Maharashtra Assembly polls: Voters grapple with ‘gopalkala’ of forces, faces and parties in the fray

Badole’s case is hardly an exception. There are at least 17 candidates from the BJP who are contesting on tickets from other parties in the Mahayuti alliance – in what is seen as an ‘internal adjustment’ – 14 are in the fray on a Shiv Sena ticket, while four are with the NCP and one is with the Republican Party Of India (RPI).

Election has turned into ‘gopalkala’

With each constituency emerging to be different with its own unique set of challenges and caste permutations, not to mention the troubles posed by coalition forces, the Assembly polls for Maharashtra’s 288 seats are becoming more interesting than ever.

With most of the major candidates belonging to the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), or being Independents supporting either coalition, people in rural Maharashtra now use a new term “gopalkala” to describe the current political scenario.

“With so many parties and players in each constituency, this election has become a gopalkala,” says Dhanraj Atley, a small paddy farmer, referring to the popular Janmashtami recipe which incorporates a medley of ingredients with varying flavours and textures.

In Yavatmal district’s Digras constituency, the fight is between two strong contenders. Shiv Sena Cabinet minister Sanjay Rathod is pitted against former Congress president Manikrao Thakare in an election polarised along caste lines. While Rathod hails from the Banjara community, Thakare is a Kunbi Maratha. In October this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Banjara National Museum in the state’s Washim, depicting the rich social and cultural traditions of the community. PM Modi also recalled the contributions of the Banjara community in the freedom struggle.

In Nagpur Central, Independent candidate Ramesh Punekar has kept BJP MLC Pravin Datke and the Congress’s Bunty Shelke on tenterhooks. Both the mainstream candidates are jittery because Punekar has the support of the Halba Koshti community which enjoys a sizeable population in the constituency. Punekar belongs to this community which falls under the Special Backward Class (SBC) category.

Since 2009, Nagpur Central has been a BJP stronghold. The party’s decision to replace sitting MLA Vikas Kunbhare, who belongs to SBC, with OBC candidate Datke in an attempt to counter strong anti-incumbency has only invited backlash from the Halba Koshti community. On Friday, Union minister Nitin Gadkari even held a meeting to placate the SBC community, but in vain.

A senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary said, “Ultimately, caste/community becomes the driving factor in every election. And that is what is worrying as it ends up leaving the society further fragmented.” There is also a growing feeling that the BJP’s concerted attempt to unify OBCs, SBCs, Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) is not working as it had hoped.

After the setback in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s central and state leadership came up with strategies to maximise its outreach among the OBCs encompassing 350 castes/sub-castes. Following this, Union minister Bhupender Yadav and state leaders even held around 175 meetings.

In the Vidarbha region with 62 Assembly seats, the battle is between the Congress and the BJP in at least 36 seats, notwithstanding other complexities and the overarching agrarian crisis.

Kunbis and Telis

According to Akhil Kunbi Samaj president Rajendra Kalmegh, “We have not issued any letter extending our support to any political party. The Kunbis are a politically mature and socially responsible community. They know to use their franchise. Secondly, Kunbis are further segregated into several castes including Dhanoje, Ghatoke, Hindre, Tirale, Lonare, etc.”

Stating that the Akhil Kunbi Samaj, established in 1952, serves as a social platform for the community, he said, “Our board has representatives from all parties including the Congress, BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena.”

By projecting Nana Patole, a Kunbi leader, as the state party chief, the Congress scripted success in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 13 out of the 17 seats it contested. In the Assembly polls, it is relying on the same magic formula – Dalit, Muslim and Kunbi (DMK) – to corner the BJP.

The second dominant community Teli (OBC) has traditionally been with the BJP. In 2019, the BJP lost four to six seats as it had denied a ticket to Chandrashekhar Bawankule, a Marathi Teli. Now, by making him state party chief, the party appears to have regained its foothold in the community.

Bawankule, meanwhile, is confident that people across communities will support the party on the development plank. “A double engine government will be in the interest of Maharashtra and its people,” he says.

Across Vidarbha, the people voiced their common troubles – inflation, unemployment, farmers’ plight, GST. Exactly six months ago, during the Lok Sabha elections, similar issues were raised by people across rural and urban areas. Voters also spoke about “tod-phod (splitting of parties)” with complete disdain.

In Nagpur district’s Fetri village, which was ‘adopted’ by Devendra Fadnavis when he was chief minister of Maharashtra during 2014-2019, villagers recall his contribution with nostalgia. Mayabai Kurelkar, who served as a member of the gram panchayat, however admits, “When Fadnavis was the chief minister, the village received maximum funds, besides a primary school, gram panchayat office, Anganwadi and vetinary hospital. But after that the committee did nothing.”

‘Tod-phod has disillusioned people’

“Today, nobody can tell how things will be as leaders keep hopping between parties,” Kurelkar laments. Her husband Ashuraj Kurelkar says, “The tod-phod has disillusioned people. There are so many candidates. All the seriousness of politics has gone. I fear voting for NOTA may rise.”

Fetri now has a Congress sarpanch in Ravindra Khambalkar and this election too is a BJP-Congress fight. Khambalkar says the BJP’s divisive politics of Hindu versus Muslim does not appeal to the people here even as leaders skirt real issues like inflation and jobs.

Deepshika Pawar, a third-year engineering student, says, “We have good colleges around the village but in the absence of job opportunities here, most students relocate to Pune, Mumbai or Hyderabad.” Another student, Prajwal Pawar, chimes in saying that at times “low salary and higher expenditure in cities” compound their hardship.