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Journalism of Courage
In Gadchiroli-Chimur, the largest Lok Sabha constituency in terms of area in Maharashtra and with a huge region affected by Naxal violence, the Congress party has fielded a scholar in Gandhian Thought against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.
Dr Namdeo Dasaram Kirsan, 65, will contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 against Ashok Mahadeorao Nete of the BJP. Nete is the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), who won Lok Sabha polls from the same constituency two consecutive times in 2014 and 2019.
Marotrao Kovase of the Congress defeated Nete in the Lok Sabha elections 2009. But Nete had won the state Assembly elections from Gadchiroli seat twice in 1999 and 2004.
Nete may face anti-incumbency but is still seen as an experienced man with a solid ground network in Gadchiroli, where he once operated a small hotel and started politics as a worker of the BJP’s youth wing.
On the other hand, Kirsan’s pamphlets, distributed by Congress workers, focus on his educational qualifications and activism. In his affidavit, Kirsan has said he holds a PhD in Gandhian Thought from RTM Nagpur University. Kirsan also has a Master of Arts in the same subject. His other degrees include Master of Commerce, Master of Philosophy, Master of Law, and Master of Business Administration, the affidavit mentions.
The party pamphlets mention that Kirsan was a college professor in Nagpur for seven years. He left his job and contested Assembly elections from Amgaon constituency in Gondia, but lost. He then cleared the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exams to join government service. Interestingly, after 18 years of service, when he was a deputy commissioner in the state excise department, Kirsan took voluntary retirement and joined the Congress Party.
The Congress leader wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019, but the party gave a ticket to its former MLA Dr Namdeo Usendi, who lost both elections to Nete. In 2014, Usendi got 2,99,112 votes against Nete’s 5,35,882. In 2019, Usendi’s vote count rose to 4,42,442, whereas Nete got 5,19,968 votes and Ramesh Gajabe of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) secured 1,11,468 votes. Congress had alleged that the VBA’s vote share prevented their victory.
The VBA has now fielded Hitesh Madavi in this constituency. Usendi wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls again. Upset with Kirsan’s nomination, Usendi joined the BJP recently.
While this could be a setback for the Congress, Satish Vidhate, the party’s Gadchiroli city president said, “It will not matter. Dr Kirsan was also denied a ticket twice, but he continued to work at the ground level across the constituency for 10 years focusing on important problems like employment, health and irrigation, where the BJP has failed to deliver”.
Nete claims his efforts in the last 10 years brought many development projects in the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency. His pamphlets list works like sanctioning of roads and bridges worth Rs 15,000 crore, starting the Surjagad mine project and various schemes for tribals, OBCs, farmers, and other sections.
Meanwhile, BJP workers believe that equations in the six Maharashtra Assembly constituencies in the Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha would benefit Nete. Amgaon and Bramhapuri Vidhan Sabha constituencies are with the Congress. While Chimur, Armori, and Gadchiroli have BJP MLAs, Aheri is represented by the Ajit Pawar-led National Congress Party (NCP) MLA Dharmaraobaba Atram.
Kidnapped and later released by the Naxals in 1991, Atram is now a minister and an influential political figure. Atram wanted to contest the Lok Sabha this year, but the seat went to the BJP and he has been campaigning for Nete.
Polling in the Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), will take place on April 19, the first of the five-phase polling in Maharashtra.
There are about 948 polling booths in the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency, of which 428 are sensitive and some in deep Naxal-affected areas are considered critical polling stations.
During the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, there were six incidents of IED blasts, leaving a few policemen injured on polling day in Gadchiroli. On May 1, 2019, a landmine blast killed 15 police personnel at Jambhulkheda village in Kurkheda block in Gadchiroli.
On April 13 this year, the South Sub Zonal Bureau of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) issued a press release appealing to the people to boycott the “18th false Lok Sabha elections.” It asked the people to kick out the “Brahmanic Hindutva Fascist RSS-BJP terrorists”.
The press release also said it has been proved that choosing any party in the elections has never benefited the people in the last 77 years.
Neelotpal, Superintendent of Police, Gadchiroli, said, “We have deployed 87 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh… This is the biggest deployment in the history of Lok Sabha elections in Gadchiroli. During the last Lok Sabha elections, 74 companies were deployed here”.
The police said a fleet of 120 drones is being used to keep a watch on Naxal movements. Vehicles mounted with deep search metal detectors (DSMD) have also been pressed into action for road openings at 20 kilometres per hour. The elite C60 commandos of the Gadchiroli police are carrying out area search operations at strategic locations.
While there have been rallies in talukas, political parties usually avoid election campaigning in the villages prone to Maoist attacks. “An advisory regarding elections campaigns in the Maoist-prone region has been given to political parties. We asked the political parties to inform the police about their election campaign schedule in sensitive locations,” Neelotpal told The Indian Express.
