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‘Modi’s voice’ in Gujarat starts to find her own

Six months into the job, Anandiben Patel is slowly trying to break free from the image of being a shadow Chief Minister of Gujarat and merely a go-between for her political mentor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and his home state

‘Modi’s voice’ in Gujarat starts to find her own


By  Manas Dasgupta

Anandiben Patel retired as the principal of a girls’ college in Ahmedabad before embarking on her remarkable political journey, taking her to becoming Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister. All along the way, she put her full faith in Narendra Modi as he steered the state. Now, Patel’s job depends on her staying the course, his course.

That doesn’t leave much space to manoeuvre, not that Patel is complaining. Thanks to Modi, she inherited a strong government and a strong Bharatiya Janata Party, though always shadowed by a towering personality who ruled supreme without facing a challenge either from within or the Opposition.

Since she took over six months ago, Anandiben Patel has not given even a faint hint of dissonance with Modi’s policies of the past 12 years. But slowly, she’s attempting to show that it is she who is calling the shots in Gujarat.

She’s replaced the “Vibrant Gujarat” cliche with “Gatisheel (Dynamic) Gujarat”, but desisted from claiming it to be her own. An indication of her independent thinking from “Modi’s line of thought” came in the recent mini reshuffle of her cabinet, incorporating four new ministers including Vijay Rupani, a former state BJP spokesman and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. A hitherto close aide of Modi, Rupani’s selection was a certainty once he won the Rajkot West Assembly by-election last month, but despite the best efforts of BJP national president Amit Shah, Patel refused to give him a key portfolio like Home.

Perceived to have been anointed simply to carry forward the unfinished works of Modi, it’s unthinkable for Patel to order a “review” of the decisions taken by the previous government, but she is not blindly following all the steps taken by her predecessor.

Modi had made compulsory voting in the local self-government bodies a prestige issue and his government had adopted the measure twice to force a reluctant Congress-appointed Governor Kamla Beniwal to give her assent to the Bill. But she did not and when ultimately it was signed by the Modi government-appointed Governor O P Kohli, Patel developed cold feet, apprehending reprisals from the poorer sections of the voters who could become the soft target for penalising in the event of non-voting.

While the government has issued a notification for half the Bill, enforcing 50 per cent reservation for women in the local body elections, the provision to which neither the then Governor nor the Opposition parties had any objection, Patel has decided to hold in abeyance the notification for compulsory voting.

Modi never tired of talking about solar power and Gujarat with about 900 MW of installed capacity is generating over one-third of the country’s total solar power of about 2,600 MW. The Patel government, however, has decided to take a re-look at the solar power policy.

It has also decided against implementing, at least for the time being, the solar power-based 4,000-MW Ultra Mega Power Project cleared by the UPA government after much persuasion by Modi. Patel found that the state government was purchasing solar power at Rs 15 per unit against the conventional sources costing about Rs 3 per unit, putting a heavy burden on the state exchequer.

She is also pursuing the projects for women’s empowerment and child welfare measures much more vigorously than her predecessor.

Anandiben Patel cannot be faulted for her performance; most of the ongoing measures have continued uninterrupted, though nothing startling’s been introduced to be counted. Modi expectedly is maintaining remote control from Delhi, and is still the most adored leader for the people of the state.

With Patel’s advent, however, the atmosphere in the state secretariat has become much relaxed with the officers, the government staff and even the visitors breathing easier. In the Modi era, even the senior government officers were expected only to give replies to what was asked for. A sense of fear of the Chief Minister has gone now, but Patel has succeeded in maintaining her stature to ensure that she is not taken for granted.

On the plus side, her close affinity to the Prime Minister has helped in getting the long-pending issues with the Centre like completion of the Narmada Dam project or the Metro rail covering Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar cities resolved.

Patel was among the few BJP leaders who backed Modi during his trying political days when he was banished from the state following the Keshubhai Patel-Shankarsinh Vaghela rift in the party in 1995, only to be sent as the Chief Minister succeeding Keshubhai in 2001.

Known for her determination and dedication, Anandiben Patel has a wide range of experience, having remained a minister uninterrupted since 1998 and making significant contributions to the “Gujarat model of development”.

Her varied experiences as a minister, first in the Keshubhai cabinet and in the past 12 years in the Modi cabinets, of different departments is standing her in good stead. Her real test will be the elections to the local self-government bodies next year. Like mentor Modi, taking it on will be her primal instinct.

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