Every party has gone the EVM route to stop the Modi juggernaut. On Monday Hardik Patel latched on to the idea. He asked the Congress to lead a ‘Muhim’ against the EVM. Fight the next elections only with ballot papers, the youth icon said.

But is he the right youth icon? Hardik has an appetite for castiest politics. Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani also have a stomach for the same sort of regressive politics. Don’t be surprised if they are not at each other’s throats, sooner if not later.
Talking of the latest, the NOTA or ‘none of the above’ option polled more votes than two national parties in the Gujarat elections. Over 5.52 lakh voters in Gujarat chose the NOTA option – 1.8 per cent of the total votes. But the Bahujan Samaj Party could poll only 2.07 lakh votes. The Nationalist Congress Party even less – 1.85 lakh votes.

The victory margin in nearly five dozen Gujarat constituencies was 5 per cent or less and in 29 seats, candidates won by a margin of less than 2 per cent. The Congress fared worse than the BJP – of the 57 seats with victory margins of 5 per cent or lower, the BJP cornered 25 and the Congress 30. As many as 35 seats were won by a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes.

And after the Gujarat and Himachal elections, the BJP is now in power in 19 of India’s 29 states and Gujarat was the 29th straight state elections which Rahul Gandhi has lost not counting the Bihar elections.

Just for the record, north India is now a sea of saffron where any seaplane can land. The credit for that goes to Pilot Narendra Modi and Co-pilot Amit Shah. Except for Punjab, the BJP is in government in all north Indian states, from Jammu & Kashmir to Jharkhand.

And now, after the Gujarat elections, commentators and journalists should stop covering up for the Congress’ faults and shortcomings. They are not helping either of them with their lies, flattery and sycophancy. More so after Rahul Gandhi took charge as Congress president. The man doesn’t need anybody’s help. If he does not shape up, he should step aside and get out.

Also admit it, 80 seats does not mean the Congress is on a comeback. It got to 80 largely because of Hardik, Alpesh and Jignesh. With Rahul Gandhi on the temple run against a well-oiled BJP temple machine, there was no way the Congress could have notched up wins without the three musketeers!

Again, with everybody and the sacrificial goat so impressed with Hardik Patel, shall we get one thing straight, if anybody should get the Big Killers’ Trophy then it is the double-team of City Slickers & Tribal Trojans. The BJP walked away with most of the urban and tribal votes in Gujarat offsetting in style the Patidar votes.

They say his 34 rallies and the hoarse voice right at the end of the campaign got Modi his mojo. Those and the seaplane! That is like giving a pass to Rahul Gandhi and Mani Shankar Aiyar and, last but not least, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Who do you think gave Modi his talking points? These three gentlemen and, of course, Kapil Sibal.

Talking about City Slickers, did we miss out the Rural Roosters? All and sundry and Yogendra Yadav said it was rural unrest that almost did in Modi and the BJP, that if the BJP doesn’t get its villager on board, the party is in for big trouble because the rural unrest in the agrarian belts of states that would go to polls in 2018 would be bigger than the rural unrest in Gujarat where it was just fluffy cotton and peanuts!

Very important, Rahul Gandhi’s Gabbar Singh Tax jibe did not go down well with the voters of Gujarat, who everybody and the tax collector say know more about taxes than the Delhi Dodgers and the Mumbai Mob. So, at the end of the day, the BJP got its economics right, so to speak, and neither GST nor demonetization could do a thing to drown the BJP in sorrow. Rahul should not have underestimated Gabbar Singh!

Finally, the so-called much maligned ‘bhakt’ – who is fodder for funny and not so funny asides, and target practice for elitist liberal left snipers – can from now on troll in style knowing that they have Parshuram-descendent ‘Janeoudhari’ Rahul Gandhi in their corner. (IPA Service)