When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Amethi on Thursday to campaign for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections, he reminisced about the biggest milestone of his political career. He said that twenty years ago it was on February 24 that he first became an MLA. According to Modi, he had to unexpectedly enter the poll battlefield for the first time, and the way the people of Rajkot blessed him and gave him an opportunity to serve has continued since then. Modi said that he had never thought of pursuing electoral politics or joining the poll battle.
The first step that Narendra Modi took that day has turned into a two-decade-long continuous journey. According to Modi, his journey as a people’s representative is actually a journey to serve the citizens in the best way possible.
Modi had to contest bypolls from the Rajkot-2 assembly seat in February 2002. This happened because he had to fulfil the constitutional obligation of holding an assembly seat within six months of becoming the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001. He fought from Rajkot and won.
February 24, 2002, was the day when the by-election results were announced. Modi had defeated his Congress opponent by a difference of 14,728 votes. The Rajkot-2 seat was vacated for Modi by veteran BJP leader Vajubhai Vala who had a long run as Gujarat’s finance minister and later became the governor of Karnataka.
The UP assembly election results too were declared the same day. No political party got a clear mandate and so the state was put under President’s rule for a few weeks.
Modi fought his second election from the Maninagar seat of Ahmedabad. Maninagar’s proximity to Gandhinagar was a key reason behind Modi’s decision to pick this seat so that he could easily reach the people and serve them. He subsequently fought and won by large margins the 2007 and 2012 assembly elections from the same seat.
In the elections of 2002, 2007, and 2012, Modi not only registered impressive wins for himself but also led his party to bumper victories. This hattrick of wins and his development work in Gujarat as chief minister set off the Modi wave across the country that he rode to the Prime Minister’s chair in 2014. He again led his party to massive victories in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
As the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Modi won the elections from both Vadodara and Varanasi in 2014 by huge margins. But he decided to enter Parliament as the representative of Varanasi instead of Vadodara. In the 2019 elections, he again contested from Varanasi and registered an impressive win.
In his journey from CM to PM, Modi as a people’s representative strived to develop his assembly and parliamentary constituencies. For this reason, Maninagar’s sheen has increased, and Varanasi has been witnessing the same since 2014. The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor is a subject of discussion all over the country, there have been cleanliness drives on roads and Ganga Ghats, while many big projects are being implemented. This ancient city of Baba Vishwanath now has the shine of progress as Modi had promised to develop it akin to Kyoto.
Modi keeps going to his constituencies regularly. As a people’s representative occupying the chief minister or prime minister’s post visiting his constituencies, this may be a record of some kind, particularly considering he is not a native of these areas and does not have any permanent residences there. But Modi has always made time to meet the people of his constituency.
By referring to this unique record of his during his Amethi visit, Modi in some way tried to show the real image of the Nehru-Gandhi family to the people there. Four members of the family have won elections from Amethi, but no development happened. That is why the people of Amethi chased away the family from here, Modi said.
Sanjay Gandhi was the first to win a Lok Sabha election from Amethi in 1980. After his death in 1981, Rajiv Gandhi was elected four times, in 1981, 1984, 1989, and 1991. After his assassination, Captain Satish Sharma won the by-election of 1991 and the general elections of 1996. Sanjay Singh registered the first win of the BJP here in 1998.
In 1999, Sonia Gandhi herself contested the elections from here. After that Rahul Gandhi won three consecutive elections in 2004, 2009, and 2014 from Amethi. Smriti Irani had challenged Rahul Gandhi in 2014 and she defeated him in 2019. Rahul was thoroughly beaten and he entered Parliament through Wayanad.
There is a marked difference between Modi’s efforts towards development in his constituencies and the Nehru-Gandhi family’s neglect of their parliamentary seat. And it is this contrast that Modi was seen trying to underscore before the people of Amethi at a time when elections are going on in Uttar Pradesh, and the public is set to deliver its verdict.
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