Ranjona Banerji: The 'low'down on the Gujarat polls

So who won in Gujarat Ill tell you what didnt win The endless whining of the prime minister Oh the Congress did not let me develop Gujarat even though I was chief minister for 12 years Oh the Congress plotted with Pakistan to make a Muslim chief minister of Gujarat Oh the Congress has called me a low neech person blah blah blah Then theres BJP president Amit Shah who had promised 150 seats to his party Now Shah says that when he made that promise he had not taken into account the Congresss lowlevel campaigningBJP president Amit Shah believes that the party lost out on votes because the Congressrsquos lowlevel campaigning worked PicPTIThis is a remarkable admission The BJP chief feels that the BJP lost out on votes because the Congresss lowlevel campaigning worked If this is indeed true then what does it say about what the people think about Modi and Shah That they approve of lowlevel campaigning I am stumpedWhy not go through the campaign for Gujarat and search for low The BJP had implied that Rahul Gandhi was the son of Babbar and Khilji thus making him a muchhated for the Hindutva voters Muslim There are enough WhatsApp forwards about how both Jawaharlal Nehru and Feroze Gandhi were actually Muslim and being Muslim is anathema to Hindutva bigots obviously Then theres a former Indian prime minister a former vicepresident of India and former Indian Army chief and several retired Indian diplomats conspiring with a former Pakistan foreign minister to make a Muslim Ahmed Patel was never in the running chief minister of GujaratIf it comes down to suspended Congress member Mani Shankar Aiyars needless comment about Modi being a low type of person then that was the extent of the Congresss lowlevel campaigning Which means that either the electorate liked it and this is according to Amit Shah or the electorate did not and Rahul Gandhi was correct to suspend AiyarWhatever the reasons the Congress did better in Gujarat than it has since 1985 with 77 seats in the Gujarat Assembly The BJP could not cross 100 down from 115 in the last Assembly So a sixth win for the BJP but with considerable damage to its once secure vote baseThe real winners though are the three young men who fought against caste social and religious injustice without proper political bases although later with Congress support Hardik Patel Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani were relentless and unstinting in their attacks on the existing system the BJP and unfairness of development so farIn spite of that socalled sex CD leaked out to somehow belittle Patel in spite of the constant attacks on his demands Patel too young to contest garnered massive crowds at his rallies beating the ruling party hollow Similarly both Thakor and Mevani spoke to a rising anger especially in the young about how development claims were hollow and how traditional hidebound society remained tilted against them Mevani more than anyone else also spoke about how badly Muslims had been treated in GujaratSomething has changed in the air and it is too late now for the Prime Minister to talk about bringing development in Gujarat He was chief minister of Gujarat for 12 years and has been Prime Minister of India for threeandahalf In all those years as chief minister and in his run up to becoming Prime Minister Modi boasted ceaselessly about the development he alone had brought to Gujarat and how the Gujarat model would be replicated across India Come election time in Gujarat he tells the people of his own state that the Congress stopped him from developing Gujarat What power for a party that has a mere 45 seats in the Lok SabhaThis lack of graciousness in either victory or defeat and make no mistake Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are victories for the BJP is a typical characteristic of the macho Hindutva bigot Whether in real life or on social media they seem forever festering in their own prejudicesThey may mask it in sneering jeering comments that they think is humour or they may lash out at religious minorities but they rarely seem happy unless they are crowing over someone elses misery In this election judging by their responses from the top to the bottom there is deep unhappiness on display Gujarat has clearly let Modi and Shah down with this close election One almost feels sorry for themRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on Twitter ranjona Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go