In Gujarat, they say, either there is hardly any news, or there is real hard news!

Two decades after the Shankarsinh Vaghela rebellion of 1996, the ruling BJP may now be back at square one: as it looks for a caste-cadre vote balancing Chief Ministerial candidate, its long cherished social engineering experiment in the ‘Hindutva laboratory’ of Gujarat lies in tatters. The Hindutva slogan used to counter the Madhavsinh Solanki formulation of Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim (KHAM) communities was effectively buried by cow vigilantes in Una on July 11.

Even its Patel vote bank is seen as considerably weakened in the aftermath of the Hardik hurricane.

So, when BJP President Amit Shah arrived here on Thursday morning to shoulder the onerous responsibility of choosing a successor to his bête noire, Anandiben Patel, the outgoing CM who was at the same time flying to South Gujarat, he was greeted by the Gujarat High Court ruling on PILs, that buried 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, granted a few weeks ago by the BJP government to the economically backward castes (EBCs).

As if the BJP’s cup of woes was yet to overflow, BSP President Mayawati launched a frontal attack on the ruling party’s top mascot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning his Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas slogan. She challenged the BJP to take effective steps against the perpetrators of atrocities against the Dalits. Recalling what her government in Uttar Pradesh did earlier, she demanded government land for the Dalits to empower them. “You should no longer demand justice, but make yourself so strong that you give justice to others,” she told the Dalit audience, while lambasting the BJP-RSS combine and its allies, including the Shiv Sena, amid the chanting of anti-Modi and anti-BJP slogans. “There is a reign of terror in Gujarat” she said, after meeting the four Una victims at the Civil Hospital here.

The BSP chief also appealed to the Dalits to make sure they cooperated with the downtrodden of all hues — SCs, STs, OBCs, EBCs and Muslims — to come to power. “You must have the master-key of power to achieve these ends.” She also condemned the Congress party for doing little to ameliorate the lot of the Dalits.

Meanwhile, Amit Shah, looking visibly sombre, arrived to a lacklustre welcome at the airport here. Party leaders and workers received him sans any fanfare, slogan-shouting or cracker-bursting as they usually do. From the airport, he went to his Naranpura residence, where many called on him. Party leaders also reached ‘Kamalam’, the Gujarat BJP headquarters in the state capital, for confabulations.

The BJP is expected to announce Anandiben’s successor tomorrow in the presence of central party observers, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP Mahila Morcha chief Saroj Pandey.

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