Dr MLA floats outfit to wash out Nirma

The lead speaker,a well-known surgeon-turned-MLA, soon arrived with a few men in a rickety van.

“A vote for BJP means a vote for Nirma. We cannot trust the Congress either,” declares BJP’s own Mahuva MLA Dr Kanu Kalsaria. Vote for the water jug,the Sadbhavna Seva Samiti symbol,and save your water and your land”,he adds.

Perhaps in a first,an unusual issue of environment protection has become an agenda for an MLA from BJP,a party which is otherwise seen as industry-friendly. For two years now,Kalsaria has been spearheading protest against the proposed cement plant to be set up by Nirma and has formed a Sadbhavna Seva Samiti (SSS) to contest local elections,even if it means taking on his own party.

Under Dr Kalsaria’s leadership,villagers are in no mood to give up the fight even after losing a case in the High Court against the Nirma group’s proposed plant,a proposal backed by the state government.

The Congress has done little more than making a few perfunctory noises and gestures in support of the locals from dozens of villages in the area.

For Dr Kalsaria,who has spent years running a charitable trust hospital and curing villagers before taking the plunge into politics,it a tightrope walk. After agreeing to lead thousand of farmers rallying behind him,there is no looking back. While his party is yet to crack the whip on him,the Congress has smelt blood. Following instructions from AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi,the state Congress has vowed support to the BJP MLA in the agitation. Dr Kalsaria,however,has been has been vocal against both BJP and the Congress,trudging from village to village asking men and women not to vote for either party.

Of the 32 panchayat seats in Mahuva taluka and another 41 in Bhavnagar district panchayat,Dr Kalsaria’s SSS has fielded 27 and 7 candidates,respectively,and nearly all candidates all small farmers and farm workers. A few BJP workers too have agreed to contest for the surgeon-MLA although none of them have ever contested an election in their lives.

The campaign itself,running on a shoestring budget,has none of the usual trappings. A small leaflet highlighting the possible disaster the giant cement plant and accompanying mining could bring to water and land in the villages,with Dr Kalsaria’s mugshot on the top,is the only campaign material. The leaflet talks about how the cement plant proposed on part of their water body will leave the land saline and dry and destroy livelihood.

The agitation had started from a small village of Doliya,where the Nirma plant was to be located,and has since gained an incredible amount of momentum and acceptance in almost every local village,leaving both the Congress and the BJP tongue-tied about it in the run-up to the October 21 panchayat polls.

“Time alone will tell if we succeed,but we have no choice but to contest the election on this issue to keep the agitation going,” Dr Kalsaria told The Indian Express. According to him,they waited for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections to get over before starting their agitation hoping the ruling BJP would consider the issue. “That didn’t happen. So here we are,contesting ourselves,” he said.

A small farmer in Visavadar village,Dr Kalsaria’s next campaigning stop,butts in. “But how do we know if,after election,the SSS will not form a coalition with one of the two parties?” he asks. Dr Kalsaria explains while he has nothing for the Congress,his SSS might offer it support if there is a hung panchayat. “We have not joined hands with the Congress as it is led locally by Nirma’s contractors. But post-election,if the situation demands a coalition,we will support the Congress with some conditions,” Dr Kalsaria said,adding the Congress first back the the cause and raise it in the Assembly.

Post-lunch,at Lusni village,Dr Kalsaria mentions Narendra Modi for the first time in his speech. Cautioning voters not to be lured by alleged promises of job and prosperity if they allow the plant to come up,Dr Kalsaria said: “Narendrabhai ne udhyog no chasko lagyo che. Emne game jyare Tata ane bija kahe ke tame bhavishya na pradhanmantri cho. Pan khedut aavu kahe emne to shun pher padvano che (Narendrabhai has been obsessed with industries. He likes it only when Tata and others call him a future prime minister. If a farmer says the same thing,who will notice?).”

There are a few guffaws and nods from the crowd,but for Dr Kalsaria,the road is obviously a long one still.

Farmers plan ‘yellow button’ drive
A clutch of NGOs and farmers’ unions from rural areas met at Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad on Thursday and pledged to begin a vote-against-all-candidates campaign in at least a dozen districts of the state in the run-up to panchayat polls due on October 21. Calling it the “yellow button” campaign,they said it would be launched immediately,telling people they could exercise this option if they feel no candidate or political party has addressed their local grievances. Pressing the “yellow button” on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) means a voter has voted but he or she has voted for none of the candidates listed. Symbolically,it means a voter believe in democracy and elections but has no faith in the candidates,they said. ENS