Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra: ‘Modi Sarkar or Bharat Sarkar’? Voters seek answer, stop chariot

Fearing protests, over eight Panchayat Samiti employees of Parbhani district on December 28 wrote to the district collector, highlighting that they have been getting phone calls from villagers asking them the reason behind writing “Modi Sarkar” on the chariot and questioning if they are “campaigning for Modi”. The employees had requested police protection from the collector during the yatra.

Rajvaibhav Shobha Ramchandra, a 30-year old Ambedkarite activist from Sonyachi Shiroli village who works with several social organisations to spread the constitutional awareness, decided to raise his objection in a peaceful and constitutional manner. “I stood in front of the Grampanchayat and asked the motive behind the chariot and the yatra,” Rajvaibhav told The Indian Express.

On being told that the yatra is meant to spread awareness about central government’s schemes, Rajvaibhav asked, “If the schemes are from the government of India, then why is it that the chariot has ‘Modi government’s guarantee’ written on it?”

“The Constitution says, ‘India, that is Bharat’. It could either be ‘Bharat Sarkar’ or ‘Government of India’. If a person is replacing country’s name, then it is the violation of constitutional principle of sovereignty. It is as good as a treason,” he said. As the discussion progressed, he was joined by villagers who too stood in his support. He later realised that the person who was debating with him was not a government employee, but a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“We are not against government schemes, but if a political party like BJP is going to use the state’s money by using a chariot coloured like party’s flag ahead of general elections, then we have to oppose it,” he said.

Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat is a nationwide campaign to raise awareness through outreach activities to achieve saturation of schemes of government of India across the country covering all Gram Panchayats, Nagar Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies.

Rajvaibhav’s speech and his discussion with officials went viral on social media, triggering strong reactions and soon videos of similar actions started pouring in.

In Buldhana district’s Palshi Jhashi village of Sangrampur tehsil, former sarpanch Abhaysinh Marode was served a notice under section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by local police, warning him to not interfere at a time when chariot under the Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is travelling in the tehsil.

“I have no objection against Narendra Modi. After all, he is our country’s Prime Minister. But shouldn’t we highlight the absolute failures of Central government’s schemes? When we did that police warned us not to interfere. I had a detailed discussion saying I am merely asking questions on doubling farmer’s income, hunger index, growing expenditure of farmers. Shouldn’t we get answers,” said Marode, who is also the director at the Sangrampur Agriculture Produce Market Committee.

The route of the chariot was later changed after Marode persisted with his questioning, joined by villagers and friends. On December 30, he was slapped with a notice under section 149. “I highlighted that it is not Modi Sarkar. It should be Bharat Sarkar,” said Marode.

Similar peaceful questioning and protest videos were also seen in Ahmadnagar, Nasik, Satara, Jalna, Parbhani, Akola, Hingoli, Nanded, Ratnagiri and Buldhana districts where villagers are asking employees accompanying the chariot various questions on implementation of the schemes as well as use of phrase Modi Sarkar.

In Parbhani, which is also one of the core areas of protests by Maratha community seeking reservation under the leadership of social activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, the employees wrote to the collector seeking police protection on December 28. The letter from eight employees requested not to deploy them on yatra duty.

Parbhani district collector Raghunath Gawde accepted that some employees wrote the letter in “haste”. “Yes, there was a letter. They should have waited for a while before writing it. We spoke to them, understood the problem and it was solved,” he said.

Gawde said that there have been instances of protest by villagers. “But we are communicating with them. We are telling them that the schemes are meant for their own good. After our intervention and communication, the villagers are allowing us to move forward without any problem,” he said, adding that wherever necessary, the district administration is providing police protection to the chariot.

In Satara’s Tardap village of Phaltan tehsil, Jai Mane and four others countered the government employees and asked them why the chariot has no Tricolour if it is sent by the Central government. “We asked ‘why have you mentioned Modi government’s guarantee and not of Indian government’. We received to answer,” Mane, who works at an industrial unit, said.

Mane said that his village is known for sending many men to the army. “The villagers soon joined us who sided with us. We did not raise our voice not threatened anyone. We simply put forward our view and raised questions,” he said.

Rajvaibhav said that after his video went viral, he started receiving calls from different parts of the state asking how should they tackle the chariot. “We had not even asked questions about success of central schemes. But now people are asking that as well,” he claimed. Rajvaibhav added that he along with others are planning to approach the court against the use of phrase ‘Modi Sarkar’ and we will be asking the question through that petition, as to what is the real name of the government.”