In Gujarat, cooperatives were controlled by the Congress party in those days. Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister and Amit Shah now the BJP President worked together to decimate Congress in the rural areas.
Their strategy was to find the second most influential leader in every village, and get him or her to join BJP. They created a network of 8,000 influential rural leaders who had lost elections to the pradhan (village chief) post in their village.
Shah and Modi used the same strategy to reduce Congress’ influence over the state’s powerful co-operatives, which play an important role in the state’s economy. Cooperative elections in the state had traditionally been won on the caste considerations, and the co-operative banks had traditionally been controlled by Patels, Gaderias and Kshatriyas.
Despite not belonging to any of these castes, Shah managed to win the election. In 1999, Shah became the President of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), the biggest cooperative bank in India of the time.
At that time, the bank was on the verge of collapsing, having accumulated losses of 36 crore. Shah turned around the bank’s fortune within a year’s time: the next year, the bank registered a profit of 27 crore.
By 2014, the bank’s profit had increased to around 250 crore. Shah also ensured that 11 of the Bank’s 22 directors were his loyalists in the BJP.
Reminiscing old days GH Amin, the vice-president of NCUI says” I was Chairman of the Ahmedabad Co-op bank and was succeeded by Dashrath Bhai Patel. Amit Shah replaced Mr Patel in 1999 and sought my help. He said that through cooperative bank he wishes to help farmers and offer them loan for mechanized farming.”
Though belonging to a different party Amin said that he lent all support to Shah who proved true to his words and changed the fortune of not only the farmers but also that of the bank. Amin was one of the directors on the board chaired by Amit Shah.
Jyotindra Mehta, President of Gujarat Chapter of NAFCUB has had several experiences of working with Shah. When Indian Cooperative contacted to seek his feedback on Wednesday evening, Mehta was busy greeting Shah on his elevation at Gujarat Bhavan in Delhi.
Mehta used whats app to send a massage as well as photographs of his meeting with Shah. The massage read ”congratulated Amitbhai on his becoming president of BJP. Also discussing problem of taxation on co-op banks at Gujarat Bhawan, Delhi.”
The signs are encouraging. There are several topnotch leaders in the BJP who have been closely associated with cooperative movement in the past. Though cash-starved govt may find it difficult to exempt income tax as of now, IT exemption in future is quite likely.