Struggling in #GujaratPolls, BJP brings out its trump card - Modi mask

QUICK PILL

New battle

• Gujarat is going to civic polls on 22 and 26 November

• Nearly 3.5 crore of state\'s 6.38 crore people will vote

• On offer: 323 civic bodies, including 6 municipal corporations

Old strategy

• Anandiben\'s first electoral test isn\'t going well for her

• Handling of Patel quota stir has eroded BJP\'s trusted vote bank

• So, the BJP has been forced to fight the polls in Modi\'s name

It was billed as Gujarat's first election without Narendra Modi. But a day before the voting, the BJP's strategists are desperately dusting off old 'Modi masks'.

The state is going to civic polls this week, and for the first time in nearly two decades, the BJP seems vulnerable.

Also read - Gujarat caste war: SCs, STs & OBCs close ranks to take on Patel power

Nearly 3.5 crore eligible voters - over half the state's population of 6.38 crore - will elect 323 local self-government bodies, including six of the eight municipal corporations, on 22 and 26 November. It's the first major election since Narendra Modi left for Delhi and installed his disciple Anandiben Patel as chief minister.

The election was meant to be a referendum on the successor, the first real test of her capability to carry the BJP after Modi, who had kept the party in power for nearly a decade and half.

It hasn't quite gone to script, forcing the party to invoke the prime minister's name in a last-ditch effort to stave off disaster.

This is a big gamble, however. The defeats in Delhi and most recently Bihar have dented Modi's aura of invincibility, as also the credibility of his development rhetoric. A poor showing on his, and Amit Shah's, home turf will considerably weaken the BJP going into key state elections over the next two years, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.

But how did the BJP come to such desperation in Gujarat that it had to fall back on the prime minister for civic polls?

Stung by stir

The BJP's handling of the Patels' agitation for OBC reservation - now in its third month - is feared to have eroded the party's all-weather votebank.

Modi had built a connect with a majority in Gujarat, successfully bridging caste divisions with his rhetoric of development blended with Hindutva pride. Anandiben certainly doesn't have the same appeal.

In fact, she may have made the matters worse by postponing the election - on the pretext that the law and order situation wasn't conducive -- which was read as a sign of insecurity in the face of the Patil agitation.

Nearly 3.5 crore of Gujarat's 6.38 crore people are voting to elect 323 local civic bodies

It was left to the Gujarat High Court to compel the state to schedule the polls.

The government has since largely driven the stir off the streets - by slapping sedition charges against its leaders, including Hardik Patel - but has alienated the Patel community in the process. This bodes ominous for the BJP. Here's why.

• Anandiben's campaign over the past few weeks has got lacklustre response while the Congress campaigners and Patel agitators are palpably upbeat.
• The influential BJP legislator Nalin Kotadiya, who is from Saurashtra, has rebelled openly and issued a call to defeat the BJP.
• Patel agitation activists are going door to door urging the community not to vote for the BJP.
• They have also put up 'No Entry' signs for BJP candidates and workers outside residential colonies.
• Pro-quota agitators shouting "Jai Sardar, Jai Patidar" have disrupted the BJP's election meetings at several places, while Patel women have forced party candidates to leave campaign meeting by beating plates and utensils.
• The Congress is going all out to woo the Patel community. The party's workers have been seen parading in the streets at several places wearing Hardik Patel masks.

New era, old face

No wonder, the BJP's campaign managers are dusting the 'Modi masks' and asking party workers across the state to sport them.

"We strongly believe that the people of Gujarat continue to see him as a true Vikash Purush, unlike the boring Anandiben," a senior party leader said about the new strategy.

Also read - The Patel Uprising: how Anandiben has been ambushed by her own side

"It's only Modi who is a counter to the Patels and the Congress. We need him to take on the Hardiks and his mask can be more effective than Anandiben in person."

First time in 14 years, BJP goes to polls in Gujarat without Narendra Modi. Why is it's vulnerable?

The party believes its workers wearing Modi masks can go canvassing in Patel strongholds without being heckled. Anandiben has avoided these areas during the campaign.

Apart from this, the BJP has lately flooded Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar with publicity material - posters, banners, cutouts, caps - carrying the images of the prime minister.

But will this be enough to see the BJP through?

READ MORE - Hardik Tapes: will BJP's bid to derail Patel stir backfire in civic polls?

Gujarat govt turns the screws on Hardik's movement

Patels seeking reservation shows failure of Gujarat model