Raipur: If the number of NGO activists and journalists, including those from abroad, that have descended on southern Chhattisgarh is a valid parameter of the intensity of an electoral contest then the Aam Aadmi Party has succeeded in converting Bastar into one of the most exciting parliamentary constituencies in this part of the country. It is the solitary seat that goes to polls in the first phase in the state on April 10.
Soni Sori. Pic courtesy ibnlive.
In a state so used to predictable bipolar politics, the AAP has injected an element of disquiet through its candidate Soni Sori. A sort of cause célèbre in liberal drawing rooms, Sori is undergoing trial in Chhattisgarh for her alleged complicity with Maoists. The state unit of her party is upbeat about her prospect in the elections. Big names are being circulated as the potential campaigners for Sori. Uchit Sharma, the state convenor of AAP for Chhattisgarh, lists some of them: Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Medha Patkar, Dr Sunilam, Swami Agnivesh and the Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh who had famously parted ways with Kejriwal during the Anna movement days. They are scheduled to be here for five days addressing meetings in support of Sori but their visits, Sharma points out, is not a part of the AAP initiative. “They are coming here on the invitation of an NGO,” he clarifies.
The Congress has fielded Deepak Karma, son of Mahendra Karma who was brutally killed by the Maoists in May last year along with 31 others.
The Karmas are not new to this parliamentary seat. Mahendra Karma had won it in 1996 as an independent supported by Madhav Rao Scindia’s Madhya Pradesh Vikas Party. Scindia had formed this outfit when he parted ways with Narasimha Rao’s Congress following the Hawala episode. The two and their party became a part of the Congress in 1998 after Rao stepped aside. Mahendra’s cousin Lakshman Karma had represented the constituency earlier as a Congress candidate from 1980-84. Deepka’s mother won the recently held Assembly elections from Dantewada.
Still, it won’t be smooth sailing for Deepak.
Mahendra Karma was the prime target of Naxalites till he was killed. After his death five members of his family were put under Z plus security – a big handicap for any candidate in election time. The supporters, devoid of a matching security cover, are not showing signs of enthusiasm in venturing out into the interiors either. His mother had fought the Assembly elections under similar constraints. But the sympathy votes then more than compensated the loss due to restrained access. The sympathy card has a life of its own.
This leaves a potential constituency of anti-BJP votes for Soni Sori to grab with the help of NGO networks, most of whom are in workable relationships with the extreme Left. However, a cousin of Sori – Vimla – has been fielded by the CPI, complicating the equations. The CPI has a constituency of more or less committed votes in almost all the segments of this parliamentary seat.
Thus with the three important players eyeing the anti-BJP and the Left-inclined vote bank, the BJP candidate Dinesh Kashyap looks rather comfortably placed. This seat has remained with the BJP since 1998. Bali Ram Kashyap, who won four elections in a row, died in 2011. His son Dinesh won the by-election and is contesting to save the seat.
Though the party has fielded candidates in almost all the eleven seats in the state, AAP is focusing its resources and attention in Bastar. Its candidate Soni Sori hails from a village in Dantewada Assembly segment. She was born to a village council head and her uncle was a member of the legislative assembly for the Communist Party of India. Her candidature has evoked sharp reactions in other parts of the state. The party does not have much at stake in other seats and hence is not bothered.
The party is arranging for the video clip of her narration of torture at the hands of the police to be distributed along with the photocopies of the especially drafted local election manifesto. The manifesto talks of thousands of suspected Maoists or Maoist-supporters who are lodged in various jails of the state. The party promises to shift the tribals languishing in the “non-tribal” jails to the “tribal area jails”, informs Uchit Sharma. It also talks of issues like land acquisition, health and education. It promises of more power to the village councils. As Sharma puts it – Hamare gaanv mein hamara raaj, yahi hai hamara swaraj is the slogan.
Narendra Modi addressed his first meeting in the state in Kondagaon yesterday. Rahul Gandhi is due at the same place on the 31st. Incidentally, Kondagaon was the venue of the election meetings of Modi and Sonia Gandhi in the assembly elections four months ago. This assembly segment went to the Congress. With so much public attention on her, will Sori deliver for the AAP?
Avid poll watchers are keeping their fingers crossed.
Chhattisgarh: AAP’s Soni Sori injects uncertainty into Bastar politics
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