduled to be completed by 2020 but the government has been coming under criticism from various quarters for the slow pace on one side and Modi announcing schemes like SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Yojana) on the other which is dubbed by critics as 'old wine in new bottle' and many questioning its feasibility.

Hardik has also been pointing out how it was Keshubhai who had done away with a regressive land law that prevented farmers from purchasing land outside 8 km of their place of habitation. He has been saying that it is because of repealing of that law that the Patels have been able to venture out and get into vocations like real estate to become prosperous.