Rajasthan polls: It's not just about Pappu Vs Feku here

The Vidhan Sabha election in Rajasthan is not just about Pappu vs Feku or Fake Gandhian vs 21st Century Maharani. Equally profound issues could decide who’d be the next chief minister of the largest Indian state.

Some intellectual posers gleaned from the political debate in Rajasthan.

1) Chandrabhan ji, when did you last vote for the Congress? State Congress chief Chandrabhan is contesting from hometown Mandawa in Jhunjhunu after 23 years. In 1990, he was a Janata Dal candidate. Walls of Mandawa’s markets still have graffiti from the 1990 election asking voters to support Chandrabhan and reject the Congress. If this is not embarrassing enough, Chandrabhan is facing another unanswerable query.

“Congress ko kabhi vote diya kya?” voters rib Chandrabhan at every corner.

Apparently the Congress chief has never. In 1990 (and even before that) he voted for himself and thus Janata Dal. After that he contested 4 elections from constituencies in Tonk, nearly 300 km from Mandawa, and never got the opportunity to cast his vote. No wonder, the Congress stalwart zips up lips, tucks in his tail and disappears in the narrowest lane.

2) When will the sleeping beauty wake up? Princess Siddhi Kumari of the BJP is trying to defend her Bikaner (east) constituency. The effort shows. Supporters claim every time they want to meet her, the princess’ staff replies, “Baisa (princess) is resting.”

Siddhi, a reclusive member of the royal family, was brought into politics by her mentor Vasundhara Raje in 2008. After she won the election, Siddhi retreated back into the Bikaner palace. At last count, she was spotted five times after 2008 by the voters. That she is still resting has made voters restless. “Baisa is naïve and innocent. But if she doesn’t learn fast, we’d have no option but to tell her to RIP forever,” says an angry party worker.

3) Aamne, samne jeeja-saala, apne moonh par taala: The two Bikaner (West) candidates Gopal Joshi (BJP) and BD Kalla (INC) are distant brothers-in-law. Since both are Pushkarna Brahmins—a community that dominates the area—the voters are silent for fear of taking sides in a ‘family dispute’. The slogan– a vestige of the 2008 election when both were in the fray—that their lips are sealed because of the jeeja-saala contest makes it impossible to predict the outcome. The voter’s lips are sealed also because in the close-knit community every Pushkarna is related. Dropping a hint of preference comes with the risk of igniting a war in every household in the bhujia capital of the world. So, silence.

4) Ra-Ja, you scratch mine, will I scratch yours? In Barmer’s Bayatu constituency, Congress candidate Col Sonaram has the BJP praying for him. The feisty colonel is a vocal critic of chief minister Ashok Gehlot and hence even Raje would hate to see him lose. (The CM is equally sentimental for BJP’s Ghanshyam Tiwari for similar reasons).

The Congress and the BJP have reportedly entered into a Ra-Ja (Rajput-Jat) pact in Bayatu and the adjoining Sheo constituency. As part of the deal, Sonaram will divert his Jat followers towards Manvendra Singh, the BJP candidate from Sheo. Singh, in return, will ask his Rajput followers to vote for Sonaram. As a result of the match-fixing, interest in the poll has ended a fortnight before results.

5) Guar-gum ka saathi rum: BD Agarwal’s Zamidara Party is the BJP’s main adversary in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh. Guar-gum (a resin) exporter Agarwal is a millionaire a million times over. Last year when he entered the fray, the price of guar was almost Rs 30,000 per quintal. Agarwal’s prediction that next year too the price would remain the same made farmers sow guar in record amount and hoarders sit on the produce.

But the prices this year have crashed to around Rs 4,500 a quintal, leading to all round gloom. As the devastated farmers and traders discuss their misfortune over pegs of dark rum, they wonder if the Zamidara party’s fortunes would also crash like their dreams.

6) Haryanvi beti or Rajasthani bahu? Discus-thrower Krishna Punia’s opponent Kamla Kaswan of the BJP is performing a dehati version of Sushma Swaraj in Rajgarh-Sadulpur, a den of the liquor mafia on the Rajasthan-Haryana border. Punia, who was born in Haryana, is pitted against current MLA Kaswan, who keeps attacking her opponent’s ‘foreign’ origin. “Do you want Haryana ki beti or Rajgarh ki bahu?” is her main plank. Though Punia is also married to a Rajasthani, her preference for Haryana-number vehicles has tilted the argument in Kaswan’s favour.

7) Kumbhkarni CM or London-returned Queen? “You were in London for 4 years,” Gehlot hollers at every election meeting. “How do you know? You and your government were sleeping for 4 years,” Raje retorts.

The debate has triggered many private jokes among supporters of the two parties. Sample one: Gehlot’s favourite film? Ramji Londonwale. Raje’s favourite read? Amar Chitra Katha: The legend of Kumbhkarna. Voter’s favourite rhyme? Ek tha Mali (Gehlot’s community), ek thi Rani; chunav mein yaad aa gayee dono ko naani.