Gujarat: Legislative Assembly elections were a big deal this year. So much so that on Twitter hashtag #GujratVerdict was the second top trend, worldwide, throughout early half of Monday morning.
Early into the counting of votes, many anticipated the Indian National Congress to win. As the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) started taking the lead, Congress continued to get messages of support. Twitter user @ankit_bhonde posted: “Great work by Gujarat Congress, better performance from last election gaining +19 seats. This is just a beginning.”
Many felt that BJP should take this as a sign of public discontent.
On Twitter, @sidmtweets said: “Congratulations BJP for Gujarat, but remember - Five of your cabinet ministers have lost, your vote share has fallen by 11 per cent in 3.5 years, the Ministers of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) you purchased during the Rajya Sabha polls have lost and Congress is... a very powerful opposition now.”
Facebook user Raghu Kalyanam wrote: “Congress has not lost miserably and BJP has not won spectacularly... both must stop talking on religious issues and stop personal attacks.”
Referring to inflation, Kalyanam added: “Modi ji, please enable us common men to buy onions, potatoes and tomatoes in kilograms and not in numbers.” He also had advice for Congress president Rahul Gandhi: “...without attacking personally, Prime Ministers work for the people. You can bring Congress back up.”
Gandhi, who has often beenn slammed on social media in the past few years, continued to be mocked by some.
Tweep @abdullah_0mar wrote: “Under Rahul Gandhi, Congress lost in Delhi, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal and Gujarat... and he got promoted. Welcome to Congress. #GujaratVerdict.”
The Aam Admi Party was also trolled by a few on social media. Journalist and political analyst R. K. Radhakrishnan tweeted: “For me, the #Gujarat election results once again prove that performance of a government is largely detached from its electoral win. Management of polls is an actual science, and is independent of everything else.” However, many praised Congress’ performance under Gandhi. @Bhayankur, for instance, tweeted: “If these numbers hold, then at the end of it, Congress might be just six or seven seats short of a majority. This may not be a win but they did give the BJP a bloody nose in Gujarat.”
Facebook user Kanishk Sharma added: “Superficially, it looks like the #Congress has a reason to smile. Although they lost, they did fairly well in the #Gujarat elections. On the other hands, the #BJP surprised us again. It managed to clinch an impressive win even without the support of Patidars, angry farmers and traders. ”
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