Tonk paradox: BJP Muslim face vs Cong chief
TONK: The Tonk assembly constituency is headed for a battle of opposites: Congress candidate Sachin Pilot is contesting state elections for the first time, while Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate Yunus Khan is a cabinet minister in the Vasundhara Raje government.
Congress broke a four-decade-long tradition of fielding a Muslim candidate when it announced Pilot’s candidacy. In a last minute pivot, the BJP replaced Ajit Singh Mehta with Khan — the only Muslim face in BJP’S list of 200 candidates.
Both candidates are ‘outsiders’ but geographically Tonk is close to Pilot’s Lok Sabha constituencies, Dausa and Ajmer, which he won in 2004 and 2009, respectively. The BJP won this seat, dominated by minority communities including Muslims, Scheduled Castes and Gujjars, in 2013.
Rajasthan will go to polls on December 7.
“They talk of anti-incumbency but we have people behind us. With you is just a convoy of vehicles,” Khan hit out at Pilot, during one of the rallies.
Other BJP leaders have called Congress a “barat” (wedding procession) without a groom. In retaliation, Pilot entered Chaan village on a mare, while villagers played dhol, busted crackers and shouted slogans, as a bridegroom would.
Both candidates are talking development. In Arniya Neel village Khan said, “I am raising local issues of development, but Pilot is confused as he is speaking on national issues such as Rafale aircraft.”
However, not everyone is convinced. “No one works be it any government. The road was made a month back but there is no water line and the pump of the tube well is stolen,” said resident Meena Devi.
In Chaan village, Pilot asked, “How much did a gas cylinder cost earlier, and what is the price now?” He also brought up the issue of unemployment and farmers’ suicide. “The time of these people who are residing and ruling from forts and palaces are over now, and it’s the time for farmers, youth, and everyone else in Rajasthan [to succeed].”
“Education is not expenditure but investment on future, which helps children broaden their horizon and become better citizens. The key to the development of any country is education,” he said at a teachers’ programme in Tonk.
At one point on Saturday, Pilot and Khan held meetings on opposite sides of the road barely 500 metres away from each other in Mehandwas village.
Though the constituency is new for Pilot, people expressed faith in his leadership.
“God will help him to win,” said Rukmani Devi, resident of Lambha gram panchayat. But for Kalu Ram Prajapat of Arniya Neel, Khan is the choice. “We vote for the party and not candidate,” he said.
“Yeh Modi ji ka chunav nahin hai [this is not Narendra Modi’s election],” says a government official in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district five days before the region goes to the polls on November 28.
In almost every state election since 2014 where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been an important player, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come out either as the opener who has set the stage for a successful innings, or as a late-order batsman who has swung the match for his team. His strike rate has been high.
The Madhya Pradesh elections could well be the first where either Modi is not a prominent factor. The focus is primarily on state leaders. The BJP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan enjoys goodwill. But it is not clear whether this will translate to support for local candidates battling anti-incumbency.
On the other side of the fence, the Congress has three leaders. Anecdotal evidence from travels across Malwa-nimar, Vindhya, Mahakoshal, and GwaliorChambal suggests that Jyotiraditya Scindia is the most popular. This is true for both, the wider public as well as the younger voter who may have earlier been with the BJP.
The state president, Kamal Nath, is less widely known in the public sphere since his politics has largely revolved around Delhi and his seat, Chhindwara, rather than Bhopal. And the least popular but most experienced in state politics, Digvijay Singh, has been kept in the deep background because his term in office is associated with poor governance.
But striking, from the perspective of 2019, are the responses that Modi evokes — indifference, support and criticism. There is one thing in common in all three: the Prime Minister is now being judged for his performance, not his intent and announcements.
LOCAL VERSUS GENERAL
At Modi’s Shahdol rally on November 16, two men came on their motorcycle from a neighbouring constituency to hear him speak. They were not particularly interested in chief minister Chouhan’s speech and appeared to have made up their mind to vote for the Congress. But they were keen to hear what Modi had to say.
One of them, Dileep, a 45-yearold farmer, said: “He is the country’s prime minister and so we
ARUN SINGHAI , Jabera resident Dec-2003 Sep-2018