Congress fights back: Can Rahul make Bilaspur his Belchi?

Raipur: Can Rahul pull an Indira? His trip to Bilaspur in the wake of sterilisation deaths at a health camp brings up parallels with a similar visit his grandmother made elsewhere, over three decades ago. The visit scripted the bounce back of Indira herself as well as that of a despondent Congress to national reckoning.

In late 1977, the Janata Party was in power and Indira Gandhi, defeated in elections six months back, isolated, unpopular, facing challenge from all and sundry to prove her relevance in Indian politics and under pressure from her own party men to prove her ability to get them back to power once again, stood in a position not much different where Rahul Gandhi stands now.

In October that year, news broke that nine Harijans – they weren’t called Dalits then – being killed in an obscure Bihar village called Belchi. Such bloodshed was common in rural India back then. It was almost like a natural phenomenon, like the monsoons, only more predictable.

Indira Gandhi sensed her opportunity. She flew to Patna, motored into the countryside and then, because the monsoons had made the roads impassable, reached Belchi late evening on elephant back. It had started turning dark and she shone a torch on her face so the villagers could recognize her.

The next morning, a stark black and white picture of Indira Gandhi entering Belchi, alone but undaunted, frail but fearless, her strong profile silhouetted against the black night, was on all front pages. That image left an indelible imprint on the pages of the political history and came to be known as the turning point – of her return to politics – and later office.

How much was Rahul Gandhi inspired by history or by the feat his grandmother once achieved is not known but old-timers and students of political history in India were reminded of Belchi on Saturday when Rahul Gandhi landed at Raipur travelling economy class of a regular flight. He then drove down to Bilaspur and nearby villages which have been in news the whole of this week due to the botched sterilisation camps and post-operations deaths of over 14 young women.

In Chhattisgarh, the public sentiment was never perceived to be so full of discontentment as it is in the past few months. By default this raises hopes in the opposition Congress party in this state of bipolar politics, though for totally negative reasons. The goodwill generated by Rahul’s visit combined with the popular anger against the government over local issues may give the party its post-1977 moment.

The preparations for the local body elections and the necessity it created for the party workers to go to the electorate at the ward level, gave them the first hand feel of the discontent some of the recent decisions of the government have caused. The elections were stayed on Friday by the High Court but the curtain raisers it provided has filled the Congressmen with hope of riding on this discontentment like never before for a long time.

Chhattisgarh, barring a few small pockets of industries, is an largely agrarian state. The mofussil towns have a sizable population of those who own some land in the villages close by. A recent decision of the state government to limit purchase of the paddy to 10 quintal an acre has hit everyone hard. Improved agricultural practices in recent years have increased yield of the farms; production of 25 quintal an acre in not uncommon.

A sudden announcement from the government has left the farmers shocked irrespective of party affiliations. It has derailed the budget of the farmer and economy of the villages, towns and to significant extent cities of the state.

The paddy that the farmer is ready with to sell was sown by him sometime after the BJP came to power in Delhi in May this year. The mood of the public in general was upbeat. There were reasons for optimism.

Just before the state assembly elections late last year, the BJP in its party manifesto made promises. It promised “to buy every grain that the farmer produces”. The going minimum support price for paddy then was Rs 1300. The bill for this purchase was, and still is, footed by the central government. The BJP, at the start of the campaign promised to give a bonus of Rs 300 over and above this MSP. The electorate believed it. After all the government had the history of giving bonus at this rate – though only once just before the 2008 assembly elections. No question was raised at that time on the absence of any bonus for 4 years after the election.

The Congress raised the bar when it announced support price of 2000 in its manifesto. The BJP manifesto had already seen the light of the day by then. It entered into a totally irresponsible race with the Congress in matching promises with bigger promises. The Chief Minister Raman Singh made a counter announcement: his government ”would write to the central government and get a price of 2100”.

The BJP won the elections in 2013. If there was an excuse of lack of co-operation from the central government that also vanished with the departure of the UPA II from Delhi six months later. The sudden announcement of limiting purchase at the MSP to only 10 quintal left the farmers shocked.

“The government is buying 10 qnt not to help the farmer but to recover the loan it has advanced towards seeds and fertilizer. The farmer at the end is not going to get any money in his hands for his produce, and he understands this and hence is annoyed and disappointed,” says Balak Ram Patel. Patel is a progressive leader of the farmers and has been the Chairman of the district co-operative bank and knows the economics of the MSP.

The BPL card holder is another category which has felt cheated by the government. Just before the assembly elections the state government re-issued the BPL cards in the state. Every caution and check was thrown to the wind while making the cards. After six months or so, and well after the state and parliamentary elections were over, the burden of subsidy on these bogus cards started showing on the health of the state’s economy. A re-survey was ordered and it resulted in the cancellation of over 11 lakh “bogus” cards. If one affected family consisted of five people, the number of people who found themselves deprived of the subsidized – almost free in fact – rice, joined the lot of the disgruntled overnight.

Then there are the state government employees. Just before the assembly elections the government had increased their retirement age from the then 60 to 62. This had saved the government from parting with huge sums that it would have needed to take care of the pension, gratuity and other payments. With the change of the government at the Centre the state is under tremendous pressure to reverse the decision and make way for the young job-hopefuls who were credited with voting for the party in a big way. The prospect of such an announcement any day has left the thousands of employees and their dependent family members jittery.

Discontentment is there but can Rahul convert Bilaspur into his Belchi? Rahul Gandhi is no Indira Gandhi. And Narendra Modi is no Morarji Desai. BJP under the Modi-Shah combine is not the Janata amalgam of assorted parties under Chandra Shekhar either. But if he is half the fighter that she was then he would latch on to his chances.