Scorching Political Undertones In Rajasthan

There are some distinct signals emerging from the poll bound state of Rajasthan even as the election campaign is yet to hit a high pitch. Right now it is the candidate lists, announcements and posturing by political heavyweights that are making the headlines.

The undertones of all of those are sending some distinct signals.

The contest, largely between the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is slowly snowballing into a stiff battle. The question is if the state will do away with the trend of choosing alternate governments every five years? The BJP is confident that this trend will help them win.

The electoral fight now seems to be between the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The battle lines are drawn in terms of populist politics with a state specific approach being taken by the Congress.

The Congress faces a barrage of allegations of misgovernance, from the BJP. The saffron party is banking on the achievements of the Modi government at the Centre, and a dash of ‘nationalism’.

This was evident on Friday when Gehlot made a series of populist announcements termed as ‘guarantees’ by the Congress. Among the prominent of these is a law on the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), an issue that has been gathering steam across the nation.

The OPS has the potential of becoming a major issue, and a big headache for the BJP, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that are due early next year. In fact, Gehlot had reportedly claimed to have implemented OPS for its employees even before it had proved to be a game changer in Himachal Pradesh where the BJP was voted out last year.

“It is usually the progressive organisations that put pressure on the government to give a legal shape to such decisions so that they cannot be withdrawn easily. This was what had happened in the case of extending Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) to urban areas.

“Second, the purpose of this announcement again seems to be an effort to remind the employees that it was his government that had implemented the Act,”an observer in Jaipur pointed out.

The other guarantees announced by Gehlot include tablets to government college students, a Rs 15 lakh insurance cover to losses incurred during a natural disaster, smartphones with complimentary internet services to one crore women for three years, English medium education for every student and purchasing cow dung for Rs 2 per kg.

Observers point out that the Congress is up against a well oiled organisational structure put in place by the RSS over the last three decades. “This has ensured that even when the BJP has lost the elections its tally has stood around 70 out of the total 200 seats while in case of the Congress it has dipped even to 21 seats.

“The RSS has ensured that its cadres are kept busy with one campaign after the other. The Congress also realised the importance of this during the Bharat Jodo Yatra taken out under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi”, observers said.

But the saffron party is also plagued with big problems at this point of time. “It has been forced to go cautious after the rebellion it faced following the first list of candidates announced that did not even have the name of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. There was rebellion, and these tones have not died down even after the second list.

“The party is also fighting a battle without a commander in the form of a chief ministerial candidate. And the most intriguing thing is the silence of Vasundhara Raje unlike how she used to aggressively lead the charge on the previous occasions,” Aditya Kant who has been monitoring the developments in the state, pointed out.

Many observers say that there are too many aspirants for the CM’s post and there is no clarity on the names coming from the high command. Apart from Vasundhara Raje, the saffron fold does not have a leader with a pan-Rajasthan appeal.

At the same time it has been pointed out that the rebellion in the BJP ranks that came to the fore after the lists were out also is a pointer to the fact that rebellions occur where the stakes are high and power is being smelt.

The BJP on its part is relying on an aggressive campaign denouncing the Gehlot government. It has been trying to corner the Gehlot government over the deteriorating law and order situation, failing to deliver on what had been promised before while making tall claims and corruption.

The latest flashpoint came following the reported enforcement directorate raids on the Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra’s residences in Jaipur and Sikar, as well as a coaching centre allegedly linked to him in connection with the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET) paper leak in 2021.

This was coupled with the agency reportedly summoning Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot in a foreign exchange violation case. The BJP has described the raids as proof of “Modi’s zero tolerance policy on corruption”.

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched a vicious attack on Dotasra and Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot accusing the Gehlot government of setting new benchmarks by surpassing all corruption instances.

“This is not new. For the past five years the Gehlot government has broken all the records as far as corruption is concerned. This has majorly damaged the future of the young people, who were hopeful to crack an exam to get a job. This is not only about one young aspirant. In most of the cases they are the people who would be appearing to support their respective households,” Shekhawat said in a briefing in the national capital on Thursday.

He conveyed that “from the first paper leak to the 19th paper leak, the government and the individuals sitting in the government appeared to be dismissive of the issue”. Shekhawat further stated that the CM advocated investigations into economic irregularities, but when his own son was implicated in matters related to economic irregularities, he appeared surprised and issued statements that lacked substance.

Shekhawat emphasised that it's important to examine the ED's history over the past nine years. Out of a total of 5906 cases, only 3% are related to political figures or individuals engaged in political activities in the country. Asserting that the ED has been favouring a politically powerful party and accusing it of being politicised is entirely groundless.

The Congress on the other hand has been dismissing the BJP ‘rants’ as a knee jerk reaction from a party facing a loss. Party leader Sachin Pilot while accusing the BJP of politicising the entire country’s institutions said, “Now, when they feel that they can’t win elections through the mandate of the people, of the state, of the area then they engage its agencies. Now, it surprises me that when the election is 29 days away agencies are now raiding people, giving summons, raking up old cases.”

Just as Diwali approaches, ahead of the polling date, political fireworks launched on and from both sides are expected to increase.