Kota (Rajasthan), Sep 30: Things are certainly turning difficult for the ruling BJP in Rajasthan by the day.The pro-change mood in favour of the Congress party is immense. This is largely due to anti-incumbency wave. For last many years, the voters here have been changing the regime every five years.But adding to the woes for Vasundhara Raje regime is the upper caste anguish.“The SC-ST law ordering immediate arrest of upper caste people just on the basis of a complaint is akin to mob-lynching. This black law should go,” thundered Dr Anil Sharma, Regional President of Samta Andolan Samity near BJP sitting legislator Prahlad Gunjal’s office near Agrasen Chowraha area here.
Hundreds of protestors including Brahmin leaders, Rajputs and Jains gathered near the party office raising anti-BJP and anti-Narendra Modi slogans.
“Narendra Modi hosh mein aao (Prime Minister Modi come to your senses. This is a warning),” screamed Geeta Parikh, a woman activist.
“I am a BJP supporter for last 10 years. But the Modi government has surrendered before the blackmailing politics of casteist leaders from Bihar and UP,” Ms Parikh told UNI referring to leaders like Ram Vilas Paswan.
Another activist of the upper castes organisation readily supported the contention of Ms Parikh.
“Modiji is walking into a trap. This reservation lobby finished VP Singh. He should come to senses and take back the kalankit kanoon (a black law),” said Amar Sharma.
"There will be Tsunami like anger," says Madanmohan Joshi, who says the Kota North legislator should immediately write letters to prime minister Narendra Modi and chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the matter soon.
The delegation of Samta Andolan Samity submitted a memorandum to the North Kota MLA Mr Gunjal, who is likely to seek re-election from the constituency which has about 2.36 lakh voters and substantial number of them being Brahmins, upper caste Baniyas and Jains.
“This is a constituency, the upper caste voters cannot be ignored,” says a BJP worker Kamal Kishore Singh and admits there is a “pressure from the upper castes”.
But he is hopeful at the end of the day, the BJP workers and supporters will stick to the saffron party’s agenda of achieving ‘Congress mukt Bharat and Rajasthan”.
Besides the upper castes have always backed the right candidate and the party here. “Our MLA Mr Gunjal is a Gujjar, we do not have substantial Gujjar voters in North Kota, but he won by a margin of over 15,000 votes,” says Neel Purohit, a Brahmin BJP office bearer in the assembly segment.
However, the challenges before BJP in both Kota region and also at the state level across Rajasthan cannot be denied outright. The Congress leaders point out that a large section of government employees who may still pretend to be ‘foot soldiers’ of Vasundhara Raje administration may vote against the BJP on the voting day.
According to Congress leader Vishvendra Singh, the entire Panchayat Raj is in standstill.
“All 200 panchayat samities are today defunct. The Roadways staffs are on strike. So the common man is suffering...Old people are unable to draw their pension. Yet, the state government and especially the Chief Minister are indifferent,” he says.
The Congress leaders are working overtime to tap the potentials.
His views were endorsed by a shop owner Dhiraj Singh in Kota. “There will be Tsunami like anguish against Vasundhara this time. You may not believe over one lakh employees of various government departments including babus and junior engineers and panchayati raj workers are not attending to their work for last 12 days”.
In Jaipur, citizens say the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and others are indifferent and not even trying to correct things.
Unmindful of what’s going around, the Chief Minister is continuing with her Gaurav Yatra – trying to sell the point that her government has delivered, they allege. Reportedly, the Chief Minister also shouted at the bureaucrats and party workers when told about media surveys showing dismal results for the saffron party.
Some of her lieutenants, however, say there is “dus-prachar (false propaganda) against her by vested interest and the people will give such prophets of doom a fitting reply.
State agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini recently said there is a conspiracy behind projecting Rajasthan as a ‘Hartalistan’.
Amid confidence of wresting power, Congress faces ally hurdles in Rajasthan
Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Sep 28: The worst fear in the season of confident march towards Rajasthan assembly elections for Congress is that the BSP going alone can ultimately harm Congress prospects and help the BJP instead.
But alliance making has its own pitfalls.
Confident of wresting power in Rajasthan, encashing the anti incumbency wave against Vasundhara Raje regime, the Opposition Congress party is, however, faced with a double whammy problem over opening channels for talks with Mayawati-led BSP for an alliance.
“We want alliance to defeat BJP and to consolidate anti-BJP votes. But there are intricacies. In the event of an alliance or seat adjustment – Congress has to forego 25-30 seats. In such constituencies, we will face immense rebellion and this will adversely hit party’s prospects in Lok Sabha polls,” says Satish Jati, a Congress worker here.
In Bharatpur assembly segment, in last three elections the seat was won by BJP’s Vijay Bansal but it was the BSP that finished second. “The Congress will have to surrender the seat to BSP and this will definitely not go down well,” says former district Congress president Rakesh Pathak.
According to Congress sources, such dilemma has surfaced in many other assembly segments in the state.
BSP’s presence cannot be underestimated on the face value. In 2013, in about 20 constituencies, BSP nominees had bagged more than 20,000 votes and moreover Mayawati’s candidates had come second in seats such as Tijara, Nadbai, Suratgarh and Khinwasar – besides Bharatpur.
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| Congress MLA, VP: Vishvendra Singh |
There are other issues also. In long term perspective the fear is – in the event of an alliance with Mayawati’s outfit, the traditional SC-ST support base of Congress would shift to the BSP camp and thereby harm Congress interest from an organisation’s point of view.
“One is not sure, but even Muslims support base could shift to BSP. As of now, the BJP camp in Bharatpur region or at the state level is in disarray. Therefore, my vote is that Congress should go lone and oust BJP,” says Renu Chaudhary, also a Congress worker.
“Most importantly, depriving a dedicated Congress worker of five years just to make Mayawati happy may not be a wise decision” says Ramesh Pathak.
Agreeing with them, Dr Suresh Jatav, Congress candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha polls for Bharatpur parliamentary seat, told UNI: "The way it stands today, there is a strong wave in favour of Congress and we do not need an ally. If at all, we opt for it, we also need to be assertive and the claims of genuine Congress workers should not be forgotten".
Amit Shah ropes in RSS support to checkmate Raje, counter anti-BJP mood
Jaipur, Oct 6: Self-created myth or even image often turns into a foe. BJP national president Amit Shah has created an aura about himself that when it comes to poll management, he is invincible.
Moreover, often he has given impression that single handed he has delivered it for the Lotus party.
But apparently strong anti-incumbency mood and an ‘indifferent’ Chief Minister (from his own party to handle), Mr Shah has been finding things tough to move up the ladder in Rajasthan.
In 2013 - BJP set a record win of 163 seats in 200-member assembly but things could be slipping out.
Who is to be blamed?
Hence, he tried to emulate a working formula of Late Pramod Mahajan – when in problem any BJP leader can seek the services of RSS.
This is exactly he has done in last one week or so.
Realising it well that subtle references to the 'cold war' between him and Chief Minister Raje, often wrong signals were being emanated, Mr Shah recently met top RSS guys in Rajasthan and sought their active cooperation.
“We need their advice, day to day feedback and counselling to draw the electoral strategy and even help zero down on candidates,” a party source said.
Accordingly the Sangh fountainhead leaders and their ‘preferred faces’ in Rajasthan BJP have been taken aboard for steering the election strategy.
Six people have been drafted into a special panel and the state of Rajasthan has been divided into three typical RSS-zones – Jaipur, Jodhpur and Chittoragarh.
Sources said: the leaders enlisted to work in this endeavour include two union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekawat (a Rajput) and Arjun Ram Meghawal (a Dalit) and four others from organisational background – V Satish, Avinash Rai Khanna, Satish Puniya and organisational secretary Chandrashekhar.
“This is a game changer we are hopeful of good results,” says BJP spokesman Jitendra Shrimali, himself a product of ABVP politics.
Upper castes must not grudge what Scheduled Castes got: senior BJP leader
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| BJP's Dalit leader: O P Mahendra |
Jaipur, Oct 2: In the midst of heightened row over strong opposition from a large section of saffron party to the restoration of the Prevention of SC-ST Atrocities Act, a key BJP leader has said that “nothing unusual has happened” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi that upper castes should feel unhappy.
“Look, in this country for ages, the Scheduled Caste community people have been suppressed and undermined. Thus, we see it is the responsibility of the entire society to lead the country towards equity and effective balance,” senior BJP leader and president of Rajasthan unit SC Morcha Dr O P Mahendra told UNI in an interview here.
“Aisa koi karan nahi hae, jiske liye kisike mann mein koi rosh ho (I see no reason that one section of the people or the other should feel unhappy about it or harbour any major grievance),” Dr Mahendra said. What has been given to the Scheduled Castes has been in effect guaranteed under “constitutional provisions”. "Moreover, the new law people are talking about is not a new law. The Modi government has only restored a status quo.
The decision was taken after April 2 agitation. It was a people-centric and sensitive decision of the Centre," he said. “These rights are constitutional rights,” he emphasised. “These were given to SC communities by historical fact at a particular time of history....Dr B R Ambedkar also wanted equity in the society and in the country so that this deprived section can also come up the ladder and join in nation building with all other sections of Indians”. Answering questions, he said the BJP is in favour of reservation – a phenomenon that is being opposed by upper castes social groups especially in Rajasthan. “This should continue as a very large section of Scheduled Caste Communities in Rajasthan and in the rest of India are to get the benefits of reservation and come up in the society”.
“Till there is equity and all sections of the society are at par with each other, this existing reservation should continue,” he said. Reservation, thus, Dr Mahendra said is a necessary tool to help the deprived sections come up. To a question, he said the SC communities both in Rajasthan and in the rest of the country are well aware of the Congress ploy over the issue of welfare for these sections.
“People have now realised that the Congress ploy is only to use us purely as vote bank, so they are gradually and certainly and in large numbers are getting closer to the BJP. The Congress never worked hard to ensure real uplift of these deprived sections,” he alleged.
It is only under Prime Minister Narendra Modi that in order to appropriate the legacy of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, the BJP-led NDA government has developed five places as “Panch-teerth” in Mhow, London, Nagpur, Delhi and Mumbai. “This was unique and unprecedented decision and work. The “Panch teerth” include Amedbkar’s birthplace in Mhow, the place in London where he stayed while studying, ‘Deeksha Bhoomi’ in Nagpur, where he took education and ‘Mahaparinirvan Sthal’ in Delhi, and ‘Chaitya Bhoomi’ in Mumbai,” he said.
“Our people (SC communities) are emotional and are thus highly impressed with Mr Modi,” he said adding the NDA regime has also ensured that someone from the deprived section has also become President of India – Ram Nath Kovind,” Mr Mahendra pointed out. “These sections are thankful to Prime Minister Modi,” he said adding thus they will stick to BJP. Similarly, he said the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has also worked tirelessly for the SC communities during the past five years.
Dr B R Ambedkar Shodh Peeth was established in 2015 with initial funding of Rs 1 crore.
It is aimed to provide varieties of services to teachers, scholars, students and public by regularly organising Lecture series, Seminars, Conferences, Exchange of thoughts etc and ensure social emancipation, economic empowerment, educational excellence and participation of Scheduled Castes in nation building, the BJP leader added.
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| On field: Jaipur |
Trouble mounting for BJP as distress sale of Urad, Mung add to farmers' woes
Jhalrapatan/Kota (Rajasthan), Oct 1 : It could be often advantageous for a ruling dispensation to believe in their own make-believe world. This perhaps makes their dissemination of some statistics and campaign stuff more effective.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s ‘Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra’ is aimed on those lines - perhaps. There are statistics and detail explanation of various welfare measures and development projects. But does it really leave a mark among the electorate?
A visit to Jhalrapatan and Jhalwar region along the banks of rivers Andheri and Ahu have piles of stories of voters’ “unhappiness” with the BJP. Complaints are many and a new form of unhappiness seems to have come due to distress selling of Urad and Mung Dal. The list of ‘grievances’ against the ruling dispensation in the state has been added as the Rajasthan government is yet to procure Urad from farmers and as a result the higher Minimum Support Price announced by the Modi government have little meaning.
“Urad’s price as per government of India guidelines and new MSP rates should be around Rs 5,600 per quintal. But there is no official procurement and now we have distress selling. It has come down to Rs 2,000 adding to woes of the farmers,” complains farmer Jaggie Thakur. Farmers in Kota and Jhalwar belt also complain that similarly there is a problem with Mung dal prices and distress selling too.
“Because the procurement from official agencies have not started, middle men and traders are exploiting the situation. All these could only spell bigger troubles for BJP,” says another farmer Puranchand Dhaka. None other than Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje represents Jhalrapatan assembly segment. In fact, she has been representing this seat for three consecutive terms 2003, 2008 and 2013.
In 2003, Ms Raje successfully wrested the seat from Congress – which had fielded Late Rajesh Pilot’s wife Rama Pilot. But do elements of fate and ironies can shape of the politician Raje’s fate too in Jhalrapatan ? It will be sweet revenge for Sachin Pilot – if he can avenge his mother’s (Rama Pilot) defeat from the seat in 2003 at the hands of Raje. Even as BJP workers are sure about ‘Madamji (Raje’s) victory, there are whispers that a police officer’s wife Ms Mukul Chaudhary is all set to take on the Chief Minister.
Ms Chaudhary seems to have grudged personal anguish against the Chief Minister for alleged ill treatment meted to her husband Pankaj Chaudhary (IPS). Her move for contesting may affect the electoral calculation on the ground, feel many residents. It will be also sort of a rare occasion if not some kind of a record when a serving police officer’s wife will take on the incumbent Chief Minister.
“But politics is strange and it is more so in Rajasthan,” says hotelier Deep Dhariwal in Kota.
Like Dhariwal, scores of Congress supporters in Jhalrapatan and also in Jhalwar say besides hardcore politics of anti-incumbency in her constituency, the farmers grievances and a series of complaints by government employees have made things more difficult for the BJP.
“Panchayat Raj system has collapsed as employees are on strike demanding 7th Pay Commission. People do not know what’s happening and whom to go for redressal their problems,” says Congress worker Mohd Naushad Khan in Jhalwar. According to Khan, the Chief Minister is “displaying vindictive politics” even to BJP leaders – who did not share good rapport with her.
In this context, he said the Chief Minister has unable to display “bigger heart” as she has avoided visiting Sheo constituency during her Gaurav Yatra as the constituency is represented by BJP veteran Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh. A disgruntled Manvendra Singh quit the BJP recently.
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