The Gujarat model: BJP’s long innings and the opposition’s missteps

If you want to know how long and hyper-successful the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political project will last, look at Gujarat — where the party, ruling for decades, periodically purges itself and changes the faces running the state because the opposition is comatose.

What this means is that the ruling party in Gujarat, the BJP, is acting both as the government and the opposition to itself. The recent cabinet reshuffle this week illustrates this: all ministers of the Bhupendra Patel-led Cabinet, except him, resigned. Only four were retained, and 17 new ministers were sworn in.