Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: Indians living in Oman, who hail from the states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, said they had expected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to secure simple majorities in their home states.
However, they credited the victories to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rather than the state leaderships of the BJP.
Modi’s BJP won in Gujarat with 99 seats. 92 seats are required in the 182-member Assembly to form a government.
Moreover, BJP was leading with 44 of the 68 seats in Himachal Pradesh. It takes 35 seats to secure the majority.
Many Muscat-based Gujaratis said it was no surprise that BJP had all but secured their sixth term in the state. “People in Gujarat have much reverence for BJP and PM Modi. The people are so proud of him. Even second-tier cities such as Vadodara and Rajkot have good roads and infrastructure,” said Malvika Asher, who works for the social media wing of United Media Services (UMS). The fact that Modi has not been the chief minister of Gujarat for three years did not seem to matter. In fact, the previous BJP tenure saw two Gujarat CMs — Anandiben Patel and later on, Vijay Rupani.
Sangita Rachh, a homemaker whose family hails from Jamnagar, revealed that people were firmly backing Modi.
“Both Anandiben and Rupani had followed the same path as Modiji, as far as development is concerned. People are looking forward to corruption-free governance,” she added.
Mahesh Jesrani, a mechanic from Mandvi in the Kutch region of Gujarat, even defended Modi’s Goods and Services Tax (GST). “Taxes have to be paid. These are early days, and the new system is still being implemented properly,” he noted.
Corruption charges
Expatriates from Himachal Pradesh stressed that there was an impression among voters that Congress Chief Minster Virbhadra Singh was corrupt, which hit the incumbent party hard.
Anti-incumbency and Modi’s poll campaigning are two factors that have to be taken into consideration, they added.
Tilak Sharma, a businessman who hails from Palanpur in Himachal Pradesh, expressed delight that he was able to cast his vote for the first time in over three decades. “I have been here (in Oman) for 35 years, and for the very first time in all these years, I was able to vote in my Sulah constituency, as I had travelled there. The embassy personnel have always encouraged us to vote,” he remarked.
“Big corruption allegations and callous attitude towards law and order hurt CM Virbhadra Singh. I think Modi understands the problems of the commoner as he comes from a poor family,” Sharma added. Another Himachali expat Sanjeev Sharma observed that the only downside was that BJP did not have an impressive leadership in the state. “Prem Kumar Dhumal might become the next CM, but maybe, we need someone else to freshen things up. Dhumal’s son Anurag Singh Thakur or JP Nadda are the other options. Besides, people voted for BJP because of Modi,” he maintained.
