The Hindu : National : In her father’s footsteps

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 01, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

In her father’s footsteps

Meena Menon

Daughter Supriya Sule may not be able to match father Pawar’s record, but it won’t be for lack of trying

Photo: Vivek Bendre

Supriya Sule campaigning at Bhigwan in Baramati.

It’s a tall order matching her father’s record of covering 40 villages in a single day. Yet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Lok Sabha candidate from Baramati, Supriya Sule, is trying her best.

Having launched her village-level meetings in December itself, Ms. Sule’s grey Land Cruiser is now a familiar sight to voters.

Little admirer

In Loni Devkar village, she has a two-year-old admirer in little Gayatri Dongre. Her father, Dr. Suhas Dongre, says Gayatri has been pointing out pictures of Ms. Sule in the newspaper since she was just a year old. “Finally she saw her in person,” he smiles. When asked who the celebrity was, Gayatri lisps “Supriya Sule.”

In the village, however, some voices have been raised against the lack of allotment of funds from the MP’s fund for constituency development. People here are upset that they don’t have water from the Khadakvasla sub-canal as there is no escape channel, and as a result of which they have a severe drought in summer. Also, 500 acres was acquired for an industrial township, but nothing has happened.

Getting to know her constituency has not come easy to Ms. Sule. In Indapur taluka, with its lack of water and jobs, she is faced with a barrage of questions as she hits the campaign trail at 9 a.m. The Sinar Mas pulp and paper factory, for which people gave up land, is in the centre of a storm. People in Paundhvadi and Khumbargaon villages accuse the factory of not giving jobs to villagers.

Ms. Sule intervenes and tells the gathering that fighting is not going to resolve issues. “The factory says it has employed 1,200 local people out of a total of 1,500; we are getting the information, and we will try to resolve it,” she says. “We should be proud that there is such a company in the area,” she tells the people. As she leaves the meeting, people surround her with written applications for jobs and admissions.

Covering 18 to 20 villages a day from Monday to Friday (weekends are reserved for her children), there is not much time to stop.

Driving into Akole village, she is greeted with drums and crackers and led in a small procession to a meeting under a shamiana. Local party workers are ecstatic. “Tai [sister], we wanted to see you for so long,” they say.

Dashrath Mane, an enthusiastic party worker, pitches for her strongly. “We should vote for Pawar saheb’s daughter in large numbers, this will also help him in his bid for Prime Minister. It’s now or never,” he thunders.

In the blazing afternoon heat, Ms. Sule says next time she will hold a meeting in the evening. “You have given a lot of love to my father, do please extend the same affection to me,” she smiles, her eyes crinkling in the heat.

Dressed simply in a white and pink salwar kameez, Ms. Sule reaches out to the women and children especially. In Pawarwasti, where she stops for lunch, women crowd around in a small room to felicitate her. She asks them whether they have waited for long and if they have eaten. “Do your children go to school?,” she asks. Women tell her there is no water in the area and there is only one hand pump in the hamlet. “How can we use the toilets?” they complain.

Lunch is frugal. She asks for a second plate and takes out the fried puris, sweets and rice and eats only the bhakri (made of jowar) and vegetables. As she leaves, she tells the women, “Please don’t keep your daughters at home, educate them.”

In Dalaj, a displaced village, there are issues of roads, transport and electricity. Lilavati Bhise, a labourer, says she has been bringing up her children after her husband’s death. “Tai is very nice, I think she’ll do something for us,” she smiles.

Ms. Sule stops by at her mother’s native village of Chandgaon and visits her ancestral house. The meetings go on late into the night at nearby sugar factories and more villages.

It’s 11.30 p.m. by the time she calls it a day.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National