The elections to the 200 seats in the Rajasthan Assembly on December 7 are not particularly being fought on issues that affect the people but on emotive, sectarian and chauvinistic matters. As in the previous elections, the two main parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, have selected candidates on account of their winnability and considering the caste equations. And despite the televised political campaigns that have become characteristic of Indian elections, there has been a distinct plunge in the content of the campaign narrative, with the “political” becoming intensely “personal”.
The BJP and the Congress have fielded candidates in almost all the 200 constituencies. The Bahujan Samaj Party has chosen to go it alone in all the seats. It will be a multi-cornered fight in a few constituencies, thanks to the presence of some non-BJP and non-Congress fronts in the fray. They are the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha comprising the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal (Secular); the Bharat Vahini Party floated by the BJP rebel and former Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari; and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party led by another BJP rebel, Hanuman Beniwal. In many constituencies, the victory margins, though, will be determined by the large number of independents who are in the fray primarily to split the anti-incumbency vote.
There was undoubtedly an anti-incumbency sentiment in the air, against both the State and Central governments. The bulk of the 67.53 lakh new voters are youths for whom employment and affordable education are top priorities. There was no section—youths, women, traders, farmers—that seemed unaffected by the rise in the prices of food and fuel, lack of “work” and regular employment, and the government’s inability to procure agricultural produce at the minimum support price (MSP) or Market Intervention Price. Traders and shopkeepers bemoaned the “fall in demand” and the empty shops. They spoke of how demonetisation, goods and services tax (GST), “online retail” and unregulated “sale offers” by shopping malls had ruined their business.
Women in the unorganised sector complained of the lack of availability of “work” despite all the paperwork they had been compelled to do, whether it was for opening a bank account or for getting an Aadhaar card. In Ringus town of Sikar district, Sumitra, a daily wager, said she had to abandon her work for days together to get her Aadhaar card made, but to no avail.
In Tonk, where Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot was pitted against Yoonus Khan, the Transport and Public Works Minister in the State, traders criticised the policies of the State and Central governments, especially demonetisation and GST. “For the first time, I am going to vote against the BJP as it has betrayed the interests of the trading community which has traditionally voted for it. They declared all of us corrupt by saying we have lots of black money stashed with us,” said a jeweller in the main township of Tonk.
Yoonus Khan is the only Muslim the BJP has fielded in the State. The sitting MLA of Tonk, Ajit Singh Mehta, was denied renomination at the last minute in order to give Khan the party ticket. Khan’s nomination apparently was against the backdrop of caste and community configurations and to deny the full benefit of the influential Muslim vote to Pilot. Neither Khan nor Pilot is a “local” person. The BJP is hopeful of consolidating the “majority” votes in Tonk comprising the “general category caste” groups such as the Gujjars, the Maalis (traditionally a flower- and vegetable-growing caste), and the Meenas (Scheduled Tribe) and the Scheduled Castes. In addition to this, the party hopes, a section of the minority vote will swing in favour of Khan.
Tonk has always been one of the relatively safe seats for the BJP because of the sharp polarisation of votes. But that very “equilibrium” has been disturbed with the entry of Pilot, whom Gujjars, who form a sizeable number in the Assembly segment, consider their leader. “Yoonus Khan is the son of a farmer. He has done good work as Transport Minister. So even if we lose out on some Gujjar votes, we will gain from the Muslim vote bank,” said Mahavir Sharma, BJP district general secretary, pointing out that the Tonk MP, Sukhbir Jaunpuriya, was a Gujjar. He said the situation had “improved” in favour of the BJP despite the fact that Gujjars had voted for an independent candidate in the previous two elections. Another BJP office bearer, Beni Prasad Jain, told Frontline that demonetisation had no effect on the small trader. “The small trader needs suraksha [security], and that is what we have been able to provide,” he said.
The fact is that in Tonk, Gujjars and minorities together form a sizeable section of the population and can ensure the victory of any candidate. But Tonk also has a history of conflict between the minorities and Gujjars. This time, it was learnt that the Gujjar community, which used to vote for the BJP, had shifted its loyalties to the Congress as Pilot was the candidate there. And the minorities, too, were expected to vote for the Congress despite the BJP putting up a minority candidate there. “Had there been a candidate other than Sachin, we would not have voted for the Congress. We are hopeful that a man from our community will become Chief Minister at last,” said Chhotu Lal Gujjar, a roadside eatery owner.
When asked about the caste configurations that might help the Congress, given that Gujjars were throwing their weight behind Pilot, a senior functionary in the BJP’s election office in Tonk remarked: “Gujjars are with us. It is a contest between two Muslims here: Yoonus Khan from our party and Sachin Pilot. Why don’t you find out what are the names Sachin has given to his children.” The BJP and its leaders have never lost an opportunity to point to Pilot’s “Muslim” connection. Pilot is married to the daughter of Farooq Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister.
Competitive Hindutva
Resorting to competitive Hindutva politics, lest it should be seen as appeasing the minority communities, the Congress manifesto speaks about setting up a Vedic culture and education board and a grazing land (gochar) development board. The Congress’ approach has been a reaction to the BJP’s aggressive campaign. After Rahul Gandhi visited the Dargah at Ajmer and the Brahma temple at Pushkar, the BJP made a huge issue of his “gotra” or lineage . The Congress president had informed the priest at Pushkar of his “gotra”. The priest, in turn, conveyed it to the media that according to the “gotra” mentioned, Rahul Gandhi belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit stock. The BJP and its top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, repeatedly referred to this in their campaigns to indicate how “casteist” the Congress was. Some other leaders and activists of the BJP asserted that Rahul Gandhi’s father was of mixed parentage and therefore he could not be a caste Hindu according to the patrilineal logic.
Sections of the media too reported that the Congress president had publicised his Kashmiri Pandit ancestry deliberately. Rather than counter the narrative of the BJP on a more secular ground, the main opposition party appeared to succumb to the narrative constructed by the BJP. It resorted to puerile, competitive religiosity in order to “correct” the “perception” that it was a “community neutral” party.
The BJP has also been repeatedly mocking the Congress president for his surname as being his only achievement. For instance, the Prime Minister, in his Rajasthan election campaigns, attacked Rahul Gandhi for being a “naamdaar”, that is, a person whose claim to fame is a name. Modi has used this to attack Rahul Gandhi in previous elections as well, preferring to address himself as a “kaamdaar”, or a person who is known for his work.
But Congress leaders such as C.P. Joshi gave a stick to the BJP to beat the party with. A complaint was lodged with the Election Commission against Joshi for making casteist remarks at a meeting. Another Congress leader and former Union Minister, Vilas Muttemwar, reportedly made derogatory remarks about the Prime Minister.
The BJP leaders in their campaigns also questioned the nationalism and patriotism of the Congress. The anniversary of the terrorist attack in Mumbai on November 26 came in handy for the BJP to attack the Congress apart from reiterating its recent salvo that the Congress was pro-naxalite, following remarks allegedly made by the Congress leader Raj Babbar during a campaign in Chhattisgarh. “What is most peculiar is that the BJP attacks Nehru, but the Congress doesn’t even defend its own leaders aggressively,” Rajeev Gupta, retired professor of sociology from Rajasthan University, told Frontline .
In terms of emotive pitch, the BJP has been more successful than the Congress; yet the fact that it has deliberately steered away from talking about farmers, unemployment and price rise has not gone unnoticed by the electorate. At the BJP office in Tonk, Frontline met some farmers who said they had suffered huge losses in pulses cultivation because of untimely rains and the high price of diesel. “When the rates of diesel were hiked, shouldn’t the MSP also have gone up? The government refused to buy the remainder of the crop from us, saying that the quality was bad. While the MSP was Rs.6,900, we sold it at Rs.1,000 a quintal as there was no procurement. You will read about farmers committing suicide from Tonk one day,” said a farmer.
There was palpable resentment among all groups in Tonk for various reasons. For the daily wager, it was the availability of work that mattered. For the shopkeeper, it was demand that mattered. The court ban on sand mining from the riverbed for construction activities too has taken a toll. Everyone lamented the “slowdown” in the market.
In Tonk city, members of the minority community Frontline spoke to said that the BJP had only “cow protection” and Ram mandir as its main issues. “The gas cylinder subsidy comes only after we pay the initial amount. We have to shell out Rs.950-1,000 to get a cylinder first,” said Mohammad Asraar, a water cooler manufacturer. “When the public doesn’t have money, how will they spend?” asked a Hindu trader. There was a wave, he said, of “public harassment”.
In the Assembly constituencies of Sikar, the site of successful farmer movements, there was visible anger against the government. In Danta Ramgarh Assembly segment, farmers acknowledged the campaigns led by “Comrade” Amra Ram, vice president of the All India Kisan Sabha and State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a four-time MLA. “He is one among us. It is because of him that no local farmer is charged toll tax on the Akhepura State highway. It is because of him that the Vasundhara Raje government had to agree to waive loans up to Rs.50,000 taken from cooperative banks. He is a jan neta (people’s leader). But there is a three-cornered contest here,” said Virender Singh Choudhary, a farmer.
The farmers said that the CPI(M) nominee from Dhod, Pema Ram, lived in a “jhopa” (hutment). “His opponent is a Rs.2,000-crore candidate, Parsaram Mordia,” one of them quipped. Raj Kumar Jain, a tea seller, said that while he was a BJP voter, he had utmost regard for Kisan Sabha leaders such as Amra Ram and Pema Ram. All the eight Assembly segments in Sikar district have multi-cornered contests. Money power, too, is visible in the elections. Big and richer parties have put up hoardings and buntings, but others have confined themselves to reaching out to the electorate through small meetings.
Interesting contests are expected in places where two former chairpersons of the National Commission for Women have filed their nominations: Girija Vyas of the Congress is pitted against incumbent Home Minister Gulab Singh Kataria in Udaipur, and Mamta Sharma, former Congress MLA, is contesting on the BJP ticket from Pipalda Assembly constituency.
By and large the contests are expected to be bipolar, but some surprises cannot be ruled out. The BJP is fighting hard to survive dual anti-incumbency, and to what extent the opposition can capitalise on its predicament will be known on December 11, when the results will be out.
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