Perception battle big challenge for Raje, BJP
JAIPUR: Across Rajasthan, chief minister Vasundhara Raje suffers from a problem of perception that is proving the biggest challenge for her managers and her party in the run-up to the assembly elections in the state on December 7.
From being “inaccessible” to “having done little” (both popular refrains among voters), Raje, 65 continues to fight the reputation of being a “maharani”. Her name evokes sharp responses.
“She has done nothing,” argues 30-year-old Prakash, who sells cattle feed outside a gaushala (cow shelter) 20km away from Nagaur on the Jodhpur highway. “Our pain and cries do not reach her.”
Prakash rattles off his expectation of Raje: “She could have given us government jobs, at least.” he says. “We read in newspapers that so many things have happened in last five years. But, it has not benefitted me.”
Chaggan Nath runs a dhaba at Beawar town along the JodhpurJaipur highway in Ajmer. He cites high electricity bills as a reason for not voting Bharatiya Janata Party this time. He received a bill of ~25,217 against a consumption of 2,620 units of electricity. “This must be highest rate at which any state provides power. The bills are high during summer,” he says. “I heard it is very cheap in Delhi. Is it true?”
In Laxman K Bas village of Sikar, Sagar Dudi, a 40--year-old farmer explains that Raje could have changed Rajasthan with the kind of majority she got in 2013. “Things haven’t moved an inch. Our problems remain where they were,” he said, taking a brief break from chaupar, a board game that the Kauravs and Pandavs played in the epic Mahabharata. Raje’s government was elected with a clear majority, winning 163 seats in the 200-member assembly.
Meanwhile, Rajputs, usually loyal to the BJP, are upset over the killing of gangster Anandpal Singh (a Rajput) in June last year. His family alleges senior government leaders played a part in his killing and have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. “He might be a criminal, but even then his killing was unjust,” Sher Singh, a taxi driver from Jaipur said. He shows his WhatsApp group, flooded with video clips of the crying family members of the gangster’s family and several messages about Singh. The Rajputs account for around 8% of the population of the state.
Another dominant community, the Jats (accounting for around 15% of the population of the state), complain about poor representation in Raje’s council of ministers. Raje’s 29-member council of ministers has four Jats.
“There is a gap between announcement of government schemes and delivery. Only a few have benefitted. The entire perception problem is because of this gap,” said Dr Sanjay Lodha, head of the department of political science at Mohanlal Sukhadia University in Udaipur. “Lack of jobs is going to be a single biggest issue that will determine the election.”
Raje loyalists put the blame at the door of BJP legislators.
“MLAs got their own work done, but when it came to pushing matters affecting larger people or party workers, the legislators blamed it on Raje, calling her inaccessible,” one of her confidants claims. “And, she did not care about it, until alarm bangs started ringing after the loss in by elections.” In February, the Congress wrested two Lok Sabha seats and an assembly seat away from the BJP.
Raje’s response, her associates say, has been to take control of the situation and prove her critics wrong.
She survived the leadership change clamour after BJP’s defeat in the by-elections to the Ajmer and Alwar parliamentary and the Mandalgarh assembly seats. Next, she blocked BJP chief Amit Shah from appointing a new chief of his choice in Rajasthan. This round, too, went to her.
Closer to the election, and once a decision was taken that she would remain in the chief minister’s chair, the BJP’s leadership decided to let her have her say. She influenced the distribution of tickets, as well.
BJP spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi claims party president Amit Shah has toiled hard to correct whatever was wrong in Rajsthan. A new organisational secretary (RSS leaders loaned to BJP) was brought in from western Uttar Pradesh in August last year to reorganize the party. “It helped address organisational issues and improve coordination,” Trivdei said.