On a scorching afternoon in Jalore city, part of Thar desert in Western Rajasthan, saffron flags with the ‘angry’ Hanuman printed on them flutter. Amid the sea of saffron, tiny blue flags with pictures of B R Ambedkar stand out as a contrast.
“These flags speak about the politics of Jalore where the oppressed are becoming vocal about their rights amidst the wave of Hindutva,” says Richa Audichya, founder of Jan Chetna Sansthan, an NGO working for ST/SC communities in Sirohi, part of Jalore Lok Sabha constituency that will vote in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 26.
In this part of Rajasthan, cases of atrocities on Dalits have hit the headlines in recent years. In August 2022, at Surana village, a nine-year-old boy, Inder Meghwal, died after he was allegedly thrashed by a teacher for drinking from a water pot ‘reserved’ for the upper caste. The incident triggered a massive outrage but the accused got a clean chit from a special investigation team.
In the absence of mainstream Dalit parties, the backward communities in Jalore consider the Congress an alternative in a constituency that has voted for the BJP for the past 20 years. Jalore has eight Assembly seats of which four were won by the BJP, three by the Congress and one by an Independent in the last Assembly election. SCs and STs comprise a large section of voters followed by OBCs and Rajputs.
The Congress has fielded Vaibhav Gehlot, son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, as its candidate. He has promised jobs, better train connectivity and development of all 36 castes and communities in Rajasthan. To counter anti-incumbency, the BJP has replaced its MP, Devji Patel, with Lumbaram Choudhary, a local firebrand leader who takes the credit for getting sanctioned the Battisa Dam project in Jalore which once completed will solve the town’s water crisis.
The Jodhpur-based Mr. Vaibhav is being dubbed as an ‘elite’ and an ‘outsider’. “Who has the money to go to Jodhpur for every work which we will have from an MP. BJP is giving people a local leader,” said Gumang Raj, a Rajpurohit from Rewatra village, some 27km from the district headquarters.
But Mr. Vaibhav is calling himself a ‘son of Marwar’ and a Congress worker who knows the needs of the town famous for granite.
“The BJP has given nothing to Jalore. I will get funding for education of at least 20 bright students from Jalore in foreign countries. I will try and bring a university here. I will get more trains for Jalore and Sirohi and open 100 start-ups along with job opportunity to 10,000 people,” he tells The Hindu.
Kamla Devi, from the Kalbelia tribe, says she couldn’t get a toilet built at home even when she has applied it. She wore giant white bangles in her upper arms which help people understand that she belongs to a tribal community. Women from the upper castes, however, can wear bangles of their choices but a veil is mandatory for all married women in this part of the state.
This district has the lowest literacy rate in the state. Bhaiyyar Ram, 21, a BA final year student, who works at a car showroom in Jodhpur for a living, says he belongs to the Meghwal community and is the most-educated person in his family of 12. He wants his younger brother to complete his education and land a job.
“Dalits are considered servants in this part of Rajasthan. Even if BJP and RSS take us along, it is only because the upper castes want us to dance in their religious processions and do hooliganism in the name of religion. If we want our upliftment, we must vote for someone who talks for education and not temple,” he says.
Dharmendra Nut, 20, took a dig at the RSS’s Dalit outreach and said the Sangh-affiliated magazine, Pathey Kan, had published an article after Inder’s death saying the incident was a “leftist conspiracy aimed to damage social harmony”. “How will you eradicate social evils when you are not ready to acknowledge those,” he asks.
Calling the concern of the two boys as ‘exaggerated’, Jyotaram Garg, a BJP supporter, says there are instances where Thakurs have helped Dalits. Garg said people in Jalore, which houses several temples and the 200-year-old Bhairav Nath Akhada, will not vote for a party that curses Sanatan Dharma.
Barely few meters away from the Election Commission’s office in Jalore, a poster says it all. Divided in two parts, one side of the poster has two pictures, one of Ram Lalla sitting in tent in Ayodhya and second of the newly constructed Ram temple.The second part of the poster tells people how important their ‘one’ vote is. “Your one vote can save girls from love jihad. Your one vote can give security to girls. Your one vote can finish terrorism and Naxalism. Your one vote for those who have prepared a nationalist education policy ...,” the poster reads.
