A Rough Ride
The chief minister’s pre-poll yatra faces stone pelters at some places, she blames ex-CM Ashok Gehlot for it
On the second leg of the Suraj Gaurav Yatra, a 40-day pre-poll tour, Vasundhara Raje faced black flags, stones and blockades in Jodhpur division. But the chief minister’s poll strategists had expected the region to be a challenge compared to her relatively smooth drive through Mewar. Besides the fact that it is former CM Ashok Gehlot’s stronghold, former Union minister Jaswant Singh’s Rajput followers evidently haven’t forgiven her for sidelining their leader in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. At Pipar and Osian, on August 24 and 25, her motorcade was stoned by pro-Gehlot protesters, blocked by angry Rajputs and shown black flags by Jat farmers.
A visibly annoyed Raje accused Gehlot of staging the protests: “This is insulting women and as a woman I suffer even when in power. But I will not be scared,” the chief minister said. She insisted the people were happy with the work done by her government and that the issues raised by the “handful” of protesters had nothing to do with development.
Gehlot, whose loyalists are among those arrested for stonepelting, promptly denied any role, pointing to how when he was CM he had provided her with security on two previous election tours. Mean-
while, state PWD minister Yunus Khan predicted a repeat of 2003, when similar violence by the Rajputs had eventually led to Raje’s victory. He felt that the Rajputs would support her in the coming elections.
But the violence has also forced a rethink on the remaining course of the tour, which has thus far been focused on telling voters about the many welfare schemes extended by the BJP government.
Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot is predictably mocking the chief minister. “Raje should in fact be out on an ‘accountability yatra’ to explain why she failed on so many fronts,”
A visibly annoyed Raje has called the attacks an insult to the state’s women
he says. The state Congress chief also accused her of spending government money on what was obviously a party campaign. Although, taking note of the crowds greeting Raje in Mewar, he also quickly tried a counter, bringing Rahul Gandhi for an impressive roadshow in Jaipur on August 11. He also organised a big public rally in Chittorgarh on August 24 to highlight the Congress’s popularity.
With the assembly elections expected in December, things will get hectic, and very possibly a lot more ugly, over the coming weeks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to fly in for the conclusion of the Suraj Gaurav Yatra.
ties finalised in early 2018, one female member of a household and college students are to be given smartphones. The beneficiaries include all rural households (BPL and APL) in villages with populations above 1,000, and BPL households in urban areas. The scheme is expected to be fully implemented by the end of September in the state.
Raman Singh’s principal secretary Aman Singh cites an ICRIER study from 2012 which estimated that every 10 per cent increase in mobile phone penetration (beyond 25 per cent) stimulates a GDP growth of 1.5 per cent. Reliance Jio, which won the contract to supply 5.5 million smartphones from Micromax, is investing $100 million on 1,600 new mobile phone towers to augment connectivity in ‘dark’ areas. The state has undertaken to pay the cost of services for the first six months at a whopping Rs 16.5 crore per month!
Coming barely three months before the assembly polls, SKY is a big part of Raman Singh’s attempt to secure a fourth term. Opposition leaders allege that most ‘Jio mitras’—volunteers tasked with teaching people how to use the phones—are BJP workers. All the free phones come with pre-loaded Raman and Modi applications alongside Goth, an online vernacular app that informs beneficiaries about state schemes.
“There’s barely three months till the polls... this cellphone scheme is just a pre-poll sop rather than any attempt to expand connectivity in the state. It’s a desperate attempt by the BJP to regain lost ground,” says leader of the Opposition T.S. Singhdeo.
ALL THE FREE MOBILE PHONES COME PRE-LOADED WITH RAMAN AND MODI APPLICATIONS