Diamond industry split in the middle

GUJARAT DECIDES

Several diamond workshops in the town of Amreli and the cities of Surat and Ahmedabad have shut shop till December 10, the holiday has been declared not for any religious festival or strike demand by workers, but because several top diamond merchants in Gujarat have decided to take on Narendra Modi.

Workers in these establishment have been asked to campaign for BJP dissidents, seven of whom have been given tickets by the Congress, all in the first phase of the Assembly polls on December 11.

"The diamond industry has split in the middle into pro and anti Modi factions, we are anti-Modi and this is a make or break election for us," says J B Dharukawala of Mani Exports. Diamond houses like the Dhiru Gajera owned Cygnus, Jodhani Export, Bhawani Gems and Laxmi Diamond, have thrown in their lot with the anti-Modi camp.

The shine of the campaign appears somewhat dimmed by the fact that the Congress has taken on not just rebellion in their own ranks (two Congress rebel candidates are fighting from Dharia and Lathileelia Assembly constituencies) but also the anti-incumbency of 10 years of BJP rule.

"The candidate for Dharia in Amreli is Balu Tanti, who has been the BJP MLA for 10 years and has not done anything for us," says Neeleshbhai Takani whose uncle and grandparents committed suicide a year ago due to debts accumulated to pay a power theft fine. "I would have voted Congress, but not now, not for Balu Tanti," he says.

The ironic thing is that Takani's family's suicide is cited everywhere by the Congress as an example of what is wrong with Modi rule. That agricultural distress is as prevalent in Saurashtra as in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

In the heart of Saurashtra, Congress feels that the alienation of the Patels, who form 29 per cent of the electorate in over 52 seats, by Modi and the fact that rains just after Diwali have ruined the tail-end of the cotton crop, will reverse the sweep that Modi engineered in the region in 2002.

"We have formed the Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti only to uproot Modi," says the organisation's president Goverdhan Zadhapia.

Last time, the BJP had won 35 out of the 52 seats here. Saurashtra and Kutch together have 58 seats and form a substantial chunk of the seats going into polls in the first phase.

The Congress' mobilisation in the area is good, but Modi too has been touring in the area extensively for the last year or so. BJP admits that it is banking on its traditional strongholds in north and south Gujarat, which go to polls in the second phase.

According to a Congress manager, every election in Gujarat from 1967 onwards has been fought on one emotive issue or the other, be it riots, the reservation movement or Godhra.

This time round, the personality of the chief minister has become the issue. "In the Patel belt in Saurashtra, both parties will field Patel candidates. The question is, whether the Patels will vote for Keshubhai's candidate or Modi's," said the Congress leader.