A New Reckoning for Alwar

THE ROAD LEADING to Bakhatpura is narrow and dusty but the cool of the morning is yet to give way to the midday sun. There is an air of an­ticipation as local notables sit on chairs set out on a small platform. The arriving cars and fluttering party flags are telltale signs that a campaign meeting is in the offing. The conversation is jovial and animated as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers make sure no one feels ignored. At­tired in a crisply ironed kurta and well-polished open black shoes, Hari Ram comes across as a man of comfortable means. He reveals that he began as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Pari­shad (ABVP) activist, joined Congress for a while, and re­cently returned to BJP. After pointing out representatives of various social groups—“Punjabi samaj,” “Yadav samaj”, “Guj­jar samaj”—Hari Ram expresses confidence in the Minister for Environment, Forests and Labour and the BJP candidate from Alwar Bhupender Yadav’s prospects. For one, he says, Yadav’s promi­nence promises benefits for voters should he win. Then there is a Bahujan Samaj Party nominee, Fazal Hussain, son of the late Chaudhary Tayab Hussain, a prominent leader from the Meo- Mewat belt, who is bound to grab a chunk of the votes.

The minister though is not banking on the likely impact of the BSP man. Alighting from his SUV, he greets some of the as­sembled company by name, accepts garlands, and awaits his turn as he is introduced as a leader with a record of getting things done. Aware that rival Congress candidate Lalit Yadav, who defied a BJP wave and won the Mundawar Assembly seat last year, is targeting him as an ‘outsider’, Bhupender Yadav quickly frames his issues. The main task, he reminds his audience, is to ensure the nation’s continued progress by giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third term in office. He refers to reports of Congress struggling to find candidates, saying it looked as if there was just one party in the fray. “I will work to ensure Modi’s guarantees are translated on the ground and problems of the region are addressed,” he says. He promises to be accessible, saying constituents can reach him at Alwar or his official residence in Delhi. The minister’s chal­lenger is a young man with dash and vigour, but speakers who introduce Bhupender Yadav point out that his clout can actually resolve Alwar’s longstanding problems.

In between pit stops, Yadav is busy on the phone, asking his campaign team for lists of important villages and tehsils that need to be covered, perhaps more than once. Is he being complacent when he says there is only one party in the field? “I am on the move from 6 AM until 10 PM. I am addressing up to 30 meetings a day. Does that look like I am being complacent? We are going all out to ensure a high turnout,” he tells Open. The heat is ris­ing by the time he halts at Ahlawas and he addresses a key voter issue, that of water scarcity for drinking and agriculture, assuring quick progress on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the eastern Rajasthan canal project inked by the new chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in January. At Machri village, Yadav speaks of the Centre’s scheme to provide tap water to all households and launches a sharp attack on Congress, saying the initiative suffered due to corruption during the tenure of the previous Gehlot government. “You must punish Congress for holding back development. In contrast, we have a prime minister who says he will not tolerate any corruption,” he says.

Yadav was BJP’s poll in-charge for Gujarat in 2017 when the party fell to its lowest total of 99 in recent years in a House of 182. The re­sult was seen as a consequence of slackness in the state administra­tion following Modi moving to Delhi in 2014 and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) just ahead of the state polls. He knows elections cannot be taken for granted and the need to keep track of shifts in voter sentiment. “The public opinion is quite clear that the election is about giving the prime minister a third term. It is a pro-governance election. You will see support for BJP will swell into a tsunami. I aim to visit every panchayat headquarters,” he says. Dwelling on the credibility of the BJP slogan ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, he says, “People in Alwar know that earlier there was just one highway. Now, with the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, there are two. There are two medical colleges now. People know that when bhoomipujan [groundbreaking] for a project is done, it will be completed in the current term.” Yadav argues that while local and regional issues are important, voters do not neglect national issues. “The Modi government has worked for the safety of all Indians. This includes getting Indian students back from Ukraine or any other conflict zone. Decisions like the scrapping of Article 370 have been taken. Most importantly, people see that money for welfare schemes goes directly to beneficiaries,” he says and adds that this is evidence that voters distinguish between allurement and empowerment.

The halt at Akbarpur is longer and Yadav gets off on the road going past the large village and walks through narrow streets to the sound of dhols (drums) that are intrinsic to electioneer­ing. People stand at doorsteps and on terraces and rooftops and women throw down flower petals. Soon, Yadav reaches the stage near a temple which is more crowded than at previous halts. The long length of cloth that goes into a traditional pagdi (turban) is taken out of its plastic wrapper and rolled into a long coil that Yadav wraps around his head. Soon, he is ready to address people who have gathered to hear him, adding a few local flourishes to his election pitch that presents him as an experienced leader aware of his constituency’s needs and who can provide solutions. First elected to Rajya Sabha in 2012, Yadav’s low-pro­file, non-combative approach saw him successfully head parliamentary committees on complex legislation like the Financial Resolution and De­posit Insurance Bill, 2017, and GST. He surprised many by achieving a consensus on legislation vulnerable to partisan politics. He also headed the joint committee on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, besides parliamentary panels examining important changes to the Enemy Property and Prevention of Corruption Acts.

It is getting close to noon and Yadav’s campaign caravan moves further into rural parts of Alwar—its sprawl abuts Nuh in Hary­ana to the north and is not far from Jaipur in the south. Its harsh conditions are embodied by the thorny, short bush vegetation and the hard rock of the Aravallis, formed millions of years ago when the Indian subcontinent collided with the Eurasian plate. Often in the news for wrong reasons such as cattle mafia, illegal mining, and cyber fraud, Alwar offers its residents few opportunities. This time, voters here feel they might have a better option.

2024 Elections2024: The CountdownAlwarBhupender YadavGeneral election 2024politicsRajasthan