The person and his affable smile have disappeared endlessly now. The previous Gujarat chief minister was on board the Air India airplane that crashed in Ahmedabad Thursday afternoon. He was 68.
The crash delivered to a merciless finish an virtually three-decade political profession whose excessive level got here in 2016 when he was made the chief minister of the state. Earlier than that he served as Rajya Sabha member between 2006 and 2012.
After Rupani accomplished his time period in Rajya Sabha in 2012, Modi, then the Gujarat chief minister, made him chairman of the Gujarat Municipal Finance Board.
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The 2014 problem & Rupani’s rise
Rupani labored for the occasion within the difficult Saurashtra area within the 2014 polls and the occasion carried out properly. A number of months later, he labored intensively to wrest again the Junagadh native physique from the Congress, snatching from the occasion the one native physique it held within the state.
Rupani’s standing rose throughout the occasion and Modi, now the prime minister, recognised his efforts. He fielded him from the Rajkot West bypoll in October 2014 after sitting MLA Vajubhai Vala was made the governor of Karnataka.
Rupani gained and was made the water provide minister within the Anandiben Patel cupboard.
The Rajkot West seat’s significance could be gauged from the truth that Modi contested his first meeting polls within the state from this constituency. Rupani was Modi’s marketing campaign in-charge within the February 2002 ballot.
In 2016, Rupani, who had by now served 4 phrases as the overall secretary of the Gujarat BJP, was made the state occasion chief. These have been difficult instances for the occasion.
The meeting elections have been nearly a yr away and the BJP was determined to show it may well keep its maintain over the state regardless of Modi, its hottest chief in Gujarat for years, now transferring to nationwide politics. The 2017 elections have been about status for the BJP.
The Patidar quota agitation led by a younger Hardik Patel was threatening to dent the occasion’s reputation and its voter base. Then BJP chief minister Anandiben Patel, who was seen taking powerful measures towards the agitators, was faraway from workplace.
And who the BJP and Modi turned to? Vijaybhai Ramniklalbhai Rupani.
He was not the apparent selection although. Nitin Patel, who was the deputy chief minister then, was the front-running claimant, his surname bolstering his probabilities. Because the talks of changing the chief minister gained momentum, Patel had already began accepting congratulatory messages.
Rupani by no means thought he had any probability of changing into the chief minister. When this reporter requested him about this, he stated, “I’m completely happy”. Once more, with a smile.
However the BJP and Modi stunned every person after they introduced Rupani, from the impartial Jain-Bania neighborhood, as Anandiben’s successor. He was in Rajkot to have a good time his birthday when his identify was introduced because the chief minister.
Rupani steered the BJP to victory within the December 2017 meeting polls, overcoming the headwind attributable to the Patidar agitation and a resurgent Congress.
Within the 182-seat meeting, the BJP gained 99 seats. It was the bottom BJP tally within the state because it got here to energy, however sufficient for a majority. Rupani was picked because the chief minister once more.
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‘Everyone’s good friend’
Rupani’s subsequent massive political problem within the state got here in 2019. However he delivered as soon as once more, serving to the BJP win all of the 26 Lok Sabha seats within the state. The credit score was given to Modi, and Rupani made no complaints.
“No matter obligation was assigned to him by the occasion, he tried to satisfy them with out making a noise about it,” multi-term MP Haren Pathak, an Advani loyalist who was additionally a minister of state through the Vajpayee authorities, instructed ThePrint Thursday. “He was a person of organisation. He by no means had any subject with any chief. He was all people’s good friend. When Narendrabhai despatched him to Rajya Sabha in 2006, he by no means stated he achieved something, like others do, to draw the limelight.”
Throughout his second time period, Rupani helped the BJP retain all eight municipal companies and win civic physique polls within the state. His tenure because the chief minister was with none main controversy though he confronted criticism for his dealing with of the Covid-19 pandemic.
His administration confronted severe questions on alleged mismanagement of oxygen provide which led to deaths in hospitals. His picture was dented.
What additionally harmed him politically was perception in some quarters that he maintained a low-profile as chief minister and the federal government was run successfully by civil servants.
The BJP changed him as chief minister earlier than the 2022 meeting polls, with Bhupendra Patel taking on. Rupani accepted the occasion’s choice, with none criticism. He was later made the occasion’s Punjab in-charge, and it could stay his final organisational task.
Rajendra Trivedi, who labored within the first Rupani cupboard as sports activities and humanities minister, recalled an incident. “In contrast to different chief ministers, he was not intimidating. No employee ever felt underneath strain pondering ‘CM saheb naraz ho jayenge (the chief minister will get indignant). They spoke to him with out worry,” Trivedi instructed ThePrint Thursday.
“As soon as I met the chief minister with an concept to launch a scheme for aged pilgrims. He instantly stated begin the scheme. I made the plan for the Shravan Tirth subsidy scheme, which was began throughout his time,” he added.
“I proposed 50 % state govt contribution with the remainder 50 % coming from the aged folks themselves. However, the chief minister intervened saying ‘they’re aged folks, elevate the state authorities’s contribution to 60 % and hold theirs at 40. It was modified to 70:30 later. It means, he saved monitor on small particulars,” Trivedi additional stated.
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The RSS background
The BJP fought the 2022 meeting elections underneath state president C.R. Paatil, and broke the report of successful the utmost variety of seats, by bagging 156. However Rupani sat alone at his residence, away from the limelight.
Gujarat BJP vice-president Janakbhai Patel instructed ThePrint Thursday, “He by no means confirmed he was the CM. His predecessor Anandiben Patel’s model of working was totally different. Earlier than her, it’s a must to perceive the issue rapidly. She was assertive earlier than officers.”
“With Rupani, he would give a affected person listening to and provide an answer. Perhaps, as a result of he was not too assertive,“ he stated.
Born in Rangoon (now Yangon, Myanmar) in August 1956, Rupani joined a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Shakha as a schoolboy, earlier than graduating to the BJP through the Sangh’s college students wing—the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). His father was a ball-bearing dealer in Rajkot.
Rupani turned energetic within the RSS whereas learning in an arts school. He honed his political expertise through the 1974 Gujarat Navnirman agitation, a sociopolitical motion led by college students and the middle-class towards financial hardships and corruption in public life.
The agitation quickly unfold to different states, notably in Bihar, the place socialist legend Jayaprakash Narayan prolonged assist and gave a name for his “Whole Revolution”.
The motion ultimately led to the autumn of the Indira Gandhi authorities and set up of the primary non-Congress dispensation on the Centre underneath Morarji Desai. Rupani, who was then with the ABVP, was jailed for practically a yr through the Emergency.
Rupani made his electoral debut within the Rajkot municipal company elections in 1987. He turned a councilor and served because the chairman of the RMC standing committee earlier than changing into the mayor of Rajkot in 1996.
He was later made the in-charge of the Gujarat authorities’s committee on implementing its 20-point growth programme. Later, he was made the overall secretary of the BJP earlier than being despatched to Rajya Sabha in 2006.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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