Chhattisgarh polls: Smaller caste groups wrest their due from parties

By Parivesh Mishra Raipur: While the politically powerful intermediary castes in Chhattisgarh are making news for demanding, putting pressure for and succeeding in extracting nominations for the election in Chhattisgarh, the smaller social groups are not doing too badly either. The Satnami Caste forms the bulk—around 65 percent—of the Scheduled Caste (SC) population in Chhattisgarh. In the seats reserved for the community, the Congress has stuck to its tradition of giving tickets only to Satnami candidates. The only nomination that has gone to a non-Satnami in this election is in Saraipali, where the BJP has given ticket to a Ganda – Ramlal Chauhan. Gandas (or Chauhans) are present in good number here as well as neighboring constituencies like Sarangarh (SC), Basna and Raigarh – all parts of the ex-feudal Chhattisgarh.[caption id=“attachment_1194465” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Taking everyone along. Reuters[/caption] The BJP had put faith on this caste in the same seat in 2008 too. However, it candidate Neera Chauhan lost to the Congress’s Satnami candidate by 16,000 votes. The Chouhans had sent the first Dalit woman member, Nanhu Dai Chauhan, to the Madhya Pradesh assembly in 1957. She was a Congress nominee from Sarangarh seat. She was re-elected in 1962. The same constituency returned a Chauhan candidate—Puri Ram—as an independent in 1985. The Congress candidate, Hulas Ram, a Satnami, had lost his deposit. Congress, however, never gave a ticket to this caste after 1962. The BJP has not limited its experiments to the Chauhans only. In a first by any party, it had nominated Shamsher Singh, a candidate from the Sahis, another small but significant Scheduled Caste community, 2008. The Ganda and the Sahis (or Sarthi) have traditionally been an integral part of the feudal administrative system in Chhattisgarh – the Gandas were the hereditary village Kotwars and the Sahis provided the mid-wives and traditional healers. They maintained their closeness to the local Rajas and the palaces and after independence, to the Congress. These imaginative moves may not give seats to the BJP in this election but would definitely help it build bridge with important sections of the SCs. Raipur North, one of the four constituencies in the state’s capital would decide if the lone Sikh member of the outgoing assembly Kuldip Singh Juneja (Congress) retains his seat in the House. He is being challenged by Shri Chand Sundarani (BJP), the lone Sindhi in the fray in the state. Sindhis, a business community, have presence in significant numbers in almost all the larger towns of the state. In the local body elections held during the Raman Singh-led BJP government, the Congress won the posts of mayors in places like Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Raigarh and Bhatapara. The Sindhi believe they deserve recognition from the Congress of their deemed support. In an interesting move, the BJP took the lead and nominated Sundarani, the Chamber of Commerce president. The community is trying hard to extract at least one more nomination – this time from Congress. Ramesh Varlayani, a Motilal Vora man, failed to make it to the first two lists. The community has issued an ultimatum to the party to make amends in the last list or face prospects of them supporting the BJP candidate. The Congress has nominated the mayors of Bilaspur (Vani Rao) and Raipur (Kiranmayi Nayak) and would not like to risk the voting pattern of the past. Abraham Tirky is the lone Christian candidate to get the ticket on the basis of his religion. Renu and Amit, wife and son respectively of Ajit Jogi have other explanations to offer for bagging the nominations. Tirky is a retired government employee who is contesting as a Congress candidate from Kunkuri in North Chhattisgarh. Kunkuri houses what is claimed to be Asia’s second largest Catholic Church, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, in the Diocese of Jashpur. The area has seen sharp political division between the Christian tribals, predominantly Roman Catholics, and the non-Christian tribals, called the Hindu-tribals by the RSS-backed organizations working in the area. The Congress last won an election here in 1980. The result of the contest would be keenly watched, because of the absence of Dilip Singh Judeo, a charismatic BJP leader who died recently. The area also houses the village of the sulking Nand Kumar Sai, the senior leader, veteran parliamentarian and former president of the BJP who was refused ticket by the party. The BJP, predictably perhaps, has not given a ticket to a Muslim. The Congress, however, has Mohammad Akbar on its list. Akbar is a sitting MLA from Pandaria. Another Muslim sitting MLA (from Bhilai), Badruddin Qureshi who was more in news for wrong reasons in the last five years, failed to get a nomination this time. The Jains have bagged two nominations – in Jagdalpur (Santosh Bafna) and Raipur West (Rajesh Munat). Both are BJP nominees and both are Shwetambari Jains. Another Shwetambari, Labh Chand Bafna is a frontrunner for a BJP nomination from Ahiwara. The small but influential business community failed to get a ticket from the Congress. The lone claimant was Inder Chand Dhariwal, a Digambari, who lost the nomination to a much younger Vikas Upadhyay against Rajesh Munat.