I was a little puzzled. Although I was "following" the Delhi polls from Ahmedabad, it had never occurred to me that there was—or could be—any commonality between Gujarat and Delhi.
I told Nag, whom I have known as an excellent newsperson, that Gujarat’s vegetarian image was changing—now, one can easily order non-vegetarian food or eat it in Ahmedabad, unlike a few years ago. So, the BJP wouldn’t dare to promote it. Another example I gave him was prohibition, which I thought would be impossible to implement in Delhi, given its cosmopolitan character. I didn’t know he was about to write an article on the possibility of Gujarat influencing Delhi post-BJP victory, which he later did for the news portal Vibes of India.
Be that as it may, when it comes to education and healthcare, the less said about Gujarat, the better. These two sectors were among the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s most praised contributions in Delhi, receiving international recognition. The New York Times even gave Delhi’s schools full-page coverage in its international edition. In contrast, Gujarat’s lag in these sectors has been widely reported.
But did the BJP intend, in some measure, to adopt any other aspects of what it often calls the "Gujarat model of development"? The Vibrant Gujarat global summit, perhaps? Or GIFT City, envisioned as a financial hub with IT support? None of these featured in the party’s manifesto for the Delhi Assembly elections. In fact, the manifesto did not explicitly refer to the "Gujarat model" at all. Instead, it focused on what the BJP now considers "welfare schemes" and development initiatives tailored to Delhi's residents—ironically, the same kind of initiatives it had previously attacked as "freebies."
Interestingly, Gujarat’s policymakers do not seem to emphasize any of the freebies the BJP offered in Delhi. These include:
- A ₹2,500 monthly aid for women under the Mahila Samridhi Yojana
- ₹21,000 financial assistance for every pregnant woman
- LPG cylinders at ₹500 for women from economically weaker sections, with one free cylinder each during Holi and Diwali
- Implementation of Ayushman Bharat, offering health insurance coverage up to ₹10 lakh per family
- Monthly pensions of ₹2,500 for senior citizens (60–70 years old) and ₹3,000 for those above 70, as well as for widows and persons with disabilities
Ironically, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi—who served as Gujarat’s Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014—has often highlighted Gujarat’s development, the only "Gujarat success" mentioned in the BJP’s Delhi manifesto was a plan to develop the Yamuna riverfront, inspired by Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati riverfront project.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah emphasized this commitment, stating that the BJP aims to replicate the "success" of the Sabarmati riverfront by transforming the Yamuna riverfront within three years. However, the Ahmedabad middle class’s reaction to the project offers an interesting perspective.
With four-lane roads built on both sides of the riverfront, concretized edges, added open spaces, and gardens, it has become a popular picnic spot—especially in winter. Events like flower shows and kite festivals attract large crowds, including Gujarati NRIs who insist on visiting the site and taking a smooth ride along the 11-km riverfront roads. For many in the middle class, this is "development"—a model they believe would not exist without Modi.
However, there is another side to the story.
Sabarmati is not a naturally flowing river in Ahmedabad. The water seen in the riverfront area is actually Narmada canal water, released into the Sabarmati riverbed 24/7 to maintain an artificial 11-km-long pond, where visitors can enjoy boat rides and dine in floating restaurants.
Before the riverfront was built, the Sabarmati riverbed remained dry for most of the year except during the monsoon, as its natural flow had been halted decades ago due to the Dharoi dam upstream. Not only did Dharoi—located near Rajasthan—stop the river’s natural flow, but rampant sand mining in many upstream areas has further worsened the situation.
The Gujarat government now plans to extend this artificial pond further north, next to the high-profile GIFT City envisioned by Modi. However, just crossing the Vasna barrage—which barricades Sabarmati’s water from flowing towards the sea—reveals a different reality. The river downstream carries a foul smell as it flows towards the Arabian Sea, 160 km away.
What most middle-class people do not know—or do not care to know—is that downstream, Sabarmati receives nothing but effluents from Ahmedabad’s chemical industries.
One only needs to visit Vautha—a supposedly scenic location in Gujarat where the Sabarmati meets the Vatrak river—to witness the consequences. Vautha, known for its religious significance and the annual Vautha Fair (one of Gujarat’s largest animal trading fairs, especially for donkeys and camels), has been grappling with severe water pollution for over two decades.
This pollution has severely affected devotees' cultural and religious practices, such as taking a holy dip to "absolve sins." The contaminated water at Vautha poses significant health risks, including increased prevalence of waterborne diseases and decreased dissolved oxygen levels, which harm aquatic life and disrupt the river’s ecosystem.
Environmental activist Mahesh Pandya told me that Gujarat’s state pollution watchdog, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), was not allocated any funds to regulate air or water pollution. As a result, monitoring Sabarmati’s water quality—both upstream and downstream of Ahmedabad—remains pending.
One wonders if this is the riverfront model Amit Shah wants to implement in Delhi. Or does the BJP plan to appease the Delhi middle class with a Yamuna riverfront "development" in the same way as it has done successfully in Ahmedabad?
Work to clean up the Yamuna river—without any plan to restore its natural flow—began just seven days after the election results. The "cleaning efforts" have started with trash skimmers, weed harvesters, and dredgers, signaling the government’s focus on "improving" the river’s water quality.
Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, V.K. Saxena, reportedly met with the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary for Irrigation and Flood Control, directing them to begin work on cleaning the Yamuna. The strategy involves:
- Daily monitoring of the capacity and output of existing sewage treatment plants (STPs)
- A time-bound construction of new STPs and decentralized STPs to treat the 400 MGD shortfall in sewage treatment
As I noted in another blog, a sharp critique of the plan to clean the Yamuna along Sabarmati’s lines has already emerged. Senior environmentalist Bhim Singh Rawat calls it "the most alarming proposal," pointing out that in Ahmedabad, Narmada canal water is used to create an artificial reservoir in the city stretch of the Sabarmati, effectively turning it into a stagnant pond.
"Meanwhile," Rawat adds, "untreated sewage continues to be discharged into the Sabarmati, and natural riverbanks are being replaced with concrete commercial developments."
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