Rahul Gandhi meets new DCC chiefs in Anand, kickstarting three-day camp

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (July 26) met the newly appointed district unit presidents of the party in Anand, Gujarat, the once stronghold of the party.

Rahul arrived at the Vadodara airport in the morning and went straight to a private resort in Anand district, where a three-day training camp for the presidents of district units is being organised under the ‘Sangathan Sujan Abhiyan’, a campaign to strengthen the party.

Rahul draws cricket analogy

During his address, Rahul slammed the Election Commission (EC) for being biased and asserted it was important to defeat the BJP in its main base – Gujarat.

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“In cricket, if you get out time and again, you can start doubting yourself. But then you realise you are getting out not because of your fault. It is the umpire who is biased,” said Rahul taking a jibe at the EC.

Later in the day, Rahul held a discussion with the leaders of milk cooperative sector leaders and dairy farmers in Jitodiya village in Anand.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha’s meeting with dairy farmers comes days after the protest in Sabarkantha against Sabar Dairy over the issue of milk procurement prices.

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Noticeably, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the apex body of the 18 milk unions of Gujarat that has its headquarters in Anand was once a Congress stronghold. However, over the years, as Congress lost its bastions to BJP, it also lost the milk cooperatives and with it, Anand, the seat that is hometown to party’s stalwart leaders like Madhavsinh Solanki, Congress’ former Chief Minister, and Ishwar Chavda, Solanki’s father-in-law and MP from the seat.

Congress' history in Anand

“The history of the party in Anand goes back to the independence movement and then building a strong milk cooperative network. Once, the leaders of the Congress in Gujarat used to say, if the party can’t win in Anand, it can’t win anywhere else in the state. So, the Congress is back in its old home as it begins its programme revive the party in the state. Before we set to win in the state, it is important to gain back Anand. Despite losing electoral hold over the district, party is still is politically relevant in the district, especially in rural pockets,” said Dinesh Bhatt, a leader of milk cooperative of the party from Anand.

Anand has traditionally been a Congress stronghold since the formation of Gujarat in 1960.

It was here that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel led the Borsad Satyagrah against taxes imposed by the British in the 1920s.

Congress’s electoral history in Anand began with second general election of India held in 1954 when INC’s Maniben Patel, daughter of Sardar Patel won the seat.

Since then, the seat had remained with the Congress barring 1989 when BJP’s Natubhai Patel won and in 1999 when BJP’s Dipakbhai Patel emerged victorious.

Party's victories

Among the Congress victories between 1957 to 2009, Ishwar Chavda represented the seat between 1980 to 1984 and then from 1991 to 1998.

“Ishwar Chavda’s development work for Anand is still remembered amongst the locals of the city. He built the city from ground up. Apart from schools, colleges, educational foundations, Chavda also laid the foundation of the grassroot political movement that empowered Koli Patels, an agrarian community of Central Gujarat who form more than fifty percent of the population of Anand. Even today, the community largely remains a loyal support base of Congress,” said Indira Hirway, an author and political analyst based in Gujarat.

While Chavda represented Anand in Parliament, his son-in-law Solanki became Gujarat’s chief minister and served three terms.

Solanki’s government in 1981, increased reservations for the Other Backward Classes from 10 per cent to 28 per cent, sparking the anti-reservation violence.

As the Patel community sided with the BJP, the party came to power in the state in 1995 as part of coalition and then since 2002 saw the rise of Narendra Modi.

BJP taking over Amul

Anand, however, remained a stronghold of the Congress primarily owing to its control over the district’s milk cooperatives, the most significant of them being the Kaira Milk Union or the Amul dairy.

However, in 2014 Congress lost the Anand seat to BJP when Bharatsinh Solanki, Congress’s senior leader and son of Solanki lost to Dalipbhai Patel by over two lakh votes in the Lok Sabha polls.

The seat has been with the BJP since then. In 2023, Congress lost another bastion in the state as BJP took over Amul.

“Despite BJP bagging the seat and decimating the Congress in the milk cooperative, the party still remains politically relevant in Anand. The people of Anand have an emotional connection with Congress. It is the land from where Madhavsinh Solanki rose to become the chief minister of Gujarat and engineered the KHAM (Kshtriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) theory that took the party to a massive victory with 149 seats in 1985. Coming back here today, we recalled our glorious past that has infused the new district presidents and workers with renewed enthusiasm,” said Amit Chavda, the Congress’s state chief, who is the cousin of Bharatsinh Solanki and grandson of Ishwar Chavda.

“It’s not going to be a cakewalk for Congress to regain its foothold in Gujarat, but if it has to begin somewhere and there is no better place than Anand,” said the four-time MLA from Anklav, Anand.