Saurashtra has always dominated Gujarat’s electoral process as it contributes 58 seats to the state’s overall tally of 182. But this well-defined region that was seen as a BJP bastion since it came to power in 1995—the party’s largest chunk of seats in that election came from Saurashtra—is now being seen as home to a new political ferment against it.

In 2002, when violence against Muslims raged in central and north Gujarat, Saurashtra remained a mostly safe place. Saurashtra has always been culturally distinct for two reasons. Its long coastline gives it a peninsular culture and second, it was never under direct British rule.

People recall only sporadic violence, as in the region’s main urban centre, Rajkot. Yet, in 2002, when the BJP won Saurashtra again, taking 39 of the 58 seats—its tally had come down from 50 in 1998 — it was perceived to be a fallout of the communal polarisation that was stoked and deepened elsewhere in the state. But this year, in an election in which Hindutva wasn’t till recently an overriding issue, the boast in Rajkot is that Saurashtra will take the lead, not follow it.

“It is the epicentre of Gujarat’s politics,” says a confident Hukabhai Patel, president, Saurashtra Oil Mills Association, in his plush office in the Rajkot District Cooperative Bank.

With elections only a few days away, come to Saurashtra to meet the possibilities of that claim — and its possible limits.

... contd.