Bastar Lok Sabha : The hammer of Nyaay will be heavy on Modi's Jumla

 

 

There are 8 assembly seats in Bastar Lok Sabha. In the recently held assembly elections, three seats -- Bastar, Bijapur and Konta -- were won by the Congress, while four seats -- Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot -- were won by the BJP. On these 8 seats, Congress together got 4,01,538 votes and BJP got 4,81,151 votes. Thus BJP was ahead by a margin of 79,613 votes and 7.91votes.

 

These results of the assembly elections are reassuring for the BJP compared to the results of the last Lok Sabha elections of 2019. Then BJP got only 3,63,545 votes in the Lok Sabha elections and Congress got 4,02,527 votes. Thus, Deepak Baij of Congress defeated Baiduram Kashyap of BJP by a margin of 38,982 votes and 4.27. Bastar was one of the two seats that Congress won in Chhattisgarh.

 

Thus, in Bastar Lok Sabha, BJP, which was behind Congress by 4.27votes five years ago, is today ahead by 7.91votes. Certainly these figures are impressive and are in favor of BJP. Despite this, there are lines of worry on BJP's face and they are not completely convinced. Why? One reason for this is the unusual behavior of the voters, who had no hesitation in defeating the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections held in April 2019, just four months after giving it a massive victory in the December 2018 assembly elections. This time too, voters should not 'play (khela)' in the same way! The second reason is the anti-incumbency factor arising from being in power at the Center for ten consecutive years and during 2013-18, at both the Center and the state level, which resulted in decreasing more than 10of the vote share last time in assembly election and ousted the BJP from power in the state.  The third reason is the policies of the BJP itself, due to which the people of the state and especially the tribal and poor people of Bastar are suffering.

 

This indecency has forced BJP to change its candidate despite Modi's alleged guarantee. This time it has given ticket to a former sarpanch, Mahesh Kashyap, whose political background is that he has been associated with RSS affiliates Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad and has been leading anti-conversion movements and attacking Christian tribals. By putting this face in front, Sangh-BJP have tried to play the Hindutva card. Congress has also changed its candidate and has fielded Kawasi Lakhma, who was elected MLA for 6 consecutive times and Excise Minister of Bhupesh cabinet. The personality of the Congress candidate is definitely overshadowing the BJP.

 

Modi's public meeting has been held in Bastar on 8th April. He had no issue except Ram Mandir, religious conversion and talking about failed central schemes. There was also the promise of Modi guarantee, but the guarantee of employment for the unemployed, MSP and debt relief for farmers, freedom from state-sponsored oppression for tribals and implementation of forest rights, PESA and MNREGA laws was completely missing. He was vocal about the corruption of the previous Congress government, but was silent on the world's biggest electoral bond scam perpetrated by him. His speeches were an indication that the imposition of one-man and one-party rule was all but guaranteed. At the same time, Rahul Gandhi's entire speech in his meeting held on 13 April was focused on the issues. The problems of tribals, unemployed youth and poverty were at the center of his speech and he targeted the communal policies of BJP. 

 

Senior journalist Rajkumar Soni of Raipur says that the tribals of Bastar have nothing to do with the removal of Article 370 or the construction of Ram Temple. BJP should not dream of victory by keeping these issues in front. But journalist Purnachandra Rath says that in the urban part of Bastar Lok Sabha constituency (which is relatively very small), BJP has more influence than Congress.

 

Bhujit Doshi, a young Congress worker from Jagdalpur, says that the size of Rahul's public meeting compared to Modi's meeting shows which way the wind is blowing in Bastar. Along with the promise of giving Rs 1 lakh every year to women for their upliftment, today Rahul Gandhi's promise of liberating farmers from debt and giving them legal guarantee of MSP will outweigh any guarantee of Modi.

 

Santosh Yadav, a tribal youth from Darbha, said that after the coming of the BJP government in the state, the oppression of the tribals has increased in the name of suppressing the Naxalites and the BJP government wants to bring Salwa Judum again in a new form. The tribals of Lohandiguda have still not forgotten the actions of the Raman government in snatching their land at gunpoint for Tata. The Modi government is still keeping Nagarnar's steel plant in the list of privatization. Therefore, the youth of Bastar is not ready to believe in any guarantee of Modi. Laughing, he says - "An elephant has one tooth for showing and one for eating. Same is the condition of Modi guarantee." It is noteworthy that during Raman Raj, Santosh had spent several months in jail on false charges of having links with Naxalites.

 

But then the same question: who will win? Will the Congress be successful in bridging the gap of 80,000 votes? Journalist Ritesh Pandey reminds of a famous joke: The public wants the Congress to win, but if the Congress wants the BJP to win then...? They say that this was a major reason for the defeat of Congress in the assembly elections. But now Congressmen will unite after learning from this defeat and the hammer of Nyaay will fall heavily on Modi's Jumlas.