"I took the government to the doorstep of flood-affected people. I camped there for five days" - Late Vijay Rupani as CM in 2017.
Vijay Rupani is no more. But many in Gujarat BJP would love to scream - Long Live Vijay Rupani.
The soft spoken former Chief Minister expired in the killer air crash in Ahmedabad that has claimed 270 lives.
The state of Gujarat will be observing one day state mourning on Monday, June 16.
We in journalists in Delhi knew him as a no non-sense man and he always made his point without being harsh.
Some of us met him in August 2017 in his Gandhinagar office chamber. The conversation started with a surprise remark from him. "All of you ask me tough and frank questions and I will reply frankly. Then all of you can say it is exclusive interview".
We had no option and we lauhhed out. But we were laughing at ourselves too. With a mystique smile he was looking at us very cool.
Rupani became Chief Minister aftermath Patidar agitation and it was his cool and a systematic approach that the major socio political agitation against Narendra Modi's Lotus party was handled.
He had a soothing touch and slowly the crisis was blown over. During the conversation whem I asked him if he had "any message for Muslims when Gujarat was actually a Hindu laboratory"; he replied -- "Only media see things with such prism. For a BJP government, the state is not a laboratory ... its karma bhoomi for inclusive governance. And I will tell you that the BJP has been getting support of all sections of society. Muslims in large numbers will vote for BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections ( Dec 2017) especially after the Supreme Court ruled against Triple Talaq. Muslim women are with the vote f BJP."
That was a matured manner of replying, I told my colleagues.
To a question on Hardik Patel-led agitation tjat actually forced BJP to replace Anandiben Patel as the chief Minister, Late Rupani had said -
"We held discussions with Patidar leaders and explained to them citing judicial orders that there can’t be more than 50 per cent reservation in jobs and education. We came up with Mukhyamantri Swawlamban Yojna, under which the state government will bear half the cost of education in self-financed colleges for those who got marks between the cut off for reserved and general category."
Truly this was another beauty and a smart move to end the agitation gradually.
On Congress split too, Rupani could not be cornered. His response was near classic --
"It was not the BJP which broke the Congress in Gujarat. I took the government to the doorstep of flood-affected people. I camped there for five days
Congress and its government at the Centre earlier had been creating obstacles for the development of Gujarat, which alienated its leaders against the party.
The Sardar Sarovar dam, the lifeline of the people of the state for drinking water and irrigation, was completed only after Modi became Prime Minister and BJP came to power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Therefore, the 14 Congress MLAs quit their party out of sheer frustration with their high command.
Replying to a question on his party's slogan of ‘Garje Gujarat' (roaring Gujarat) Rupani had said, "Garje means singhnaad (roar) and we used this slogan for development. We gave this slogan because we want Gujarat to develop in a confident manner."
He said Gujarat had suffered during the 10-year rule of the Congress-led UPA and the BJP was seeking to bring about accelerated development of the state.
"It happened for the first time that the state government filled the vacancies of over 80,000 in several government departments. About 18,000 people were selected in police jobs. And there was complete transparency in giving the job."
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Well death is the ultimate truth and it is sad that Rupani ji has passed onto a different world.
As mortals, we may bow our head in tribute to the simple man but also a leader with concern for people and especially the marginalised sections.
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