I've made this Gujarat': Modi makes poll pitch

AHMEDABAD: Raising the chants of "Aa Gujarat mein banavyu che (I have made this Gujarat)", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday officially launched the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the Gujarat assembly elections with a rally in Kaprada in the Adivasi belt of the state.

- Maulik Pathak

People have made up their minds to elect the BJP again, the Prime Minister said, adding that the "divisive forces" that tried to defame and insult the state were "swept out of Gujarat".

"The people of Gujarat never accept those who spread hate. Whoever had tried to defame and insult Gujarat in the past have been wiped out of Gujarat by the people. In this election, too, such people will meet the same fate," the Prime Minister said at the rally, his first since the Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule for the state, in tribal-dominated Nana Pondha village in Kaprada taluka of Valsad district.

The voting in the BJP-ruled state will be held in two phases, on December 1 and 5. The votes will be counted on December 8.

"The people of Gujarat have once again made up their minds to elect BJP. Not only this, they have decided to break all previous records," he said.

In what appeared to be an outreach for the tribal community in the state, the Prime Minister said, "My ABCD starts with A for Adivasi. I have started my poll campaign in Gujarat by taking blessings of my Adivasi brothers and sisters."

The tribal community forms 15% of the state's population spread across 14 districts, with 27 seats in the assembly reserved for the community.

In the 2017 elections, Congress won 15 the seats reserved for the community, and BJP won nine. The Bharatiya Tribal Party won one seat while one seat at Modhwa Hadaf was won by an Independent candidate.