Who is Kamleshwar Dodiyar, the newly elected Madhya Pradesh MLA who lives in mud house, travels on borrowed bike?

The general belief is that politicians are corrupt. They amass wealth and become rich. But Kamleshwar Dodiyar, the newly elected Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA, from Madhya Pradesh, is an exception. He lives in a mud house and does not own a car. In fact, he has been travelling on a borrowed bike. On Wednesday, the MLA had to travel 350 kilometres to Bhopal to complete the required paperwork at the legislative Assembly to cement his historic electoral win. He borrowed a bike and travelled the distance. The state’s only non-BJP and non-Congress member, elected from Ratlam’s reserved Sailana sector, cannot afford to rent a car, say reports. He tried to arrange a car for his first visit to the state capital after becoming an MLA, but could not get one, he told reporters. Finally, he borrowed his brother-in-law’s motorbike, pasted a sticker with the word “MLA” on it, and rode off with an associate braving the chilly winter weather, Dodiyar said when he reached Bhopal after an eight-hour journey with his three companions.  He, then, found accommodation at the MLA Rest House as a `guest’. On Thursday, he lay prostrate before the Assembly’s entry gate to pay his respects to the temple of democracy and then presented his credentials as an MLA before the officials. In a post on social media, where he tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Ratlam police, Dodiyar said since he could not arrange a car for travelling to Bhopal to complete paperwork at the Assembly, he was leaving on a motorbike and necessary security should be provided for him so that nothing untoward happens on the way. He also broadcast his ride to Bhopal through Facebook Live. Fought elections on crowdfunding and borrowings While the majority of candidates in the election spent large sums of money on campaigning, Dodiyar contested the race through crowdfunding and borrowing from others. “I belong to a family of daily wage workers… We struggle to make ends meet and lead a difficult life. Hence, there was no money for election expenses. So, I borrowed money and fought,” Dodiyar told India Today. [caption id=“attachment_13479822” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Dodiyar, the youngest of nine siblings, lives with his parents in Radhagua village, Sailana panchayat, in a straw-roofed mud house. Image Courtesy: @_ambedkarite/X[/caption] His advocate friend Dinesh Garval, one of three who accompanied him on the two-wheeler to Bhopal, told National Herald, “As he addressed rallies, we collected pennies from the crowd.” “Even after a dozen rallies, we only managed to raise Rs 20,000… It was time-consuming and stressful, and the cash we received was insufficient to cover poll expenditures.” They did not, however, back down. Dodiyar turned to notra, a tribal custom of making interest-free loans to the poor. He had collected Rs 12 lakh after a dozen such instances. His team also tried crowdfunding and was able to raise a total of 2.38 lakh. The young leader is motivated to make a difference in his town and among his constituents. “I overturned the political tradition of making people fools, threatening them with voting, and handing out money and spirits. I approached them and gained their trust. I pledged to help them with their problems. That’s why people voted for me,” the MLA told India Today. Mudhouse, delivered tiffins to fund education Dodiyar, the youngest of nine siblings, lives with his parents in Radhagua village, Sailana panchayat, in a straw-roofed mud house. Seta Bai, his 62-year-old mother, continues to work as a daily wage labourer to not only support the family but also to care for her disabled husband Omkarlal (70), who is unable to work due to a crippling fracture in his hand. Dodiyar’s five brothers work as labourers in Rajasthan, and his three married sisters are also labourers. He worked as a daily wager and then as a tiffin delivery boy when he moved to Delhi for an LLB from Delhi University. He also has 16 FIRs to his name, has been to jail 11 times — once for as long as 84 days — and has faced an externment notice for holding protests and blocking roads in support of tribal demands, reports National Herald. [caption id=“attachment_13479832” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Kamleshwar Dodiyar worked as a daily wager and then as a tiffin delivery boy when he moved to Delhi for an LLB from Delhi University. Image Courtesy: @anandrai177/X[/caption] In February 2021, he was also booked under the stringent National Security Act 1980 for protesting outside the collector’s office. Motivated by Barack Obama Dodiyar entered politics in 2008, motivated by former US president Barack Obama. “Reading about Obama’s political journey was a watershed moment in my life. It sowed the seed for Obama to become a politician. That’s when I decided to further my education and enter politics,” he told National Herald. He had been associated with the tribal group JAYS and ran as an independent candidate in the 2018 Assembly election from Sailana, receiving 18,800 votes. The next year, he joined the BAP to run in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Ratlam constituency, where he received over 15,000 votes. “The results boosted my confidence as I was getting votes without offering money or spirits to anyone,” he told the news outlet. Dodiyar vows to address the neglect of tribal hamlets. “Even after 75 years of independence, tribal hamlets lack basic amenities,” he said. “Water scarcity and poor road connectivity still haunts tribal populations.” He described schools and hospitals as “as good as stables.” “There is no one to keep track of the rampant corruption in tribal schemes. The funds received by the state under Article 275A for tribal welfare were lost due to corruption,” he lamented. “Since we now have representation in MP and Rajasthan, we will focus on implementing the fifth schedule of the Constitution, which deals with the administration and control of scheduled and tribal areas.” Dodiyar’s victory in Sailana by 4,618 votes is hugely significant in the bipolar state, where the ruling BJP won 163 of the 230 Assembly segments. In second place behind him was Harshvijay Gehlot of the Congress, pushing the BJP’s Sangeeta Vijay Charel to third position. With inputs from PTI