Parmeshwari Devi from Rulyani village, sitting in the shade, a little way from the small stage set up to host Congress-CPM alliance candidate, has Goverdhan Verma, BJP MLA from Dhod, as her relative. Yet she would vote for I.N.D.I.A. alliance candidate, Amraram, a farmer leader from CPM.
A farmer, Parmeshwari doesn’t wait to hear Amraram. She has work, she says and moves on. “My vote is for Amraram, who is the best possible choice for Congress in years,” is her parting shot.
Like Parmeshwari, many others in Sikar claim this time the contest between BJP’s Sumedhanand Saraswati and Amraram, is going to be a tough battle. Unlike elsewhere, here the battle is not between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantees and Congress’s ideology.
Here the fight is straight and simple — between two candidates, BJP’s Sumedhanand Saraswati, one who is said to have been inaccessible in the past 10 years and Amraram, someone who has always been amidst the people.
After 35 long years, Rajasthan will again see an alliance candidate. Sheopat Singh was the alliance candidate of Janata Dal, BJP and CPM in 1989 from Bikaner, who won.
BJP candidate Sumedhanand Saraswati, 73, would be contesting for the third straight time from Sikar. Considered an outsider as he hails from Haryana, he hasn’t been very accessible to his electorate in the past 10 years, says Ashfaq Kamkhayani, a senior journalist.
"In the past 10 years, he could have disbursed about Rs 50 crore (MPLAD fund is Rs 5 crore per year) to about 300 panchayats in the constituency, which panchayats could have used for infrastructure development. Instead he put up high-mast light in every panchayat. It is obvious a certain private company profited. There haven’t been any major infrastructure developments. The only bridge in Sikar was built in 2009. And the highway was developed in 2014," added Kamkhayni.
A fact check on MPLAD official website for Sumedhanand says Rs 9.5 crore was released out of the total sanctioned Rs 17 crore and Rs 1.69 crore remain as unspent balance for 2022-23.
Sumedhanand, however, begs to differ. He told DH about the challenges he faces. “I have done works of over Rs 10,000 crore over the past 10 years. I don’t face any challenge, Challenge is for the Opposition. Not for me,” he said.
Yet he does not enumerate his development work or his vision in his speech at a small gathering at Palsana. His speech ends and begins with Modi’s achievements, touching upon CAA, strict law for corruption, Modi’s global standing and how he has gained respect for India and Indians as compared to Manmohan Singh and how the US president offers the first tea to Modi and how MPs are not searched at US airports anymore, how Modi has raised India’s ranking to become world’s fifth largest economy. And BJP minister Jhabar Singh Kharra elaborated upon 28 years of CPM rule in West Bengal and how the Left never bought crops at MSP rates.
But the agrarian community comprising mostly Jats do not seem to be buying BJP’s logic on MSP. On the other hand, Amraram, who led many a farmer protests, promises MSP law.
“Agricultural protection is what we want, not Ram Mandir. Inflation needs to be controlled,” says Hazari Lal, a professor at Women’s BEd college in Sikar.
Amraram, a Jat and four-time MLA, is also someone who has a clean and down to earth image, says his other priorities include bringing in drinking water in the region through the Rajasthan-Yamuna link Canal, tackling unemployment and fighting against communal forces.
About Congress support, Amraram said, “Congress is only fighting the elections here. In 2004, 61 Left MPs became the anchor of the UPA coalition to keep the BJP out of power. CPI(M) has always been against divisive politics and our fight here is against communal schism.”
Moreover, Amraram may also garner the SC vote. Out of 2260000 total voters, SC/ST votes count four lakh. In 2019, at least 40% Dalits went with the BJP. But this time the trend may change. “There is a general feeling amongst SC voters that if Modi comes, he will finish reservations and would change Ambedkar’s Constitution,” says Kamkhyani.
Jats comprise 6 lakh votes and Muslim 3 lakh votes. At least 13-14 lakh votes are agriculture based votes which include Jats, SC/ST and minorities, who are angry with BJP for MSP. The Modi factor is not much of an issue here. Neither are education or health. Education wise Sikar comes next after Kota in terms of coaching. And most families in Sikar have at least one youngster in engineering or medicine, who have moved out. Those left behind often went into defence forces. But BJP’s Agniveer scheme, which takes in youths for only four years, has been a dampener.
Political observers say in 2019, when Pulwama and Balakot happened, 99 per cent youth sided with BJP. But this election may see them turn around.
As one passes the barren and sparsely vegetated fields of Sikar on the highway, one comes across huge posters of NEET, IIT coaching centres and defence academies. Some of these defence academies’ posters are peeling off. Many of these academies have shut shop as interest in the Army has waned, thanks to Agniveer.
Political posters or graffitis do not jostle for space here.
Only a few of Modi’s guarantee posters clamour for attention. Sikar’s poll meter has yet to reach its peak.